JAPAN: U.S. reconnaissance flights continue to take off from southern Japan as North Korea tensions mount
Record ID:
463438
JAPAN: U.S. reconnaissance flights continue to take off from southern Japan as North Korea tensions mount
- Title: JAPAN: U.S. reconnaissance flights continue to take off from southern Japan as North Korea tensions mount
- Date: 5th June 2009
- Summary: KADENA, JAPAN (JUNE 4, 2009) (REUTERS) WIDE OF KADENA U.S. FORCES AIRBASE FOUR F15 AND TWO F22 RAPTORS PARKED ON AIRSTRIP WIND FLAG VARIOUS OF RAPTORS TAKING OFF (3 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF RAPTORS LANDING (5 SHOTS) SURVEILLANCE E-3 AWACS TAKING OFF A RECONNAISSANCE EP-3E ARIES AIRCRAFT TAKING OFF
- Embargoed: 20th June 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA9ZGR4K6EDV9AX4CY2AFXEJEXK
- Story Text: U.S. surveillance aircraft and combat planes activity continued at a high level at U.S. Kadena Airbase in southern Japan on Thursday (June 4) as fears grew that North Korea is about to test a long-range missile.
Diplomats in New York, in closed-door negotiations for more than a week, have yet to come to an agreement on a U.N. Security Council resolution that would broaden sanctions imposed on North Korea after its first nuclear test in October 2006.
The hermit state's nuclear test last week, putting it closer to having a working atomic weapon, has already prompted U.S. and South Korean forces to raise their military alert for the divided peninsula.
North Korea, which began ratcheting up regional tensions when it fired a long-ranged rocket over Japan in April, also test-fired a barrage of short-range missiles last week and threatened to attack the South.
A South Korean newspaper reported that Pyongyang was preparing another long-range missile launch.
However last week, a U.S. official said initial American testing was "inconclusive" in confirming whether a nuclear device was detonated and more tests were needed.
The Vienna-based Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation said the blast North Korea asserts was its second nuclear test since 2006 resembled both an explosion and an earthquake. But it said absolute proof required detection of radioactive particles and noble gases, expected this week at the earliest.
U.S. nuclear experts are cautious about the results, pending the release of more data, but unanimous about the proliferation concerns raised by the North Korean test.
Based on the U.S. Geological Survey's report of a 4.7 magnitude quake near the test site, the North Korean explosion yield was in the range of two to four kilotons, estimated a Stanford University nuclear scientist. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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