51.   Japan has long been wary of its communist neighbor and the missile launch greatly increased fears here about the possibility, however remote, of an attack on Japan.

52.   Japanese media, meanwhile, said military ships were being dispatched to the Sea of Japan to monitor any possible missile launch.

53.   Kazak officials long have demanded compensation for the environmental damage from missile launches and tests.

54.   Kyodo said Japanese military ships were being dispatched to the Sea of Japan to monitor any possible missile launch.

55.   Kyodo News said military ships were being dispatched to the Sea of Japan to monitor any possible missile launch.

56.   Meanwhile, a senior military official said the test missile launches that China recently staged near Taiwan were needed to help the country defend itself from a nuclear attack.

57.   Ministry officials said the two agreed that a North Korean missile launch was not imminent.

58.   North Korea also has made widely noted progress in developing longer-range ballistic missiles, although it agreed last fall to suspend missile test launches.

59.   North Korea said Sunday it would ignore U.S. appeals and warnings to scrap its expected missile launch.

60.   NORAD, inside Cheyenne Mountain, monitors the skies for missile launches and air attacks against North America and tracks objects in space to avoid collisions.