U.S. commander: Situation 'dangerous' ahead of North Korea rocket launch
TOKYO (AP) - The commander of American troops in Japan said Thursday that the situation ahead of North Korea's planned launch of a long-range rocket this month is "very dangerous."
Lt. Gen. Salvatore Angelella said U.S. troops in Japan are closely monitoring activity in North Korea as it prepares for the launch. He said the United States sees the launch as a violation of U.N. restrictions in place to keep North Korea from developing its long-range missile capabilities.
"This is a very dangerous situation, and we do not support those actions by North Korea. ... We are monitoring the situation closely," Angelella, who commands the roughly 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan, said at a news conference in Tokyo.
He said American troops are working closely with the Japanese to protect the country's citizens and territory, but declined to give details. Two U.S. officials said Wednesday that the Navy had begun moving several ships into the western Pacific.
North Korea has announced it will launch the rocket between Dec. 10 and 22. It attempted a similar launch in April, but it failed shortly after liftoff.
Also on Thursday, a Japanese man who served as a chef to the North Korean leadership and visited the country earlier this year said the planned rocket launch was meant to honor the late leader Kim Jong Il.
Kenji Fujimoto, Kim's personal sushi chef from 1988-2001, said he believes the late leader's son and successor, Kim Jong Un, was backing the launch to show respect for his father.
"I don't think that Kim Jong Un is taking a very aggressive role in pushing for this launch, but he might want to commemorate his father's passing," said Fujimoto, who uses a pseudonym.
He said that despite its apparent determination to defy international appeals against the rocket launch, he believes North Korea is changing for the better and wants to improve relations with the West.
Fujimoto settled in Japan after leaving the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, and has written several memoirs. The latest is about a visit to North Korea for several weeks last summer.
That trip was meant to fulfill a promise he had made to the younger Kim before he left, he says.
Fujimoto says that during his years as Kim Jong Il's chef, he got to know Kim Jong Un and other members of the family, and that his reunion with the current North Korean leader was an emotional one. A photo on the cover of his latest book purports to show Kim Jong Un embracing Fujimoto.
Lt. Gen. Salvatore Angelella said U.S. troops in Japan are closely monitoring activity in North Korea as it prepares for the launch. He said the United States sees the launch as a violation of U.N. restrictions in place to keep North Korea from developing its long-range missile capabilities.
"This is a very dangerous situation, and we do not support those actions by North Korea. ... We are monitoring the situation closely," Angelella, who commands the roughly 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan, said at a news conference in Tokyo.
He said American troops are working closely with the Japanese to protect the country's citizens and territory, but declined to give details. Two U.S. officials said Wednesday that the Navy had begun moving several ships into the western Pacific.
North Korea has announced it will launch the rocket between Dec. 10 and 22. It attempted a similar launch in April, but it failed shortly after liftoff.
Also on Thursday, a Japanese man who served as a chef to the North Korean leadership and visited the country earlier this year said the planned rocket launch was meant to honor the late leader Kim Jong Il.
Kenji Fujimoto, Kim's personal sushi chef from 1988-2001, said he believes the late leader's son and successor, Kim Jong Un, was backing the launch to show respect for his father.
"I don't think that Kim Jong Un is taking a very aggressive role in pushing for this launch, but he might want to commemorate his father's passing," said Fujimoto, who uses a pseudonym.
He said that despite its apparent determination to defy international appeals against the rocket launch, he believes North Korea is changing for the better and wants to improve relations with the West.
Fujimoto settled in Japan after leaving the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, and has written several memoirs. The latest is about a visit to North Korea for several weeks last summer.
That trip was meant to fulfill a promise he had made to the younger Kim before he left, he says.
Fujimoto says that during his years as Kim Jong Il's chef, he got to know Kim Jong Un and other members of the family, and that his reunion with the current North Korean leader was an emotional one. A photo on the cover of his latest book purports to show Kim Jong Un embracing Fujimoto.
Be scared....BE VERY SCARED ! What , now we have to add a couple more carrier groups to our 11th ?
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Eisenhower warned us !
 @sargerator Yeah, they have quite the fearsome nuclear when snow puts a halt to them launching anything.
 @sargerator Scared of what? Their toy missiles?
 @sargerator They haven't launched one yet.  Let worry after they get one off the ground.
 @MFMFIM  @sargerator Well, they got it off the ground and into space.
The U.S. to warned them the last two times and they did it anyway. Why not keep doing it?
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You mean like the US did with Gaddafi?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_wWCP2HJWs
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Every one has the right to space travel, No one can control space . This launch will probably fail as usual. But if they were able to build a rocket even after sanctions, What is Iran capable of? Just because you take a way Monies and such, doesn't mean that they still can't acquire technology by other means.
@lee986321 The article never said space travel. It said long range rocket. Not sure if you're aware, but that photo is of a missile, not a space-craft.
@lee986321 They aren't the least bit interested in space travel.
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Much of what North Korea has for rocket tech was stolen from South Korea and China.
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Neither country (Iran or North Korea) have the technical capabilities to develop this tech on their own. Indeed even China's rocket technology was stolen Russian, which in itself is taken from the Germans following WWII.
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This is why the DPRK rockets keep failing. They are bad copies of early Chinese rockets (that also failed a great deal of the time).
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But one thing the north DOES have is nuclear weapons tech (stolen from Pakistan that was stolen from India that was stole from the UK that was given to them by the US that was stolen from Germany following WWII).
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That makes having them have a medium range rocket very dangerous. They could hit much of the world with a nuclear weapon should they get this technology and they WILL use such a weapon if they get it.
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And comparitivly, Iran is stable when you look at the DPRK.
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@Repoman @lee986321 which all seems ridiculous because they could ship a nuke into most American harbors and nobody would know until it was too late.
 @Repoman  @Playanekes  @lee986321 Not completely in disagreement with your statement, but I'd tend to believe that what they 'want' is to present a clear and tangible enemy for their tightly controlled media to present to the citizens. This, in turn, makes many (if not most) of their population dependent upon the government to defend them.Â
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The most unfortunate reality with this type of theocracy is demonstrated by historical precident. Eventually they will need to instigate a war (more than likely with S Korea) in order to regain control once the majority of their citizens become sick and tired of the propoganda and socialist slavery under which they live.
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Shipping a nuke does not do what the DPRK wants.
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This is what they want.
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The DPRK wants to be able to hold the world hostage. Both for their own "defense " (i.e. so no one invades them), and so they can extort out money and relief from the world to take care of their citizenry and to build the world's largest army.
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A shipped nuke could not accomplish that. Would it kill people? Sure, but it would then be the end of the DPRK.Â
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Without the threat of a rocket with a warhead, North Korea does not have the weapon it "needs" to threaten the world to get what it wants. The threat that "a nuke is in your backyard" would not hold water until it went off, then the world would re-0invade the DPRK.
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So there is a political desire for this rocket. And even the Chinese don't want them to have it (otherwise they would have given it to them).
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