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WASHINGTON: The US military has moved additional defences to Hawaii in case North Korea launches a missile towards the Pacific island chain, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.
"We do have some concerns if they were to launch a missile... in the direction of Hawaii," Gates told a news conference.
Gates said he had approved the deployment of THAAD missile defence weaponry to the US state and radar "to provide support" in case of a possible North Korean launch.
And he said that ground-based defences in Alaska were also at the ready.
"I would just say I think we are in a good position should it become necessary to protect American territory," he said.
The Theatre High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weaponry, coupled with the radar system, are designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.
US and South Korean officials have said North Korea might be readying another ballistic missile test after three previous launches in 1998, 2006 and this year.
Pyongyang said its latest April 5 launch put a satellite into orbit, while the United States and its allies labeled it a disguised test of a Taepodong-2 missile theoretically capable of reaching Alaska.
But North Korea has yet to demonstrate it has the ability to build a nuclear warhead that could be fitted onto the tip of one of its ballistic missiles.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have mounted after Pyongyang carried out its second nuclear test last month.
US media reported on Thursday that the US military was tracking a flagged North Korean ship suspected of ferrying banned weapons cargo in violation of a UN Security Council resolution adopted last week.
The ship, the Kang Nam, departed a port in North Korea on Wednesday and appears to be heading toward Singapore, according to media reports.
The latest UN financial and shipping sanctions are designed to choke off revenue and disrupt transfers of arms and nuclear technology in and out of North Korea.
The measures do not authorise military force to board North Korean ships, but allow for the US Navy and its allies to ask to inspect North Korean vessels and ships flagged from other countries suspected of carrying banned cargo.
"We intend to vigorously enforce the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874," said Admiral Mike Mullen, the top US military officer, at a joint news conference with Gates.
Mullen sidestepped a question as to whether the military was tracking the North Korean vessel.
Analysts say North Korea could get around the shipping measures by transporting banned cargo by air and exploiting provisions that prohibit the use of military force.
However, experts say the financial sanctions could prove more effective.
On Saturday, the North vowed to build more atomic bombs and start enriching uranium for a new nuclear weapons programme, in response to the UN sanctions.
The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun meanwhile reported that Tokyo's defence ministry believes that North Korea might now be planning to launch a two-stage or three-stage Taepodong-2 missile towards either Japan's Okinawa island, Guam or Hawaii.
But the ministry said launches toward Okinawa or Guam were "extremely unlikely" because the first-stage booster could drop into waters off China, agitating Beijing, or hit western Japanese territory, the report said.
If the missile were fired in the direction of Hawaii, the booster could drop in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) well before the missile's remaining part flies over northern Japan and towards North America.
In Washington, a State Department official said the US administration was exploring five-way talks with China, Russia, Japan and South Korea to put pressure on North Korea to change tack on its nuclear and missile programmes.
The idea was raised when President Barack Obama hosted talks at the White House Tuesday with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, a senior official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
- AFP/yb
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