The United States would be able to destroy North Korea's long-range missile capabilities if it decides they pose too great a threat, the top US general in South Korea said in an interview released Thursday.

The comments come after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on a visit this week to North Korea's main ally China, warned that Pyongyang was expected to be able to hit the continental United States within five years.

"What we have to be prepared to do is to be able to, number one, deter. But if deterrence doesn't work, be prepared to respond," General Walter Sharp, commander of the US forces in Korea, told the "PBS Newshour" on US public television.

Asked if the United States could destroy North Korea missile sites if it chose to, Sharp said: "The alliance has that, that capability to be able to do that."

North Korea has test-fired three intercontinental ballistic missiles, most recently in April 2009 when one flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific.

Diplomacy with North Korea has been at a standstill, with the United States insisting that the communist state honor its previous commitments under six-nation talks to give up nuclear weapons.

Tensions soared on the Korean peninsula in 2010, when North Korean forces were accused of torpedoing a South Korean vessel and shelling a civilian area.

earlier related report
Gates urges N. Korea to show good faith before new talks
Seoul (AFP) Jan 14, 2011 - Fresh nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea are still possible but only if the communist state ends "dangerous provocations" and shows good faith, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.

Gates, ending an Asian tour with a brief stopover in Seoul, said the process must start with talks between the two Koreas.

Seoul has rejected as insincere Pyongyang's recent dialogue offers, which come less than two months after a deadly bombardment of a South Korean island.

The United States and close ally South Korea also accuse Pyongyang of torpedoing a South Korean warship last March with the loss of 46 lives, a charge it denies.

Gates, speaking before talks with Defence Minister Kim Kwan-Jin, said they would discuss close coordination to deter future provocations. Washington bases 28,500 troops in the South.

Kim said the South expects more provocations this year and must respond "from a position of strength".

Gates castigated the North for its "continued belligerence and repeated provocations" but did not rule out a revival of long-stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations.

"With regard to next steps on North Korea, diplomatic engagement is possible, starting with direct engagement between the DPRK (North Korea) and the South," he said in a statement before the meeting.

"When or if North Korea's action shows a cause to believe that negotiations can be productive and conducted in good faith, then we could see a return to the six-party talks."

However, Gates said Pyongyang's leaders "must stop these dangerous provocations and take concrete steps to show that they will begin meeting their international obligations".

The North quit the aid-for-nuclear disarmament talks in April 2009, a month before staging its second nuclear test.

Pyongyang has expressed willingness to return to the forum grouping the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan. But first it wants a lifting of UN sanctions and a US commitment to discuss a formal peace treaty.

And it fuelled regional security fears in November by disclosing a uranium enrichment plant -- potentially a second route to a nuclear bomb.

The United States, Japan and South Korea say the North must improve relations with the South and show a real commitment to scrapping its nuclear arsenal before the six-party process can resume.

The North Wednesday reopened a cross-border hotline and sought talks on strengthening business projects with South Korea.

But the South stuck to its own conditions for any talks -- that the North take responsibility for provocations and confirm it is serious about scrapping its atomic programme.

Gates also met South Korea's President Lee Myung-Bak, who called for stepped-up efforts this year to rein in the North's nuclear weapons drive.

Lee said it would be more difficult to persuade the North to disarm by 2012, the centenary of the birth of its founder Kim Il-Sung and the year it has set to become a "great, powerful and prosperous" nation.

"As this year is an important time in resolving inter-Korean issues, I hope South Korea and the US will cooperate and do their best to settle the North Korea issue," the president was quoted by his spokeswoman as saying.