WASHINGTON (AP) -- The commander of U.S troops in South Korea said Thursday that short-range missiles recently test-fired by North Korea are "a quantum leap forward" from the communist-led nation's previous missile capabilities.
Appearing before the House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee, Gen. Burwell Bell said the solid fuel missiles the North tested are more reliable and easier to move around than anything the North has produced before. Solid fuel missiles are also more durable and dramatically more accurate than liquid fuel missiles.
U.S. and South Korean officials said North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles Wednesday, unsettling its Asian neighbors, who, along with the United States, are attempting to rid the reclusive, communist-led North of its nuclear weapons program. (Full story)
But Adm. William Fallon, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, told reporters the North may have test-fired up to three solid fuel missiles, though he cautioned that he had not yet seen a detailed report. He said the missiles could reach targets in South Korea, but not beyond.
During the hearing, Bell told lawmakers that while the North appeared to be concentrating on its short-range missile program, estimates showed North Korea had the technological capability to develop missiles that "could reach throughout the continental United States."
Bell also told lawmakers he was confident that his 30,000 troops, together with South Korean soldiers, could turn back a North Korean invasion.
"If the North miscalculated, I am absolutely convinced, in a very strong way, that we have what we need on the peninsula to defeat an attack by North Korea ... quickly," Bell said.
Bell was responding to a hypothetical scenario presented by Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor, who asked how Bell's troops would fare if, simultaneously, China attacked Taiwan, North Korea attacked the South and a terrorist blew up levees in New Orleans, diverting U.S reinforcements and supplies from the Korean Peninsula.
Bell acknowledged that U.S. operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the massive cleanup from Hurricane Katrina made it necessary for America to make sure U.S. troops in other parts of the world were well-supplied. But he said he was confident his troops had enough training and material.
He declined to say at a public hearing how long he thought his troops could last, under Taylor's scenario. He said, however, that the number of days was the same today as it was four years ago, because the U.S. force was smaller and the South Korean troops more competent.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/0 ... index.html