Nordkorea

[Skywalker]

U.S. Navy to deploy ships near N. Korea

By ERIC TALMADGE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

ABOARD THE USS CORONADO -- In the first step toward erecting a multi-billion-dollar shield to protect the United States from foreign missiles, the U.S. Navy will begin deploying state-of-the-art destroyers to patrol the waters off North Korea as early as next week.

The mission, to be conducted in the Sea of Japan by ships assigned to the Navy's 7th fleet, will help lay the foundation for a system to detect and intercept ballistic missiles launched by "rogue nations."

Washington hopes to complete the network over the next several years.

"We are on track," Vice Admiral Jonathan Greenert, commander of the 7th Fleet, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday aboard the USS Coronado, which is based just south of Tokyo. "We will be ready to conduct the mission when assigned."

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Japan: North Korea missile moves are only an exercise



TOKYO - The Associated Press
North Korea's strengthening of troops around missile sites is probably a military exercise rather than preparation for a launch, a top Japanese official said on Friday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda also said Japan-North Korea talks would go ahead as planned in Beijing today.

"There are many things needed to launch a missile, but so far we judge that the situation there now is not of that sort," Hosoda told reporters. "We think this was something more like an exercise."

Japan's government convened an emergency meeting Thursday, saying it had information suggesting North Korea might be preparing to test fire a short-range missile.

Intelligence indicated the North was beefing up troops and equipment around launch bases.

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