US warns a North Korean launch would be 'provocative'

WASHINGTON: The US Defense Department warned on Monday that a North Korean launch of a long-range missile would be a "provocative act."   

"There are reports they may be preparing for a long-range missile launch," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.   

"The United States government as a whole has been consulting with allies in the region and has made clear than a North Korean missile launch would be a provocative act," he said.

Whitman noted that the United States has limited missile defenses but would not say whether it intends to use them against a North Korean missile launch.   

However, he pointedly used the term "launch" rather than "test" to describe the North Korean preparations and said Pyongyang's intentions were not clear.   

"A test would imply that you would know the intentions," he said. "We don't know the intentions."

North Korea last tested a long range missile in 1998 when it fired a two-stage Taepodong missile over Japan, causing an international furore.   

It declared a moratorium on flight tests of long range missiles in 1999 but said in 2005 that it would no longer keep to it.   

As early as 2004, US intelligence reported that North Korea may have a Taepodong-2 missile capable of reaching the United States with a nuclear-weapon sized payload ready for flight testing.   

US military intelligence believes a two-stage Taepodong-2 missile could reach the United States, while a three-stage Taepodong-2 could range the entire continental United States.