Our missiles can strike you, N Korea warns Japan

North Korea today warned Japan against raising tensions in the region, saying that it was within range of the communist state’s missiles.

“Japan should behave with discretion, clearly mindful that it is also within the striking range of the DPRK,” said Pyongyang’s official news agency KCNA, using the initials of North Korea’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The news agency claimed that Japan’s launch of its first spy satellites in late March proved what North Korea viewed as a revival of “militarism” in Japan.

“They are now keen to make a good use of the Iraqi war and the situation in its surrounding countries for seizing an opportunity to reinvade Asia,” KCNA said.

On March 28, Japan launched its first spy satellites as part of a plan to monitor North Korea’s missile development and suspected nuclear weapons programmes.

The launch prompted an angry warning from North Korea that Tokyo had committed a hostile act that would spark a regional arms race.

North Korea has hinted it might test-fire a long-range missile in response, but both South Korean and Japanese officials have said there was no indication such a launch was being prepared.

Japan’s satellite program was prompted by the 1998 launch of a North Korean Taepodong ballistic missile that flew over Japan’s main island and crashed into the Pacific Ocean just short of Alaska.

The test shocked Japan and demonstrated that virtually the entire country was within range of North Korean warheads. North Korea claims it was a satellite launch, but that claim never has been substantiated.