Official: U.S. could hit N. Korean missile

WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- The United States could knock down a North Korean missile but a Pentagon official said he doesn't view a planned North Korean missile test as a threat.

U.S. Navy Adm. Timothy Keating also told the U.S. Senate Armed Forces Committee that U.S. intelligence can't determine whether North Korea's planned April launch will be a communications satellite or a long-range missile, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Keating and two other commanders said they think the North Koreans will launch a satellite because announcements from Pyongyang included coordinates of the ocean area where the booster rocket likely will fall.

"It is a normal notification process, which they didn't do in 2006, when they attempted a launch from the same facility," Keating said.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, told the panel a satellite launch "will help advance (North Korea's) technology of long-range missiles."

U.S. Army Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of U.S. forces in Korea, said North Korea's missile ability "is indeed a threat." He said the launch runs counter to a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution prohibiting such tests by North Korea after one exploded shortly after being fired and called on North Korea to call it off.