Rumsfeld: US was ready to intercept NK missile in 2006

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the U.S. intended to shoot down North Korea`s intercontinental ballistic missile fired on July 4, 2006, if it was headed toward the U.S.

The missile, however, fell into the Pacific Ocean just 42 seconds after launch.

In his memoir "Known and Unknown" released Tuesday, Rumsfeld said then President George W. Bush told him to issue an order to intercept the North`s Taepodong long-range missile.

Rumsfeld said he pulled over his car while going on vacation on the afternoon of U.S. Independence Day in 2006 when a military officer accompanying him connected him to Timothy Keating, then commander of the U.S. Northern Command, and James Cartwright, then commander of the U.S. Strategic Command.

They told Rumsfeld that North Korea had just launched a Taepodong missile, advising him to issue an order to intercept if its trajectory was toward the U.S. The former defense secretary added that interception would have prompted the North to retaliate.

Before the launch, Rumsfeld said he was unsure at which target the North Koreans would fire the missile, what kind of warhead they would mount, and how far they would get the projectile flying. He wrote the U.S. military and intelligence believed that Alaska and Hawaii were definitely within the missile`s range.

He recalled that he did not have to issue an order to intercept because the missile plunged into North Korea`s territorial waters just 42 seconds after launch.

yhchoi65@donga.com