North Korea Test-Fires Two Missiles

[Ryan Ruck]

North Korea Test-Fires Two Missiles

North Korea fired two surface-to-air missiles near its border with China and they apparently landed in North Korean territory, a Japanese news agency reported, citing security sources. Kyodo News agency cited an "Asian security source" as saying the missiles were fired by mistake in the direction of China during a military drill, and the missiles appeared to have landed in North Korean territory.

But the agency also cited a "Western military source" as saying the short-range missiles were test-fired in an eastern direction from the North's eastern coast, toward the Sea of Japan.

The agency said it couldn't immediately reconcile the conflicting reports. The exact time of their launch was unknown, Kyodo said.

[Brian Baldwin]

I've never really seen NK as much of a threat. Even Russia and China both acknowledge that Ernie the Muppet (as Mal calls their leader) is a bit off his nut so I think it is unlikely we have much to worry about there for the anon. Iran is the primary enemy we the U.S. should be focused on right now. We can't afford to let NK distract us.

[Ryan Ruck]

Unfortunately, like all the other brush fires the TAA starts, we will have to pay attention to it. It is all part of their "death by a thousand cuts" strategy.

This is largely because Kim Jong Chia-Pet is just itching to be able to press the button to launch nuke missiles that can hit, at the least, our major West Coast cities. Given a few more years, they will indeed have this capability thanks to our Russian and Chinese friends.

[Brian Baldwin]

Even were that possible today I'd say they would shoot everything they had right at Japan. The Chinese and Koreans hate Japan worse than they hate anyone. Ever read a book called The Rape of Nanking? To this day they can't let it go. It is going to be interesting to see whom NK will fire on first...

[Fourth Horseman]

Originally Posted by Ryan Ruck

This is largely because Kim Jong Chia-Pet is just itching to be able to press the button to launch nuke missiles that can hit, at the least, our major West Coast cities.

What would he have to gain by doing this? (Other than a lot of really smooth areas in North Korea)? Or do you just figure that he is so whacked that he'd do it for spite, not caring about the consequences?

[Brian Baldwin]

He's as nutty as a fruit cake FH. Its hard to know what he's going to do one moment to the next. The weird thing is he could even decide to fire a nuke at China or South Korea either one. He's a rabid dog who's son is even worse. A korean decended special forces sniper should be sent there to take those two out if you ask me. Let them pick up the pieces as they will when it's done.

[Neue Regel]

Although I consider Kim Jong a ego-centric megalomaniac, I don't think he'd do anything stupid unless he thinks we are on the verge of doing him in. As crazy as he seems, he loves his pampered self indulgent life. He has carved out a small little enclave of gourmet dinners, exotic liquor, fine young women, and decadence at the expense of the entire rest of the nation. I think he's just smart enough to know not to endanger that unless he finds himself on the verge of being ousted. That's where I see the real risk with him. Once he sees his house is crumbling, it's well within his personality profile to be willing to burn it all if he can't live there anymore. He's just the type that as a last act of defiance, to inflict maximum damage on his way out. That's what scares me about him.

[Ryan Ruck]

Originally Posted by Fourth Horseman

What would he have to gain by doing this? (Other than a lot of really smooth areas in North Korea)? Or do you just figure that he is so whacked that he'd do it for spite, not caring about the consequences?

He would have the same things to gain that the rest of the Axis does by the destruction of the US.

You see, my opinion on North Korea is that Kim Jong-Il would love nothing more than to launch missiles at us but, because he is one of the TAA's pawns he won't until they tell him to (I don't believe there is a whole lot he does do without high level Axis approval).

I suspect that if North Korea launches nuclear ICBMs at us, it will be along side of those from Russia and China (and likely Iran and others who are able to get a hold of ICBM/IRBM tech). This way, there is no one centralized attack for us to retaliate against which will reduce our own nuclear response.

[Rick Donaldson]

Neighbors say North Korea readying missile for launch

AP , SEOUL
Saturday, May 20, 2006,Page 1

North Korea moved a missile to a launch site this month but there has been no credible intelligence yet that the country is preparing to test-fire it, South Korean and Japanese officials said yesterday.

Reports that North Korea may be getting ready to test launch a type of ballistic missile that some analysts say could reach the US come close on the heels of new moves by Washington to find ways to improve relations with the communist state.

They also come as the US and others renew calls for the North to return to multinational talks on ending its nuclear programs, and as Washington wields pressure through sanctions and other methods.

But analysts said test firing a long-range missile would drastically escalate tension in Northeast Asia and likely set back international efforts to persuade North Korea to disarm and open up to the outside world.

Two Japanese media outlets reported yesterday that movement has been observed near a missile base in northeastern North Korea since earlier this month, quoting unidentified South Korean government officials who cited satellite photographs.

Japan's public television broadcaster NHK reported the officials said a missile, possibly a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, had been brought to the site.

US officials say the a 35m-long Taepodong-2 has a firing range of 15,000km that could reach as far as the US mainland.

Kyodo News agency had a similar report.

South Korean and Japanese officials said yesterday they could not confirm a Taepodong-2 has been moved to the site.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso told a parliamentary committee the government was aware of the North's missile movement, but not much else.

"In fact, we understand that it [the missile] has been brought to the site," he said. "But we are not sure about any subsequent moves. We are collecting information. The general information we have now is conflicting."

A South Korean Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity, citing ministry policy, that the government was seeking details.

"The government is closely monitoring and making many-sided efforts to confirm, but [such signs] haven't reached a credible level," the official said.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service said it was checking the reports.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said his government didn't expect an immediate test.

[Rick Donaldson]

North Korea missile site under observation
AP
Saturday, May 20, 2006

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Activity detected this month at a North Korean missile site was being closely watched yesterday, but officials in northeast Asia expressed doubts that a test launch was imminent.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said the North has transported a missile to the facility, without specifying what kind.

Media in Japan reported it was a ballistic type that some analysts believe could reach the United States.

"In fact, we understand that it (the missile) has been brought to the site," Aso said in Parliament. "But we are not sure about any subsequent moves."

While North Korea's intentions remained unclear, any test-firing would escalate tension in the region and could deal a blow to international efforts to get the communist state to disarm, analysts said.

The North last fired a long-range missile in 1998, sending shock waves through the region - particularly Japan, over whose territory the Taepodong-1 missile flew without warning before landing in the Pacific Ocean.

Japan's NHK television reported Friday that movements were seen near a missile base starting earlier this month, quoting unidentified South Korean government officials who cited satellite photographs.

The report said the 35-metre-long (116-foot) missile brought to the site in the country's northeast was possibly a Taepodong-2.

NHK said if the missile is an advanced version of the Taepodong 2, it would have a firing range of 15,000 kilometres (9,300 miles) that could reach as far as the US mainland, citing unidentified US government officials.
Japan's Kyodo News agency had a similar report.

An official at South Korea's Foreign Ministry said on condition of anonymity, citing ministry policy, that the government was "closely monitoring and making many-sided efforts to confirm, but (such signs) haven't reached a credible level."

At a briefing in Tokyo, Shinzo Abe, the chief government spokesman, acknowledged that Japan has been gathering intelligence, but stressed a firing wasn't likely anytime soon.
"At this point we do not feel there is imminent danger of a missile launch," said Abe.

North Korea announced a moratorium on long-range missile tests in 1999, but has since test-fired short-range missiles many times, including two in early March.

[Rick Donaldson]

NKOREA-MISSILE
'North Korea has been ready for new missile test since 2005'
BEIJING, MAY 22 (KYODO)

North Korea has been able to test-fire a new long-range ballistic missile that could reach parts of the United States since last year, after completing most preparations that summer, military sources said today.

A Western source in Beijing said Pyongyang successfully tested the engine for the Taepodong-2 missile, which is believed to have a range of 3,500-6,000 kilometres, in 2004.

Little has become public knowledge about the Taepodong-2 missile, including the extent of its development. The missile -- believed capable of reaching Alaska, Hawaii and the western continental United States -- has never been tested.

Japanese officials said Friday that North Korea may be preparing to launch a long-range missile, but that the threat was not imminent.

Citing information from the US forces in Japan, a source in Tokyo said Friday that increased movement of trailers and other vehicles was detected near a missile test site in northeastern North Korea.

North Korea shocked the world in August 1998, when it test-fired the 2,500-km range Taepodong-1, part of which flew over Japan and into the Pacific. Pyongyang said it was a rocket for sending a satellite into orbit.

Pyongyang has refrained from testing medium- or long-range missiles since then, abiding by a moratorium agreed to with the United States in 1999. But it has test-fired short-range missiles in recent years.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in a bilateral declaration in September 2002 to extend the moratorium past 2003.

The first Western source said North Korea had decided in 1995 to develop the Taepodong-1 in 2000 and the Taepodong-2 in 2008, and that the Taepodong-1 had been tested two years ahead of that plan.

"It is not impossible to test the second one, also two years earlier" than planned, the source said.

On Friday, the United States urged North Korea not to break the missile-launch moratorium, saying it would be of major concern to the international community.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said a missile launch would throw into question North Korea's desire to engage with the international community.

It would "contravene the letter and the spirit of the September 19 joint statement" issued by the six parties to the talks on the North's nuclear ambitions, he said.

In the statement, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear programmes, rejoin an international nuclear treaty and allow nuclear inspections in return for aid and security affirmations.

But the talks have stalled since the representatives of the six countries -- the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia -- met in November, with Pyongyang refusing to return to the negotiating table.

North Korea has sought the lifting of US sanctions on entities allegedly laundering money and counterfeiting for North Korea as a condition for returning to the talks. The United States says the sanctions are a law enforcement matter unrelated to the nuclear talks.

[Rick Donaldson]

N.Korea may be preparing missile launch: reports

By George Nishiyama

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea may be preparing to launch a long-range ballistic missile that could reach parts of the United States, Japanese media reports said on Friday, but Japan's government said it did not believe a launch was imminent.


North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (2nd L) is seen alongside North Korean soldiers in North Korea, in this undated photo released by Korea News Service April 8, 2006. The United States is open to discussions with North Korea on a peace treaty at the same time as six-country talks on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear programs, a U.S. official said on Thursday. REUTERS/Korea News Service


Quoting unidentified South Korean government officials, public broadcaster NHK said satellite pictures showed there had been signs since early this month around a site in northeastern North Korea that pointed to a possible firing in the near future.

Analysts have said, though, that development of a multiple-stage version of a ballistic missile that can take payloads deep into the continental United States is years away.

Japan's top government spokesman, Shinzo Abe, said he could not comment on specific security issues, but added, "At the moment, we do not believe that a launch is imminent."

Asked by reporters if the situation posed a threat to Japan's national security, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said, "Japan maintains its security through deterrence under the Japan-U.S. security alliance and I believe North Korea knows that."

He added he did not believe the situation was serious.

The latest reports come amid a deadlock in six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear programs, and ahead of a visit to China next week by the chief U.S. negotiator to the talks that involve the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China.

The United States said a missile launch could heighten worries over North Korea's weapons and expose an unwillingness in Pyongyang to heed international concern over its military programs. Continued...

"If, in fact, North Korea did launch a long-range missile, it would be a real source of concern to the international community," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

The concern would be over "what it says about North Korea and North Korea's desire to engage with the rest of the world and to address some of the concerns that the rest of the world has had about their behavior," he added.

North Korea has said in numerous official media reports that it is building a nuclear deterrent to counter U.S. hostility. The United States believes North Korea has one or two nuclear bombs and the ability to build more.

The United States said on Thursday that Washington was open to discussions with North Korea on a peace treaty at the same time as the six-party nuclear talks, but that Pyongyang must return to the negotiating table first.

North Korea has long demanded a peace treaty to replace the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Some experts detected in the U.S. stance at least a slight change in emphasis designed to entice Pyongyang back to the table and keep Asian allies from blaming Washington for the moribund diplomacy.

NHK said the missile appeared to be a Taepodong-2, which previous reports have said has a range of more than 4,200 miles , making it capable of hitting Alaska with a light payload.

Quoting Japanese government sources, Japan's Kyodo news agency also said a launch could be imminent and the missile was probably a Taepodong-2.

A report in March by the California-based Center for Nonproliferation Studies, a nongovernmental organization, said North Korea did not have an operational missile that could hit the continental United States.

North Korea shocked the world in August 1998 when it fired a Taepodong missile that flew over Japan before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Saul Hudson in Washington)

< Previous 1 | 2 | 3 Next >

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

[Rick Donaldson]

Once he sees his house is crumbling, it's well within his personality profile to be willing to burn it all if he can't live there anymore. He's just the type that as a last act of defiance, to inflict maximum damage on his way out. That's what scares me about him.

Basically, what you've said here is he has a "Nero Complex".

In 62, at Tigellinus' instigation, a series of treason laws were put to deadly use against anyone considered a threat. In 64 A.D. a great fire left much of the city in ruins, and while it is not certain that Nero himself had the fires set, it is true that his ambitious building campaign, which followed the fires (and in particular the construction of the Domus Aurea), represented to many a private selfishness at a time when public reconstruction was most needed. In 65 A.D. Nero's artistic inclinations, present since his accession, became truly public, and in a display which shocked conservative tastes he appeared on stage and sang for audiences.

http://www.roman-emperors.org/nero.htm

Memmi gives the ambivalence that the colonialist experiences the term "Nero Complex" (53). The more the colonialist oppresses the colonized, the more he realizes the atrocity of the role he has chosen. His hatred of the usurped grows. He wants the colonized to disappear because their existence leads him to act the role of usurper. Yet, "the colonialist realizes that without the colonized, the colony would no longer have any meaning. This intolerable contradiction fills him with a rage, a loathing, always ready to be loosed on the colonized" (66).

http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Memmi.html

[Sean Osborne]

North Korea is about to launch a Taepo Dong-II ICBM. This missile can strike CONUS.

[Rick Donaldson]

Yeah, we know about it This time, I'm on this one.

Rick

[Sean Osborne]

Yet another stage arrived on the North Korean launch site at Musudan-ri when I made my post on Wednesday which indicates to me might be a third stage for the Taepo-Dong II missile. Total height for a 3-stage Taepo-Dong II is about 50 meters/164 feet, so will have to wait for imagery to verify this. A 2-stage Taepo-Dong II is 46m/150 ft, and a single stage is just 32m/104 ft. With a 1600 lb nuke warhead perched atop the missile it's got a range of about 2,330 miles which can hit the western USA.

This ICBM is virtually identical to the Iranian Shahab-5.

That a North Korean ICBM test is imminent is a no-brainer, but I have to wonder if this isn't an operational test for the Iranian's as well. I believe it is both.

[Rick Donaldson]

North Korea Preparing Test for Missile With Potential to Hit U.S.
Friday, June 16, 2006


WASHINGTON — North Korea is accelerating preparations for testing a missile that has the potential to strike the United States, a U.S. government official said Friday. A test of the Taepodong-2 long-range missile may be imminent, the official said.

The official agreed to speak but only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

The official said the Bush administration is very concerned about activities that point toward a test, but declined to elaborate.

Japanese and South Korean officials also have expressed concern in recent days about the reported North Korean missile launch activities. Kyodo News agency in Japan reported that an additional rocket section had arrived at a North Korean launch site within the past two days.

In Tokyo, the Japanese government responded to news reports about a possible test by warning that any such step would jeopardize the country's security.

The reports of a possible launch come after a prolonged hiatus in six-party nuclear disarmament talks designed to create a Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons.

Persistent efforts by the United States and other members of the group to persuade North Korea to resume the discussions have not been successful. There have been no discussions since last November.

[Rick Donaldson]

Possible North Korea Missile Tests Worry Diplomats
Wednesday, June 14, 2006

WASHINGTON — South Korea's ambassador said Tuesday there are some indications that North Korea is preparing for a test launch of a long-range ballistic missile.

"We see the signs that they are moving in that direction," Ambassador Lee Tae-sik said.

He said the indications were based on intelligence but did not elaborate. He added that the prospect of a North Korean test was "very worrisome."

CountryWatch: North Korea

Lee held out the possibility that the apparent test preparations could be a ploy designed to get U.S. attention. It was best, he said, not to "make a conclusion" that the launch would happen.

"We cannot rule out the possibility that at the last moment, it (North Korea) will change its mind," Lee said.

He spoke following a presentation at the Nixon Center, a private research group.

A missile test would add a new dimension to the North Korean issue. In recent years, the United States and four Asian partners have been trying to persuade the North to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. The six-party discussions have made little headway. None have been held since last November.

On the missile question, a U.S. government official agreed in a telephone interview that there is reason to believe that the North is preparing for a missile test. He offered no details.

The official asked not to be named because his information was based on intelligence information.

He did not dispute news accounts that said the Taepodong-2 missile which Pyongyang may launch has the potential to strike the United States.

North Korea has been under a self-imposed ban on testing of long-range missiles since 1999. It agreed to take that step during a period of relative warmth in the country's relations with the United States.

In 1998, North Korea touched off a crisis in Northeast Asia by launching an intermediate range missile that flew over Japan.

The North's reported test preparations are causing deep concern in South Korea. Last week, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon called on the communist country not to do anything to damage relations.

"South Korea and the United States have forged a consensus that North Korea should not take steps — such as test-firing a missile — that would worsen the situation," Ban told a news briefing.

[Rick Donaldson]

This is the place to watch for ythe next few weeks in regards to what is happening in Korea. These spying missions, the various saber rattling that China is doing against Japan, and the fact that DPRK is getting ready to test these missiles is enough to make everyone antsy.

North Korea: U.S. Conducting Spy Flights
Sunday, June 11, 2006


SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Sunday that a U.S. spy plane conducted aerial espionage missions against the communist nation three times last week and accused Washington of preparing to attack.

An overseas-based RC-135 plane flew above waters claimed by the North on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to spy on strategic targets, the North's official Korean Central News Agency quoted the country's air force command as saying in a report.

It called the flights "a wanton infringement" of North Korea's sovereignty and a violation of international law.

"The reality goes to clearly show how frantically the U.S. imperialist warmongers are working to ignite a war of aggression, openly crying out for a pre-emptive attack" on North Korea, the report said.

The North routinely accuses the U.S. of conducting spy flights. The U.S. military doesn't comment, although it acknowledges monitoring North Korean military activity.

[Rick Donaldson]

U.S., Japan Formally Kill Off North Korea Nuke Deal
Wednesday, May 31, 2006


NEW YORK — A multinational project to build two tamperproof nuclear power plants for North Korea in exchange for U.N. inspections of the country's atomic sites was formally killed off Wednesday by the United States, Japan, South Korea and European Union.

A short statement from the executive board of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) blamed Pyongyang's "continued and repeated failure" to cooperate with the international effort to induce North Korea to give up its self-proclaimed nuclear weapons program.

KEDO also demanded that North Korea compensate the agency for the multibillion-dollar cost of the project — a dim prospect given North Korea's isolation and belligerency.

Country Watch: North Korea

It was not clear if the timing of the KEDO announcement, impending for months, was meant to influence Iran to cooperate with a similar "reactors-for-inspections" plan, as the United States announced in a policy shift Wednesday that it would join Europe in direct talks with Tehran if it abolishes its uranium enrichment program.

The United States has no formal diplomatic representation in either North Korea or Iran. Proposals are usually communicated through the Swiss embassies. Back-channel talks with North Korea also take place in New York City, where the reclusive Stalinist state has a mission to the United Nations.

KEDO's executive board meeting Wednesday was the first since November, when the Bush administration finally succeeded in persuading South Korea — the main backer of the project then still holding out hope for continued construction — to join Japan and the European Union in abandoning the $4.6 billion project.

The former executive director of KEDO, Charles Kartman, a career U.S. diplomat who stepped down from running KEDO last year as it wound down, commented on the shutdown of the reactor-building project:

"At some point, one hopes all these governments will take a thoughtful moment and figure out what lessons there are. If they can do that in time to make a difference for Iran, or even North Korea — that one can only hope," he said.

"These are pretty big questions about whether we can live a world in which nuclear energy is plentiful regardless of political systems," Kartman added.

"Regimes that trouble us are not being coaxed into a better position, but instead are being isolated and threatened. This may serve our short-term problem but it doesn't do anything or that long-term problem," Kartman said.

Since last year, the members of KEDO have quietly worked to sort out the expenses they have sunk into the project. Wednesday's meeting reflected consensus on how to account for costs and critical nuclear components that were never delivered to North Korea as the accord unraveled.

South Korea and Japan, the key financial backers of the KEDO light-water reactor project, were the most affected by the shutdown.

They are writing off their losses and will keep crucial subassemblies such as the control room for the reactors and the fuel containment vessels, which would never have been installed unless the International Atomic Energy Agency had been able to assure KEDO's partners that North Korea was running only a peaceful atomic power program.

The value of these sub-units is estimated to be less than $500 million (euro388.56 million), though appraising them is tricky since there is not a well-established market for off-the-shelf nuclear reactor technology. KEDO's partners had deliberately authorized a relatively simple, tamperproof, safe technology.

The reactor structures were built on a coastal plain near the city of Sinpo, 125 miles north of the fortified Korean border, and about $1.5 billion was spent on construction, much of it for roads, worker dormitories and a port. But construction was suspended before critical materials such as the control rooms and nuclear fuel and containment vessels were put in.

KEDO said in its statement Wednesday that it "requires payment" from North Korea "for financial losses" in connection with the reactor project.

The KEDO program was frozen in 2002 after the United States claimed North Korea had embarked on a second, secret weapons-development program by enriching uranium with high-power centrifuges. Evidence to back the claim has never been publicly disclosed.

KEDO has been slowly winding down since the beginning of President George W. Bush's administration, which never trusted the "reactors-for-inspections" deal.

That bilateral deal with North Korea was worked out under former President Bill Clinton's administration to defuse a mid-1990s threat by Pyongyang to ramp up its weapons program.

North Korea has said it needs to develop nuclear weapons to prevent a possible U.S. invasion, but Washington denies it has any intention of attacking the communist nation. A similar non-interference declaration is shaping with Iran in the U.S.-Europe negotiations.

The North is believed to have enough radioactive material to make at least a half-dozen bombs and claims to have atomic weapons, but hasn't performed any known tests that would confirm its arsenal.

A year ago, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said the country had the ability to harvest still more weapons-grade plutonium and bolster its nuclear arsenal.

A shutdown of North Korea's Yongbyon research reactor in 1989 and reactor slowdowns in 1990-1991 are believed to have yielded enough plutonium to build two or three bombs, a situation that the Clinton administration considered so threatening that it brought the United States and North Korea close to war in 1994.