You know, now that it is the state of his birth rather than the state that Sarah Palin governs that is in the line of fire.

North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.

The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers), would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan's top-selling newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites.

The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, the paper said.

While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit Hawaii's main islands, which are about 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) from the Korean peninsula.

Now the missile's range is 500 miles short of reaching Hawaii -- but it isn't a stretch to see that this is part of a strategy of extending the NorK's ballistic missile range so that it could take out a large chunk of the US Pacific fleet. Will we maybe see some missile defense money allocated that way -- and perhaps a restoration of those funds for missile defense in Alaska that would protect much of the rest of the US mainland?

Posted by: Greg at 04:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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