Canberra, Feb 26: North Korea is believed to be developing missiles with the range to reach Australia, defence minister Robert Hill said today. Hill told reporters here that although he did not believe the Stalinist state had yet reached the stage of testing such missiles, its effort to get them was a potential threat. "We don't believe they've tested a missile that would reach Australia at this time, but we certainly believe they have missile programmes underway which would have that range," he said. Defence analysts say North Korea has long-range Taepodong-2 missiles which could be capable of reaching parts of the continental United States. Earlier this month, North Korea said it could strike at US targets anywhere in the world.


Releasing a review of national security, Hill said US work on missile defences was an important priority in dealing with "rogue states" such as North Korea.

The review calls for a rebalancing of Australia's defence forces to meet the twin threats of terrorism and rogue states with weapons of mass destruction which have already forced Canberra to put Australian troops on a higher state of readiness.

While the threat of a military attack or invasion had decreased over the past few years, the threat of a terrorist strike had increased following September 11 and last year's Bali bombings which claimed more than 190 lives including 88 Australians.

Bureau Report