2006 North Korean Missile Test
Two rounds of North Korean missile tests were conducted on July 5, 2006. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) reportedly fired at least seven separate missiles. These included two short-range Nodong-2 missiles, one Scud missile and up to two long-range Taepodong-2 missiles; the latter having been estimated by United States intelligence agencies as having a potential range reaching as far as Alaska in its current stage. Some, including Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, believed that North Korea would carry out additional missile tests in the days that followed.
North Korea made its first public acknowledgement of the tests on July 6, through its foreign ministry, describing them as "successful" and part of "regular military drills to strengthen self-defense," insisting that it had the legal right to do so. The country warned of "stronger physical actions" if it were put under pressure by the international community. On July 8, CNN reported that the U.S. had deployed the USS Mustin, a guided missile destroyer, to the Japanese port of Yokosuka, home of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet. A spokeswoman said that the deployment was not related to the test-firings, and it had been previously planned.
Read more about 2006 North Korean Missile Test: Overview, Details, Background, International Response
Famous quotes containing the words north, missile and/or test:
“The compulsion to do good is an innate American trait. Only North Americans seem to believe that they always should, may, and actually can choose somebody with whom to share their blessings. Ultimately this attitude leads to bombing people into the acceptance of gifts.”
—Ivan Illich (b. 1926)
“... the truth is the hardest missile one can be pelted with.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“Experimental work provides the strongest evidence for scientific realism. This is not because we test hypotheses about entities. It is because entities that in principle cannot be ‘observed’ are manipulated to produce a new phenomena
[sic] and to investigate other aspects of nature.”
—Ian Hacking (b. 1936)