North Korea

North Korea Watch: North Korea Test Launches 7th Missile

Kim Jong-Il

AP: North Korea tests 7th missile amid furor

North Korea test-fired another missile Wednesday, intensifying the furor ignited when the reclusive regime launched at least six missiles, including a long-range Taepodong, earlier in the day.

The missiles apparently fell harmlessly into the Sea of Japan, and U.S. officials said the long-range Taepodong-2 failed shortly after take-off, calling into question the technological capability of North Korea’s feared ballistic missile program. Pyongyang last fired a long-range missile in 1998.

But the audacious military exercise drew immediate attention and condemnation. The North American Aerospace Defense Command monitored the launches as they progressed but soon determined they were not a threat to the United States, a spokesman said.

The United Nations Security Council is meeting as this is posted. A severe economic sanction resolution written by Britain and Japan is on the table.

North Korea remained defiant. A North Korea foreign ministry official told Japanese journalists in Pyongyang that the regime there has an undeniable right to test missiles.

“The missile launch is an issue that is entirely within our sovereignty. No one has the right to dispute it,” Ri Pyong Dok, a researcher on Japanese affairs at the North’s Foreign Ministry, said on footage aired by TBS. “On the missile launch, we are not bound by any agreement.”

And North Korea boasts it can “COPE” with provocation.

North Korea was prepared to cope with any provocation by the United States, the communist nation’s state-run media said Wednesday in remarks that followed a series of missile tests.

The announcer on the Korean Central Broadcasting Station did not mention the missile tests earlier in the day.

He also said North Korea’s “strong war deterrent” has kept the country at peace. The state-run media often accuses Washington of planning an attack on Pyongyang.

Flap discussed three options to deal with the future/potential test-launch of North Korea’s long range missile, Taepodong-2.

The Bush Administration has played its hand wisely. A pre-emptive strike would have been provocative and the Taepodong-2 failed anyway. Inerception would have been possible but the missile failed and North Korea employed Scud missiles as counter-measures (albeit who knows if the counter-measures would have prevented interception).

The diplomatic approach has been the correct course. North Korea’s missile escapade further isolates itself from the world community and will undergo such extreme economic sanctions that North Koreans will be praying for regime change. The stranglehold on Kim Jung-Il has only begun.

A good lesson to be observed by Iran.

Captain Ed has North Korea Tests Seventh Missile

The UN Security Council meets this morning to discuss the situation based on a request from Japan. The UNSC may be forced to take some action as the provocation here is too overt to ignore. Japan and the US would like to see even tougher economic sanctions on the Kim regime, but up to now Russia and China have balked. Even with this provocation, I doubt they will be budged from their position.

This discussion at the UNSC will certainly be a test – for North Korea and Iran.

Stay tuned……

Taepodong-2

Previous:

North Korea Watch: United States Accuses North Korea of Trying to “Intimidate Other States”

North Korea Watch: North Korea Test Launches SCUD Missiles – Taepodong 2 Missile Is Launched But Fails in Flight – White House Says No Immediate Threat to United States – Six Missiles Have Been Launched – Updated Now to Ten (10) Missiles
North Korea Watch: United States Responds to North Korea Threat of Nuclear War

North Korea Watch:North Korea Warns of Nuclear War

North Korea Watch: Bush WARNS North Korea Not To Test Missile

North Korea Watch: United States Warns North Korea About Talks “BLUFF”

North Korea Watch: President Bush – North Korea Should Tell World of Their INTENT

North Korea Watch: Senators Hagel and Luger Call for Direct North Korea Talks – Rule Out Preemptive Strike

North Korea Watch: Director of the Missile Defense Agency Henry Obering Confident of North Korean Missile Interception


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