North Korea Nuclear Standoff

[cycloneye]

CNN) -- North Korea says it will attack the Japanese military and "major targets," if Japan shoots down a rocket Pyongyang plans to launch in the coming days, North Korea's state-run news service, KCNA, reported Thursday.

"If Japan recklessly 'intercepts' [North Korea's] satellite for peaceful purposes, the [Korean People's Army] will mercilessly deal deadly blows not only at the already deployed intercepting means but at major targets," KCNA reported.

Japan recently mobilized its missile defense system in response to the planned North Korean launch, Japanese officials said. The move, noteworthy for a country with a pacifist constitution, is aimed at shooting down any debris from the launch that might fall into Japanese territory.

U.S. Navy ships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles have also been moved to the Sea of Japan, a Navy spokesman said.

The threat of retaliation comes as North Korea has begun fueling its long-range rocket, according to a senior U.S. military official familiar with the latest U.S. intelligence on the matter.

Japan prepares its defense against any North Korean attack.


http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiap ... index.html

[HURAKAN]

Missile or satellite? I don't understand this part.

[cycloneye]

Missile or satellite? I don't understand this part.

NK says its a comunications sattelite,but Japan and the U.S. say its a military missile.

[Derek Ortt]

if japan is attacked, I believe we are required to declare war on NK based upon the japanese unconditional surrender of WW2

[cycloneye]

Lauch may occur as early as Saturday the 4th.

WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea's missile preparations suggest Pyongyang could launch a satellite into space as early as Saturday, an American defense official said on Thursday as the U.S. military monitored the situation.

At the United Nations, Japan's U.N. ambassador, Yukio Takasu, said his country would request an emergency meeting of the Security Council to discuss a possible response if North Korea launched the long-range missile in the coming days.

The United States and others have threatened North Korea with punishment if they launch the long-range missile.

"They're doing everything consistent with the launch of a space vehicle on April 4," the U.S. defense official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Pyongyang has said it will send a satellite into orbit between April 4-8 but the United States, South Korea and Japan say the launch is a disguised test of the long-range Taepodong-2 missile, which is designed to carry a warhead to U.S. territory.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090402/ts_ ... orea_north

[Ed Mahmoud]

Missile or satellite, for an aggressive country, is basically the same statement. A country that can put a payload into low Earth orbit has the ability to hit anyplace on the planet with a weapon.


For that matter, I think the biggest rockets the Norks have would only threaten the extreme West Coast of the US, ie, the Norks are awfully iffy to actually be able to put anything in orbit, but claiming a satellite launch is less openly hostile/an overt act of war than test launching a nuclear capable missile right over Japan.


BTW, South Korea should have built a Brasilia style "New Seoul" decades ago, out of artillery and rocket range of the DMZ. It is my understanding that the Norks have thousands of arty pieces and rockets aimed at Seoul, and could kill tens of thousands of South Korean citizens in mere hours, especially if they chose to use nerve agents, and this is part of the reason why South Korea puts up with so many North Korean provocations.

[Ed Mahmoud]

BTW, as long as China and Russia have seats on the UNSC, no outlaw nation that threatens the interests of the US or its allies have anything to fear from the UN.



The Korean War only occured because Russia had boycotted the UN over which China should hold the Security Council seat when North Korea launched the war, and they won't make that mistake again.


Fun trivia, the UNSC are the "winning" side in World War 2. The Russians invaded Finland before the war officially started, had a treaty with Hitler, and participated in the invasion of Poland. They wound up on the winning side because Hitler broke their treaty and invaded the USSR.

The Chinese that did most of the resistance to the Japanese invasion wound up exiled to Taiwan, as Mao's insurgents spent as much time making war on them as they did resisting the Japanese, and China didn't win the war, Japan lost it to the US.

The French lost the war, were overrun, didn't even try to defend Paris, and most of the French collaborated with the Nazis. French stories of 'The Resistance', while not untrue, are grossly exagerrated, and it was British, US, Australian and Canadian soldiers that freed the French from German occupation.

The UN is about as effective as the old 'League of Nations', except with a much higher operating budget.


The most the UN will ever do is send in the blue helmeted, very lightly armed peace keepers operating under extremely restrictive rules of engagement, usually after most of the civilians in the area have already been victims of whatever genocide or civil war the UN decided to get involved in.

[cycloneye]

SEOUL, South Korea - Spy satellites trained high-resolution cameras on a coastal North Korean launch pad. U.S., Japan and South Korea deployed warships with radar and other surveillance equipment in the waters near the communist nation — all for one of the most closely watched rocket launches ever.

North Korea plans to launch what it says is an experimental communications satellite — perhaps as early as Saturday — from its Musudan-ri facility in the northeastern part of the country.

Washington, Seoul and Tokyo suspect North Korea's real motive is to test its long-range missile technology. The planned launch has sparked alarm because North Korea has acknowledged it has nuclear weapons and has repeatedly broken promises to shelve its nuclear program or halt rocket tests.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30035197/

[cycloneye]

Launch of Rocket / Missile is imminent.

With North Korea vowing to carry out its controversial rocket launch between Saturday and Wednesday, there were signs there early Saturday that the launch would come soon rather than later.

A launch could occur "any minute," two sources told FOX News, and likely not as late as Sunday. The predictions of an early launch partly are based on the weather forecast in Pyongyang — and because the U.S. would be less ready to monitor the launch the sooner it stars.

The Associated Press quotes North Korea saying that its preparations are complete and it "soon" will launch a satellite into space, despite international pressure to halt the launch. The U.S. and North Korea's neighbors suspect it is a cover for testing the regime's long-range missile technology.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512496,00.html

[cycloneye]

Weather delays the launch.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30035197/

[Brent]

The launch has occurred according to officials in Japan

http://tinyurl.com/cnbf5f

[cycloneye]

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea appeared to launch a rocket on Sunday, the Japanese government said, defying calls from world leaders to scrap a plan that has caused international alarm.

It was not immediately clear if the launch had been successful, or if it was a long-range version of the rocket.

The rocket is supposed to fly over Japan, dropping boosters to its west and east on a path that runs southwest of Hawaii.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30035197/

[cycloneye]

More information about the apparent sucessful launch.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea launched a rocket that passed over Japan on Sunday, defying calls from world leaders to scrap a plan that has caused international alarm.

The Japanese government said the rocket flew over Japan and its second booster stage had splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, indicating the launch had been successful.

The U.S. State Department confirmed North Korea had launched the rocket but had no further details.

"The projectile launched from North Korea today appears to have passed over toward the Pacific," the Japan prime minister's office said in a statement.

On the projected path, the rocket was to drop boosters to Japan's west and east on a track running southwest of Hawaii.

The United States, South Korea and Japan say the plan is actually the test of a Taepodong-2 missile, which is designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30035197/

[Derek Ortt]

Japan should declare war on NK for violation of their airspace, as they threatened to do in the past.

If they do not, Japan has no strength in the region any longer

[Derek Ortt]

and yes, I know what the costs of a war against NK will be. They have a first class military, unlike Iraq in 2003

[Ed Mahmoud]

Japan, per the constitution written for it, is permitted only a homeland self defense force, and probably couldn't/wouldn't declare war short of an actual attack, and would have a hard time prosecuting an offensive war. Plus, the Norks have the South Korean capital in range of hundreds of artillery pieces and rocket launchers.


No fear, a sternly worded letter of reprimand will no doubt be coming from the UN. Kim is said to favor Western brandies. Perhaps an embargo on brandy imports will force him to have to resort to smugglers, greatly increasing the cost of his favorite glass of VSOP.

[Dionne]

What I would like to know is the location in the Pacific of the splash down? What altitude did the missile reach? Does Korea now have an ICBM, IRBM, MRBM or a SRBM?

[cycloneye]

Still no further information about where in the Pacific Ocean the rocket splashed.Now the next thing that will occur will be a emergency meeting of the U.N Security Council today.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiap ... index.html

[Derek Ortt]

wow... NK should be very afraid of the security council...

[Dionne]

The most important item we need to know is did the missile reach sub-orbital flight? I'm sure someone at NORAD has the answer.