Thread: More N. Korea launches possible

Officials: More N. Korea launches possible
Pyongyang tests 7 missiles; U.N. Security Council meets
(CNN) -- North Korea may launch more missiles in the coming hours, U.S. and Australian officials warned Wednesday, even as the United Nations Security Council met to consider sanctions against Pyongyang.
North Korea said it was prepared to deal with any U.S. challenge to its security, hours after its test-firing of seven missiles ignited international concern.
An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council began Wednesday morning to take up the tests.
Japan, the United States and Britain prepared a resolution demanding that nations withhold all money, goods and technology that could benefit North Korea's missile program, according to a Reuters news agency report. (Watch how missile tests shock world -- 2:19)
Before the closed-door meeting, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the 15-nation Security Council must send a "strong and unanimous signal" that North Korea's launches were unacceptable, The Associated Press reported.
China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya, quoted by AP, said, "We are concerned about what happened yesterday. If all council members feel that some appropriate action is needed by the council then we will see."
An announcement on Pyongyang's Korean Central Broadcasting Station said North Korea's "strong war deterrent" had kept the country at peace and that it was prepared to respond to any moves by Washington, AP reported.
The broadcast did not mention the missile tests, but said, "Now, our military and people are fully prepared to cope with any provocation and challenge by U.S. imperialists." (Watch what North Korea's neighbors have to say about tests -- 2:2
North Korea fired seven missiles in all Wednesday, one long-range and five shorter-range missiles beginning shortly after 3:30 a.m. (2:30 p.m. Tuesday ET) and a seventh missile around 5:20 p.m. (4:20 a.m. ET) Wednesday.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said Wednesday morning that North Korea has additional missiles that could be launched in the next day.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also said more launches could be coming, AP reported.
"We think they probably do intend to launch more missiles in the next day or two," AP quoted Downer as saying after he phoned North Korea's ambassador to protest the launches.
The missile causing the most concern, the Taepodong-2, which some analysts say is capable of hitting the western United States, was fired in the morning. It failed after about 40 seconds and landed in the sea about 200 miles (321 kilometers) west of Japan, U.S. officials said.
The short-range missiles also all landed in the Sea of Japan.
U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley described the missile launches as "provocative behavior," but said they posted no immediate threat to the United States. (Watch experts discuss the North Korean threat -- 3:35)
President Bush met with Hadley, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the tests were going on, a senior administration official said. (Watch White House reaction to Pyongyang's 'provocative' act -- 1:17)
Hadley said Washington dispatched Christopher Hill to consult with U.S. allies in Asia after the tests.
Hill has been the lead U.S. negotiator in six-party talks -- which includes the two Koreas, Japan, China and Russia -- aimed at convincing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.
The United States and Japan had urged Pyongyang to stick with the moratorium on long-range missile tests it declared in 1999, after it fired a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan in 1998.
Washington and North Korea's Asian neighbors have been trying to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear program since 2002.

China urges calm
A spokesman for South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said after a National Security Council meeting Wednesday that North Korea must take responsibility for events resulting from its firing of the missiles.
"That has only served to strengthen the position of the hard-liners toward North Korea, will deepen the country's isolation and give an excuse for a military buildup in the region," Roh spokesman Suh Ju-suk said.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, in a brief statement posted on the ministry's Web site, expressed concern over North Korea's missile tests and urged all parties to remain calm, AP reported.
Some analysts said the tests were also an effort by impoverished North Korea to redirect attention to the six-party talks.
"North Korea's point here is that they have capabilities, growing capabilities, and that they should be taken in a very serious way," said Wendy Sherman, a former State Department official who held talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during the Clinton administration.

Jim Walsh, a national security analyst at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also said the tests appeared to be an attempt to focus on North Korean demands in the six-party negotiations.

Technology 'difficult'
But Walsh said the tests "do not represent an immediate military threat to the United States."
"It's very difficult technology. They very clearly have not mastered it," he said. "Most estimates are they will not master it for another 10 years."
Intelligence agencies had been watching preparations for the long-range test, but the shorter-range missiles were launched from a different site.
At least four of those missiles were variants of the Soviet-era Scud series, with ranges estimated from about 100 to more than 600 miles (160 to 965 kilometers).
CNN's David Ensor, Barbara Starr, Kyra Phillips, Elise Labott, Justine Redman, Atika Shubert, Sohn Jie-Ae, Stan Wilson and Ed Henry contributed to this report
Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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I've been keeping a very close watch on this for obvious (and not so obvious ) reasons.