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3 March 2006 |
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http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/... |
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The U.S. has decided to beef up its missile defense systems over fears that North Korea and Iran are continuing to develop their missile technologies. The Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) budget for fiscal 2007 rates North Korea as "nuclear-capable" and says it has not given up ambitions to develop a long-range ballistic missile. The MDA estimates that North Korea's Rodong missiles have a range of 1,300 km, enough to reach U.S. military bases in South Korea and Japan. It says the North is also poised to test Taepodong missiles, which the CIA believes could reach the U.S. mainland with a nuclear payload. As for Iran, the MDA says the country continues to develop improved Shahab-3 missiles, also with a range of 1,300 km, and will have the capability to develop intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBMs by 2015. In response, the MDA is set to deploy up to 20 ground-based interceptors in Alaska and station another two in California in 2007.
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