• North Korea

    North Korea Fires Off Seven Missles But NOT the Taepodong -2 ICBM

    North korea july 4 missiles

    A South Korean official reports North Korea has fired two missiles off its eastern coast. Here, two short-range missiles are fired from an undisclosed location in North Korea on Jan. 5

    North Korea created some fireworks on America’s Independence Day but did not fire off the big one – their Taepodong -2, ICBM.

    North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, a violation of U.N. resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day.

    The launches, which came two days after North Korea fired what were believed to be four short-range cruise missiles, will likely further escalate tensions in the region as the U.S. tries to muster support for tough enforcement of the latest U.N. Security Council resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.

    South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said three missiles were fired early Saturday, a fourth around noon and three more in the afternoon. The Defense Ministry said that the missiles were ballistic and are believed to have flown more than 250 miles.

    “Our military is fully ready to counter any North Korean threats and provocations based on strong South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

    South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted military officials as saying the missiles appeared to be a type of Scud missile. North Korea’s Scuds are considered short-range, the South’s military said.

    Somehow, I think the big one is coming soon. Perhaps there was a technical problem or a delay due to a lack of smuggled in parts from Iran.

    Stay tuned…….


    Technorati Tags: ,

  • Barack Obama,  North Korea

    Shocking Surprise: With Soviet Parts North Korea Taepodong – 2 Could Reach United States

    This is North Korea’s Taepodong-2 missile which has a range of 4,000 miles. Intelligence analysts do not believe it would be capable of hitting Hawaii which is 4,500 miles away – Uh Wrong!

    Oops, somebody miscalculated here.

    With concerns rising about a possible North Korean long-range missile test this weekend, two independent scientists say the regime may be using an old Soviet ballistic missile to boost a rocket capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States.

    North Korea is not known to have nuclear warheads and faces years of research and testing before building such a reliable weapon.

    But the scientists say that if North Korea does have such a Russian-made ballistic missile in its arsenal, it could modify the rocket into a two-stage missile that could reach Seattle, Wash., carrying a 900-kilogram warhead, or San Francisco carrying a 700-kilogram charge.

    The design of a long-range missile tested by North Korea last April “represents a very significant advance in rocket technology,” said Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Ted Postol and Union of Concerned Scientists’ David Wright in a June 29 assessment published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

    Using data and imagery from North Korea’s April 4 launch, Postol and Wright calculated that the second stage of the North Korean rocket had the external dimensions, engine power and key features of an SS-N 6, a Soviet submarine-launched ballistic missile first deployed in 1968.

    Their theory is at odds with U.S. officials’ skepticism of the recent North Korean long-range missile launch, dismissed as a failure.

    Missile expert and former U.N. arms inspector Mike Elleman cautioned against assuming that the similarities between the external dimensions of the North Korean second stage and the SS-N 6 mean that the two are the same technology.

    But Elleman added that the coincidence is hard to explain.

    Geoffrey Forden, another missile expert with MIT, sees merit in the Russian missile theory and believes North Korea may have its own production line for SS-N 6 missile components.

    Guess President Obama might reverse his cuts in the National Missile Defense Program now, eh?

    Stay tuned…….


    Technorati Tags: , ,

  • Hillary Clinton,  Kim Jong-Il,  North Korea

    North Korea Begins Fueling Taepodong-2 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

    north korea taepodong-2 march 29 2009

    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?
    Image Hosted by ImageShack.us


    Technorati Tags: , , ,

  • Barack Obama,  Hillary Clinton,  Missile Defense,  North Korea

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Warns North Korea Over Taepodong-2 Missile Launch

    north korea 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: , , ,

  • Barack Obama,  Missile Defense,  North Korea

    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.”

    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: , ,