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North Korea Begins Fueling Taepodong-2 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
This DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite image taken on March 29, 2009 shows the North Korea rocket launch facility in Musudan Ri, North Korea
Apparently, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s warnings to Kim Jong-Il have landed on deaf ears as North Korea proceeds to fuel their Taepodong-2 ICBM space launch vehicle.North Korea has begun fueling its long-range rocket, according to a senior U.S. military official.
The fueling signals that the country could be in the final stages of what North Korea has said will be the launch of a satellite into space as early as this weekend, the senior U.S. military official said Wednesday.
Other U.S. military officials said the top portion of the rocket was put on very recently, but satellite imagery shows a shroud over the stage preventing a direct view of what it looks like.
The officials said the payload appears to have a “bulbous” cover, which could indicate that there is a satellite loaded on it. Such a cover protects a satellite from damage in flight.
Although the sources did not know for sure what the payload is, they said there is no reason to doubt that it is a satellite, as indicated by North Korea.
Pyongyang has said it will launch the rocket between April 4 and April 8. A launch would violate a 2006 United Nations Security Council resolution banning the reclusive state from launching ballistic missiles.
Pentagon officials worry less about the payload and more about the launch itself, saying that any kind of launch will give the North Koreans valuable information about improving their ballistic missile program.
And, the United States has been silent after the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, said that there is nothing America can or will do about the launch.
Hillary Clinton continues to maintain should North Korea launch that there will be “consequences.”
Whatever that means.
More toasts with Kim Jong-Il like, Madeleine Albright, one of Hillary’s predecessors who was appointed by President Bill Clinton below?
Previous:
- Will the United States Do Anything About North Korea Missile Launch? Secretary of Defense Gates – “NOPEâ€
- Shocking: United States Has NO PLANS to Intercept North Korea Missile – Hillary Clinton
- United States Deploys USS McCain and USS Chafee With Aegis Anti-Missile Technology Off North Korea
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Warns North Korea Over Taepodong-2 Missile Launch
Technorati Tags: North Korea, Hillary Clinton, Kim Jong-Il, Taepodong-2
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Will the United States Do Anything About North Korea Missile Launch? Secretary of Defense Gates – “NOPE”
Secreatry of Defense Robert Gates on Fox News Sunday yesterdayThe Secretary of Defense has made the Obama Administration’s position on the looming North Korea Taepodong-2 missile test later this week quite clear. They plan to watch and do nothing.
The United States can do nothing to stop North Korea from breaking international law in the next 10 days by firing a missile that is unlikely to be shot down by the U.S. or its allies, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.
Appearing on “FOX News Sunday,” Gates said North Korea “probably will” fire the missile, prompting host Chris Wallace to ask: “And there’s nothing we can do about it?”
“No,” Gates answered, adding, “I would say we’re not prepared to do anything about it.”
Last week, Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said the U.S. is “fully prepared” to shoot down the missile. But Gates said such a response is unlikely.
“I think if we had an aberrant missile, one that was headed for Hawaii, that looked like it was headed for Hawaii or something like that, we might consider it,” Gates said. “But I don’t think we have any plans to do anything like that at this point.”
North Korea has moved a missile onto a launch pad and says it will be fired by April 8. Pyonyang insists the missile is designed for carrying a communications satellite, not a nuclear warhead that the secretive nation appears bent on developing.
Gates said while he doesn’t think North Korea has the capability yet to shoot off a long-range nuclear-tipped missile, “I don’t know anyone at a senior level in the American government who does not believe this technology is intended as a mask for the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile.”
Flap looks forward to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip to see Kim Jong-Il to bring him some autographed basketballs like her husband’s Secretary of State did. Maybe Kim will stop his ICBM nuclear weapons program to put them in his trophy case.
How unbelievably WEAK is this crazy Obama policy toward North Korea. The Iranians who are in North Korea taking notes must be laughing their asses off.
Watch the Fox News Sunday panel discuss North Korea’s long range missile capabilities here.
Technorati Tags: Robert Gates, North Korea, Kim Jong-Il
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Shocking: United States Has NO PLANS to Intercept North Korea Missile – Hillary Clinton
Not really a shocker from a Secretary of State whose husband’s Secretary of State used to toast Kim Jong-il and give him autographed basketballs. Yet, the United States has deployed assets off the coast of North Korea.The United States has no plans to shoot down the North Korean rocket, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday in an interview with CNN’s Jill Dougherty, but will raise the issue with the U.N. Security Council if Pyongyang carries out a launch.
“We are doing our best to dissuade the North Koreans from going forward, because it is provocative action,†Clinton said. “It raises questions about their compliance with the Security Council Resolution 1718. And if they persist and go forward, we will take it up in appropriate channels.â€
Flap’s bet: Japan WILL shoot down the missile while Obama and Hillary try to talk it out of the sky with the United Nations.
Technorati Tags: North Korea, Hillary Clinton, Kim Jong-il, Missile Defense
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United States Deploys USS McCain and USS Chafee With Aegis Anti-Missile Technology Off North Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (C) visits to the construction place for the Heechon power plant at an undisclosed place in North Korea, in this picture released by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA March 26, 2009. North Korea has put a long-range missile in place for a launch the United States warned would violate U.N. sanctions already imposed on the reclusive state for past weapons tests
The United States Navy has stated that two destroyers (USS McCain and USS Chafee) which are fitted with Aegis anti-missile technology have left port in Japan to patrol the waters off of North Korea in the event of a missile launch.The US Navy spokesman said the two destroyers – the USS McCain and USS Chafee – equipped with Aegis technology capable of tracking and destroying missiles had left Sasebo port in southwestern Japan. “I would say we are ready for any contingencies,” he added.
And, Japan has previously stated that they would shoot down the Taepodong-2 missile should North Korea launch it (Target dates: April 4 – 8).
Stay tuned…….
Technorati Tags: North Korea, USS McCain, USS Chafee, Kim Jong-il, Missile Defense, Aegis
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Warns North Korea Over Taepodong-2 Missile Launch
Musudan Ri, North Korea, formally know as Taepo-dong missile launch facility, the area where North Korea rocket launch facility is located is seen in this satellite image by DigitalGlobe taken on March 23, 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Mexico City today warned North Korea that a Taepodong missile launch would have consequences.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday a potential missile launch by North Korea would be a provocative act that would have consequences for talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
Clinton’s comments came as a U.S. official said North Korea had positioned what is believed to be a long-range ballistic missile on a launch pad in what could be a preparation for a launch.
“We have made it very clear that the North Koreans pursue this pathway at a cost and with consequences to the six-party talks which we would like to see revived and moving forward as quickly as possible,” she told reporters on a visit to Mexico City.
“This provocative action … will not go unnoticed and there will be consequences,” she said.
Flap previously noted that North Korea was readying the Taepodong-2 missile for launch and that the missile threatened Alaska, Hawaii and parts of the Western continenetal United States.
Japan has threatened to shoot down the North Korean missile but the United States does have Aegis missile defense assets in the region.
As for US intercept plans, the Navy left two Aegis missile defense ships behind from the armada sent to the Sea of Japan for war games. Could the US shooter be the USS John S. McCain?
Now that Hillary has issue the warning of consequences will the United States deploy its missile defense assets and shoot down the missile or will they merely suspend the 6-party talks should they launch?
The scheduled test is due in the April 4 – 8 time frame.
Will this be President Obama’s fitst major test as President?
Technorati Tags: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Taepodong-2, North Korea
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North Korea Readies Taepodong-2 Missile for Launch – Obama Begins the End of Missile Defense?
Satellite image of Musudan Ri, North Korea, taken on February 17, 2009. North Korea has positioned what is believed to be a Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile on its launch pad at a facility in Musudanri, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday, citing “sources close to Japan-U.S. relations.”
North Korea is preparing a Taepodong-2 ICBM missile which could threaten Alaska, Hawaii and the Western United States for testing within a few weeks.North Korea has positioned a Taepodong-2 missile on the launchpad at its facility in Musudan in the east of the country, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.
Pyongyang has said it intends to use the missile to launch a satellite into space. The North Koreans issued an international notice that the launch may occur sometime between April 4 through the 8th.
According to the U.S. officials, while two stages of the missile can be seen, the top is covered with a shroud supported by a crane.
But now that the missile is on the pad, the launch itself could come within a matter of days, a likelihood that has sparked a flurry of diplomatic activity as the event would be in violation of a U.N. ban prohibiting the country from ballistic activity. Some fear the launch is a cover for the test-fire of long-range missile technology.
North Korea has described the pending launch a “peaceful space launch,” but U.S. officials and experts say it would employ the very same technology used to launch ballistic missiles, and if successful it would be the first proof that North Korea would have the ability to launch a ballistic missile against at least Alaska or Hawaii.
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair testified before Congress that a successful test of a three-stage rocket would demonstrate North Korea’s ability to reach the continental United States with a ballistic missile.
Japan has threatened to shoot down the North Korean missile but the United States does have Aegis missile defense assets in the region.
As for US intercept plans, the Navy left two Aegis missile defense ships behind from the armada sent to the Sea of Japan for war games. Could the US shooter be the USS John S. McCain?
And, what was the Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saying the other day:“Ballistic missiles are about as passé as sea mail. Nobody does it anymore.â€
The Democrats, including President Obama have never been big fans of the missile defense agency or the concept of national missile defense that accelerated its work under President Bush. But, why now, with an imminent threat would the United States begin to scale back its program and eliminate deployments of interceptors.How stupid……
Technorati Tags: North Korea, Missile Defense, Taepodong-2
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Japan Threatens to Shoot Down North Korean Missile
Japan today threatened to shoot down a North Korean missile or “SATELLITE LAUNCHER.”
Tokyo’s warning that it would deploy its multibillion-dollar missile defence system raised tensions in the region after North Korea said that it had identified a potential “danger area” near Japanese territory along the rocket’s flight path.
The regime told the International Maritime Organisation that the missile would be launched during daylight between 4 and 8 April, and that its boosters would fall into the Sea of Japan – about 75 miles (120km) from Japan’s north-west coast – and the Pacific Ocean.
Officials in Tokyo said they reserved the right to destroy any threatening object in mid-flight, despite North Korean warnings that it would consider such a move an act of war.
“Under our law, we can intercept any object if it is falling towards Japan, including any attacks on Japan, for our security,” Takeo Kawamura, the chief cabinet secretary, told reporters.
This North Korean satellite launcher is widely suspected to be a test of a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile with a range that threatens Alaska and Hawaii.
The Taepodong-2 long-range missile is estimated to have a range of between 5,000 and 6,000 km, putting Alaska, Hawaii and parts of the west coast of the US within range.
But the first launch of the missile, in July 2006, appeared to be a failure after it crashed within seconds of launch – according to US sources.
If the missile was successfully launched, it is not thought to be particularly accurate or to be able to carry a large warhead.
Like the Taepodong-1, it requires a fixed launch site.
The Taepodong-2 test took place from the Musudan-ri complex on the East coast of the Korean peninsula. Analysis of satellite images of the area appear to show a range of missile fabrication, fuelling, testing and control facilities.
Japan’s threat is not surprising but the United States has their missile defense Aegis fleet in position and they have been conducting joint-training exercises.In a move to strengthen its missile defense against North Korean missile threats, the U.S. Navy has deployed more warships equipped with the Aegis Combat System for this year’s Key Resolve/Foal Eagle joint military exercises with South Korean forces than it did before, according to a news report.
According to the report, the U.S. Navy dispatched seven of its Aegis warships to the eastern coast of Korea to conduct exercises with South Korea’s 7,600-ton Sejong the Great Aegis destroyer during the annual combined command-post/joint field training exercises March 9-20.
Officials of the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) declined to comment on the report, citing the issue’s sensitivity.
The Aegis warships, used in intercepting high-flying ballistic missiles with advanced SM-2 or SM-3 ship-to-air missiles, are part of the U.S. multi-layered missile defense shield. The Aegis system built by Lockheed Martin is the world’s premier surface-to-air/fire-control system, capable of simultaneous operations against aircraft, ballistic and cruise missiles, ships and submarines.
Should North Korea proceed with the test either Japan or the United States WILL attempt to shoot down the missile.
North Korea’s last test failed or so it is reported. Flap always suspected espionage or successful deployment of a stealth missile defense as the reason for failure.
Exit question: Will North Korea which has certainly received the attention of the new American President push the envelope?
Technorati Tags: North Korea, Missile Defense
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North Korea Warns United States About Counterstrike And War Over Missile/Satellite Test
North Korea has issued the warning and will this be the first foreign policy test of President Barack Obama?North Korea warned Monday that any move to intercept what it calls a satellite launch and what other countries suspect may be a missile test-firing would result in a counterstrike against the countries trying to stop it.
“We will retaliate (over) any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes with prompt counterstrikes by the most powerful military means,” the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a spokesman of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army as saying.
If countries such as the United States, Japan or South Korea try to intercept the launch, the North Korean military will carry out “a just retaliatory strike operation not only against all the interceptor means involved but against the strongholds” of the countries, it said.
“Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war,” it added.
North Korea earlier announced it is preparing to put a communications satellite into space, but outside observers suspect it may in fact be a test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile.
The United States with its Aegis missile defense system could be deployed against the North Korea missile test which is masquerading as a space satellite launch. But, will Obama order the confrontation that could lead to another Korean War?
Obama and his Democrat allies in the United States Senate like Kennedy, Kerry and Levin, plus vice President Joe Biden have never been fond of a national missile defense program that is now operational and protecting the Western United States from a North Korean nuclear ICBM launch. Now, will Obama use it against a legitimate threat to America?
Stay tuned……
Technorati Tags: North Korea, Aegis, Missile Defense
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North Korea Watch: White House – Syria Must Come Clean About Illicit Nuclear Activities
This undated image from video released Thursday April 24, 2008, by the Central Intelligence Agency shows a photo of a covert nuclear reactor being built in Syria’s eastern desert near Al Kibar, according to the narrated video.
So, while the United States was negotiating with the North Koreans about shutting down their nuclear program they outsourced it to Syria.The White House said Thursday that North Korea’s secret work on a nuclear reactor with Syria was “a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the world,” raising doubts about Pyongyang’s intention to carry through with a promised disclosure of its nuclear activities.
Seven months after Israel bombed the reactor, the White House broke its silence and said North Korea assisted Syria’s secret nuclear program and that the destroyed facility was not intended for “peaceful purposes.”
Top U.S. intelligence officials who briefed reporters said they had high confidence in the judgment that North Korea had aided Syria with its nuclear program and the intention was to produce plutonium. But they claimed only low confidence for the conclusion that it was meant for weapons development, in part because there was no reprocessing facility at the site — something that would be needed to enrich nuclear material for use in a bomb.
The Israeli strike on Sept. 6, 2007, ripped open the structure, known as the Al Kibar reactor, and revealed even more evidence to spy satellites: reinforced concrete walls that echoed the design of the Yongbyon reactor.
After the attack, Syria tried to bury evidence of its existence and erected a new building to hide the site. The building is not believed to house a new reactor, the officials said.
“This coverup only served to reinforce our confidence that this reactor was not intended for peaceful activities,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said. “The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicit nuclear activities.”
Syria will stonewall the issue and North Korea have proven to be liars, thieves and terrorists.
The United States must trust but verify any further nuclear agreements with North Korea and make sure they include ALL proliferation activities.
In the meantime, uranium enrichment centrifuges continue to spin at Natanz in Iran.
Flap is not hopeful for a negotiated settlement with either North Korea and/or Iran. Moreover, the Bush Administration is punting the entire crisis into the next Presidency.
Speaking about the next Presidency, John McCain today challenged Democrat Barack Obama’s approach to diplomacy on Thursday, saying U.S. charges that North Korea gave nuclear assistance to Syria showed the folly of unconditional talks with foreign adversaries.
McCain said U.S. disclosures that North Korea helped Syria build a secret nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel last year cast a new light on Obama’s willingness to meet unconditionally with a leader like North Korea’s Kim Jong-il.
Without naming Obama, McCain said those who would meet with a leader like Kim “should explain to the American people how talking unconditionally to dictators like Kim Jong-il in the aftermath of recent disclosures advances American interests.”
And, we saw what giving an autographed Michael Jordan basketball to Kim Jong-Il accomplished for North Korean nuclear weapons development and proliferation, now didn’t we?
Stay tuned……
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North Korea Nuclear Watch: Syrian Plutonium Reactor Close to Completion
Iran and North Korea Targeted by American Nuclear Weapons
North Korea Watch: The DPRK Agrees to Disable All Existing Nuclear Facilities
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North Korea Nuclear Watch: Syrian Plutonium Reactor Close to Completion
These satellite images, taken August 5, 2007 (Top) and October 24, 2007 (Bottom), show a suspected nuclear facility in Syria.
North Korea made a deal with the United States to disable their nuclear weapon facilities so they “OUTSOURCED” them.
The Bush administration will tell Congress tomorrow that a nuclear facility in Syria built with North Korean help was nearly complete when Israel bombed it in September, and that Pyongyang has not provided any further nuclear assistance to the hard-line Arab nation, at least at that site, U.S. officials said.
CIA Director Michael V. Hayden and other intelligence officials are expected to brief several congressional committees in closed-door sessions, breaking the administration’s silence on the issue.
The Syrian facility has become a key issue in six-nation negotiations to end the North’s nuclear programs.
“The belief is that the reactor was nearing completion,†said one official familiar with the content of the briefings. “It would have been able to produce plutonium.â€
Another official said that the facility in Syria was similar to North Korea’s main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, which has been almost disabled by U.S. experts.
Both programs were based on technology to produce plutonium, a man-made element that is the most common ingredient used to make the fissile core of atomic bombs.
Thank God, Israel bombed the facility. How did Israel and the United States know?
They had the North Koreans on tape.
A video taken inside a secret Syrian facility last summer convinced the Israeli government and the Bush administration that North Korea was helping to construct a reactor similar to one that produces plutonium for North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, according to senior U.S. officials who said it would be shared with lawmakers today.
The officials said the video of the remote site, code-named Al Kibar by the Syrians, shows North Koreans inside. It played a pivotal role in Israel’s decision to bomb the facility late at night last Sept. 6, a move that was publicly denounced by Damascus but not by Washington.
Sources familiar with the video say it also shows that the Syrian reactor core’s design is the same as that of the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, including a virtually identical configuration and number of holes for fuel rods. It shows “remarkable resemblances inside and out to Yongbyon,” a U.S. intelligence official said. A nuclear weapons specialist called the video “very, very damning.”
But, one has to wonder about negotiating with the North Koreans, now don’t we?
Remember former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from the Bill Clinton Administration? See what appeasement buys one?
North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-Il and Secretary of State Albright
Trust but verify.
Now, what about the Iranians? Sanctions REALLY persuaded the North Koreans, right?
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Iran and North Korea Targeted by American Nuclear Weapons
North Korea Watch: The DPRK Agrees to Disable All Existing Nuclear Facilities
