Hawaii, Alaska contemplate coming into
North Korean missile range
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[July 07, 2017]
By Karin Stanton and Jill Burke
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii/WILLOW, Alaska
(Reuters) - Disused military tunnels snake beneath the crater of Diamond
Head, out of sight of the tourists lounging near the volcano on Waikiki
Beach but very much on the mind of Gene Ward, a state representative
from Honolulu.
Alarmed by North Korea's latest missile tests and claims that its newly
developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) can carry a large
nuclear warhead, Ward believes it is time to refurbish the tunnels as
civilian shelters in case of a North Korean attack.
"We've had wake-up calls before but what happened on July 3 is shaking
us out of bed," said Ward, referring to Pyongyang's latest missile test.
North Korea's state media said the missile reached an altitude of 2,802
km (1,741 miles), and some Western experts said that meant it might have
a range of more than 8,000 km (4,970 miles), which would put Hawaii and
Alaska within striking distance.
Americans from the Alaskan tundra to the tropics of Hawaii have had
years to contemplate North Korea's accelerating missile program, which
has generated both angst and shrugs given that the reclusive
government's true capabilities and intentions remain unknown.
Ward, a Republican in a Democratic-majority state, said he supports
reviving state legislation that would reopen the bunkers built by the
U.S. military even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941
that prompted U.S. entry into World War Two.
The tunnels are among many military bunkers and batteries carved into
Oahu as part of a buildup that began after Hawaii became a U.S.
territory in 1898 and continued through World War Two.
If Hawaiians have a stronger sense of vulnerability stemming from Pearl
Harbor, then some Alaskan seem largely unperturbed.
Doyle Holmes, a retired U.S. Navy pilot and hardware store owner who
lives about 50 miles (80 km) north of Anchorage, sums up his advice to
fellow Alaskans this way: "Go back to sleep and don't keep worrying
about it."
Holmes, 79, a Republican Party activist who retired in March from the
Alaska State Defense Force, said his attitude is rooted in his abiding
faith in the U.S. military's ability to counter any attempt by North
Korea to strike American soil.
"It would be self-annihilation if they launch a missile at the United
States," Holmes said.
"I think we are going to be OK. I went through the nuclear fallout
classes and the bomb shelter stuff in the 1950s and 1960s," he said,
referring to U.S. preparations for a potential Cold War-era Soviet
attack that never came.
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Oahu Civil Defense Hazard Mitigation officer Havinne Okamura
monitors global events in real time at the Civil Defense command
bunker in Diamond Head Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii, July 6, 2017.
REUTERS/Hugh Gentry
Last week the U.S. Senate's Armed Services Committee proposed $8.5
billion of funding for the Missile Defense Agency to strengthen
homeland, regional and space missile defenses.
Some of this would pay for 28 missile interceptors to augment 32
already at a base in Fort Greely, Alaska, a Hill staffer said. The
department already had plans to place 40 interceptors at the
Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) battery by the end of 2017.
Some experts on Northeast Asian political and security issues
believe political leaders and the media have been too quick to
qualify North Korea as a nuclear power, questioning whether it can
genuinely delivery a functional nuclear warhead with accuracy or
whether North Korea would risk certain U.S. retaliation.
But Denny Roy, a senior fellow with the East-West Center think tank
in Honolulu, said the public discourse had definitely changed with
the latest episode.
"The milestone is that Americans seem to believe that North Korea
can hit the U.S. homeland, whereas up until now it was all
theoretical and potential," Roy said.
Hawaiians are mindful that the islands could make an enticing target
given their large concentration of U.S. military power, including
the Pacific Command responsible for U.S. forces in Asia.
"I'm not building a bunker yet, but we definitely have to stay
vigilant," said Reece Bonham, 24, a retail manager in the city of
Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Caelen McHale, 21, a University of Hawaii business management major,
was skeptical of North Korea's claims and confident in U.S. military
power, but still worried how the United States might respond.
"Our administration is scarier than North Korea's," she said.
(Reporting by Karin Stanton in Hawaii, Jill Burke in Alaska, Daniel
Trotta in New York and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Writing by
Steve Gorman and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Daniel Wallis and James
Dalgleish)
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