North Korea preparing for missile test (again)

[American Patriot]

According to the news the satellite went into orbit. Whether it remains there for long is another story.

North Korea rocket launch: satellite successfully sent into orbit

The international community has strongly criticised North Korea after Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket test that it claimed had succeeded in sending a satellite into orbit.

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By Tom Phillips, Shanghai and agencies

11:11AM GMT 12 Dec 2012



Defying international critics and wrong-footing many who had anticipated a later launch date, North Korea launched the "three stage" rocket at 9.49am local time, according to the Japanese government.

South Korean and Japanese leaders convened emergency meetings following the launch of the rocket, which reportedly blasted off from a launch base in western North Korea and flew over the Japanese island of Okinawa, before falling into waters off the Philippines.

^{Video stills of the Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket being launched from a launch pad at the West Sea Satellite Launch Site (Reuters)}

In a statement, the Japanese government said: "Launch time was around 9:49 am (0049 GMT). The missile that North Korea calls a satellite passed over Okinawa around 10:01. We launched no interception."

North Korea's KCNA news agency claimed the launch, from North Korea's Sohae Space Centre, had been a success while South Korea's Yanhop confirmed the rocket appeared to have followed its planned trajectory.

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^{A North Korean news reader announces the successful launch of a long-range rocket by North Korea (Reuters)}
"The second version of satellite Kwangmyongsong-3 successfully lifted off from the Sohae Space Center by carrier rocket Unha-3 on Wednesday," KCNA announced. "The satellite has entered the orbit as planned." The launch – which had been officially scheduled for sometime between December 10 and 29 - triggered widespread condemnation.

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"It is extremely regrettable that North Korea went through with the launch despite our calls to exercise restraint," Japan's chief government spokesman Osamu Fujimura told reporters. "Our country cannot tolerate this.We strongly protest to North Korea."
^{South Korean news reporting North Korea's rocket launch at Seoul railway station in Seoul (AP)}
In a statement, William Hague, the foreign secretary, said: "This provocative act will increase tensions in the region."
"I strongly condemn the DPRK's satellite launch today. I deplore the fact that the DPRK has chosen to prioritize this launch over improving the livelihood of its people." "It is essential that the DPRK refrain from further provocative action," Mr Hague added.
The US condemned the launch as a "highly provocative act that threatens regional security".
"The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and fully committed to the security of our allies in the region," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said, pledging that Washington would increase close cooperation with its friends in the region.
"In the hours and days ahead, the United States will work with its six-party partners, the United Nations Security Council and other UN member states to pursue appropriate action," Mr Vietor said. "The international community must work in a concerted fashion to send North Korea a clear message that its violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions have consequences."
^{North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and a still taken from footage showing the launch of the Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket from a launch pad in Cholsan county (Getty/Reuters)}
Russia also said it "deeply regrets" the launch, adding it would "not help the strengthening of stability and would have a negative effect" on the situation in the region.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, also expressed concern that it could negatively impact prospects for peace and security in the region
"The Secretary-General deplores the rocket launch announced by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)," Mr Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement.
"It is a clear violation of Security Council resolution 1874, in which the Council demanded that the DPRK not conduct any launch using ballistic missile technology," the statement said.
^{A North Korean military vehicle carrying what is believed to be a Taepodong-class ballistic missile during a military parade in Pyongyang (AFP/Getty Images)}
On Monday, North Korea's KCNA news agency claimed the rocket launch was part of a peaceful, "scientific and technological"plans to launch a weather satellite into orbit.
Following the widespread criticism, North Korea vowed to continue its programme, saying it was not a matter of debate for the UN Security Council.
"No matter what others say, we will continue to exercise our legitimate right to launch satellites," a foreign ministry spokesman said.
But the United States and its Asian allies Japan and South Korea believe the launch is merely a pretext to test technology that would deliver nuclear warheads to the west coast of the US.
^{North Korean scientists watch screens showing the Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket being launched from a launch pad at the West Sea Satellite Launch Site (Reuters)}
Writing in China's state-run Global Times newspaper on the eve of the launch, Jim Hoare, a former British diplomat in North Korea, predicted the rocket test was likely to go ahead despite international condemnation.
Mr Hoare said North Korea may genuinely be seeking to launch a satellite but was "more likely" interested in acquiring a "new and more powerful weapon" to deter its perceived enemies.
A successful launch would also help "compensate" for the country's continuing economic woes, Mr Hoare added.
The rocket launch came almost one year after the death of North Korea's former leader, Kim Jong-il, and was the second this year under his son and successor, Kim Jong-un. In April a similar launch failed when the rocket broke up within minutes of takeoff. UN sanctions, introduced in the wake of two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, prohibit North Korea from engaging in rocket or nuclear tests.
Speaking on Tuesday, the spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, Hong Lei, said his country was monitoring the situation and hoped North Korean and US leaders would "avoid taking actions that may further escalate the situation."

[American Patriot]

United Nations Security Council to meet after North Korea says rocket launch a success, satellite in orbit

• AFP
• December 12, 2012 1:51PM

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• UN Security Council to hold meeting
• Launch 'a threat to world at large'
• 'A firework to commemorate Kim Jong-il'

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North Korea has nuclear weapons but not yet the ability to hit the United States. This launch brings it a step closer to that. Source Fox N...



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Rocket 'a firework to commemorate Kim Jong-il'








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NORTH Korea has carried out a widely criticised rocket launch, seen by many in the international community as a disguised ballistic missile test, just days before the first anniversary of the death of Kim Jong-il.

The White House has described the North Korean rocket launch as a highly provocative act that threatened regional security and violated United Nations resolutions.
The launch marks "yet another example of North Korea's pattern of irresponsible behaviour,'' White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement.
The move triggered plans for an emergency session of the UN Security Council, which has imposed sanctions against North Korea over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
North American Aerospace Defence Command officials said North Korea appeared to have successfully launched "an object'' into orbit, marking a technological success for the hermit nation.


A man watches a TV screen broadcasting news on North Korea's rocket launch, at a railway station in Seoul.




Japan's Foreign Ministry said it had registered a "strong protest'' over the rocket launch, which North Korea said had succeeded in its mission of placing a satellite in orbit.
The UN Security Council will meet to discuss North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket in defiance of threats of sanctions, a Western diplomat said.
"The Japanese and the Americans have requested a Security Council meeting, which will take place late Wednesday morning'' around 11am (4.30am AEST), the diplomat said.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon the launch as a "provocative act'' in clear breach of UN Security Council resolutions, his spokesman said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un at the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Kim Il Sung Military University on October 29, 2012.




"The secretary-general is concerned about the negative consequences that this provocative act may have on peace and stability in the region,'' said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.
Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, said that the North's defiant act was "all the more regrettable because it defies the unified and strong call from the international community,'' the spokesman added.
North Korea earlier confirmed that it had launched a long-range rocket, placing a satellite in orbit, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
"The launch of the second version of our Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite from the Sohae Space Centre... on December 12 was successful,'' KCNA said.

South Korean soldiers watch a TV screen broadcasting news of North Korea's rocket launch.




"The satellite has entered the orbit as planned,'' it added.
The New York Times said the launch demonstrated that new leader Kim Jong-un was pressing ahead to master the technology needed to deliver a nuclear warhead on intercontinental ballistic missiles.
South Korea condemned North Korea's rocket launch as a flagrant violation of UN resolutions and a threat to stability on the Korean peninsula and to the world at large.
"Our government strongly condemns, along with the international community, North Korea for ignoring repeated warnings and requests to cancel the launch and carrying on with such provocations,'' Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan told reporters.

North Korea's Unha-3 rocket stands at Sohae Satellite Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. Picture: AP




He said the launch was a "clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a threat to the Korean peninsula and world peace,'' Kim said.
Japan did not try to shoot down the North Korean rocket as it passed over its southern island chain of Okinawa, the government said today.
By attempting a second rocket launching in the first year of his rule, new leader Kim Jong-un has dashed hopes among some analysts that he might soften North Korea's confrontational stance, The New York Times reported.
Instead, he seems intent on bolstering his father's main legacy of nuclear weapons and long-range missile programs to justify his own hereditary rule, The Times said.
Japan prepares for North Korean rocket


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China slammed the rocket launch, demanding North Korea comply with UN resolutions against using ballistic missiles.
:Pyongyang should... abide by relevant UN Security Council resolutions... which demands the DPRK not to conduct 'any launch using ballistic missile technology' and urges it to 'suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile programme','' the official news agency Xinhua said in a commentary.
China, North Korea's sole major ally and its biggest trading partner and aid provider, is seen as one of the few nations with any influence over the regime in Pyongyang and had previously expressed concerns over the launch.
Over the past decade, Beijing has repeatedly called for calm as North Korea tested nuclear weapons and carried out ballistic missile tests, despite wide condemnation from the international community, including the United States.
Australia also condemned the rocket launch and called for a swift and strong response from the UN Security Council.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the launch as a provocative and irresponsible act that would threaten the stability and security of the Asia-Pacific region.
"This was another disappointing example of North Korea choosing a path of militarism and isolation,'' she said in a statement, noting it was the second, costly, long-range rocket launch this year.
"And all the while its people struggle to get the food they need to survive.''
American space expert Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said the three-stage Unha-3 rocket delivered the satellite into orbit and constituted "a perfect success for North Korea.''
He says that based on his own calculations an object identified by US space command as "39026, 2012-072A'' was from the North Korean satellite.
The apparent North Korean success comes after two earlier failures with the Unha-3 rocket, including one in April that flamed out after only 90 seconds.
Britain said it "deplored'' the rocket launch and vowed to summon North Korea's ambassador to the Foreign Office.
"I strongly condemn the DPRK's satellite launch today,'' Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement.
"I deplore the fact that the DPRK has chosen to prioritise this launch over improving the livelihood of its people. We will be summoning the DPRK Ambassador to the UK to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,'' he added.
Tokyo said it believed parts of the rocket had fallen into the sea off the Korean peninsula, with another part dropping into the ocean near the Philippines.
Government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said the rocket was fired at 9.49 am (11.49am AEST) and that debris landed in seas off the Korean Peninsula and the Philippines.
The government was still confirming if there was any damage on Japanese territory from the launch, he said.
"Please go about your daily lives calmly,'' Fujimura said. He said the government was doing everything possible to ensure national security.
"We had strongly urged North Korea to refrain from the launch, but they went ahead nonetheless. This is completely unacceptable,'' he said.
Japan had been on high alert since the 13-day lift-off window opened, despite a suggestion from Pyongyang that it could delay the much-criticised blast-off.
Tokyo deployed missile defence systems to intercept and destroy the rocket if it looked set to fall on its territory, with missile batteries in and around Tokyo and in the Okinawan archipelago.
Debris from the rocket is expected to fall off the main Philippine island of Luzon, an official says, without confirming if it had already happened.
"North Korea has launched their rocket at 8.49am (1149 AEDT) Philippine time. It is expected to reach our area in about 30 minutes,'' civil defence chief Benito Ramos said today, urging fishermen to avoid the northern coast of Luzon.
"Our people should avoid the Pacific Ocean from Santa Ana (a northeast Luzon town) to Polillo island,'' he said in repeated radio broadcasts.
Ramos said the Philippines did not have the technology to track the trajectory of the rocket and had asked South Korea for guidance.
The impoverished but nuclear-armed nation insists the long-range rocket launch - its second this year after a much-hyped but botched mission in April - is for peaceful scientific purposes.
But the United States, and allies South Korea and Japan, say Pyongyang's launch was a disguised ballistic missile test that violates UN resolutions triggered by its two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
North Korea had originally provided a December 10-22 launch window, but extended that by a week on Monday when a "technical deficiency'' was discovered in the first-stage control engine.
North Korea last attempted to launch its three-stage Unha-3 carrier in April, but the rocket exploded shortly after take-off.
A successful launch this time would mark a major advance in the North's bid to mate an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capability with its nuclear weapons program.
In 2006 the security council imposed an embargo on arms and material for ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. It also banned exports of luxury goods and named individuals and companies to be subject to a global assets freeze and travel ban.
In 2009, it imposed a ban on North Korea's weapons exports and ordered all countries to search suspect shipments.
Chronology of North Korean missile development
Late 1970s: Starts working on a version of the Soviet Scud-B (range 300 kilometres or 186 miles). Test-fired in 1984
1987-92: Begins developing variant of Scud-C (500 km), Rodong-1 (1,300 km), Taepodong-1 (2,500 km), Musudan-1 (3,000 km) and Taepodong-2 (6,700 km)
Aug 1998: Test-fires Taepodong-1 over Japan as part of failed satellite launch
Sept 1999: Declares moratorium on long-range missile tests amid improving ties with US
July 12, 2000: Fifth round of US-North Korean missile talks ends in Kuala Lumpur without agreement after North demands $1 billion a year in return for halting missile exports
Dec 2002: 15 North Korean-made Scuds seized on Yemen-bound ship
March 3, 2005: North ends moratorium on long-range missile testing, blames Bush administration's ``hostile'' policy
July 5, 2006: North test-fires seven missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 which explodes after 40 seconds
July 15, 2006: UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1695, demanding halt to all ballistic missile activity and banning trade in missile-related items with the North
Oct 9, 2006: North conducts underground nuclear test, its first
Oct 14, 2006: Security Council approves Resolution 1718, demanding a halt to missile and nuclear tests. Bans the supply of items related to the programmes and of other weapons
April 5, 2009: North Korea launches long-range rocket which flies over Japan and lands in the Pacific, in what it says is an attempt to put a satellite into orbit. The United States, Japan and South Korea see it as a disguised test of a Taepodong-2
April 13, 2009: UN Security Council unanimously condemns launch, agrees to tighten existing sanctions. North quits nuclear disarmament talks in protest and vows to restart its plutonium programme
May 25, 2009: North conducts its second underground nuclear test, several times more powerful than the first
June 12, 2009: Security Council passes Resolution 1874, imposing tougher sanctions on the North's atomic and ballistic missile programmes
July 4, 2009: North test-fires seven ballistic missiles off its east coast
Feb 18, 2011: Satellite images show the North has completed a launch tower at its new west coast missile base at Tongchang-ri, experts say
May 15, 2011: North Korea and Iran are suspected of sharing ballistic missile technology, according to a UN sanctions report, diplomats say
March 16, 2012: North Korea announces it will launch a long-range rocket between April 12-16 to put a satellite into orbit
April 13, 2012: Rocket is launched from the Tongchang-ri base but disintegrates soon after blast-off and falls into the ocean
December 1, 2012: North Korea announces it will launch another rocket in December, triggering condemnation from its foes and concern from ally China
December 9, 2012: Pyongyang says the launch may be delayed, as analysts say technical problems or snow may be hampering preparations
December 12, 2012: North Korea launches the multi-stage rocket. Japan says it passed over its southern island chain of Okinawa but it did not attempt an interception

[American Patriot]

http://www.norad.mil/News/2012/121112b.html

NORAD acknowledges missile launch

NORAD and USNORTHCOM Public Affairs
December 11, 2012


PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - North American Aerospace Defense Command officials acknowledged today that U.S. missile warning systems detected and tracked the launch of a North Korean missile at 7:49 p.m. EST. The missile was tracked on a southerly azimuth. Initial indications are that the first stage fell into the Yellow Sea. The second stage was assessed to fall into the Philippine Sea. Initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit. At no time was the missile or the resultant debris a threat to North America.

[American Patriot]

Published December 12, 2012, 08:40 AM North Korea launches rocket

The U.N. Security Council, which has punished North Korea repeatedly for developing its nuclear program, was to meet behind closed doors today. By: Associated Press report, Associated Press

• South Korean protester
  A South Korean protester shouts slogans during a rally denouncing North Korea's rocket launch in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)
  
• Rocket launch

PYONGYANG, North Korea — In Pyongyang, North Koreans clinked beer mugs and danced in the streets to celebrate the country's first satellite in space. In Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, leaders pushed for consequences for today's successful rocket launch, widely seen as a test that takes the country one step closer to being capable of lobbing nuclear bombs over the Pacific.
The surprising, successful launch of a three-stage rocket similar in design to a model capable of carrying a nuclear-tipped warhead as far as California raises the stakes in the international standoff over North Korea's expanding atomic arsenal. As Pyongyang refines its technology, its next step may be conducting its third nuclear test, experts warn.
The U.N. Security Council, which has punished North Korea repeatedly for developing its nuclear program, was to meet behind closed doors today. The White House called the launch a “highly provocative act that threatens regional security,” and even the North's most important ally, China, expressed regret.
In Pyongyang, however, pride over the scientific advancement outweighed the fear of greater international isolation and punishment. North Korea, though struggling to feed its people, is now one of the few countries to have successfully launched a satellite into space from its own soil; bitter rival South Korea is not on the list, though it has tried.
“It's really good news,” Jon Il Gwang told The Associated Press as scores poured into the streets after a noon announcement to celebrate the launch by dancing in the snow. “It clearly testifies that our country has the capability to enter into space.”
The North acknowledges three prior failed attempts at a space launch, in 1998, 2009 and this April. It also is believed to have attempted a launch in 2006. The April launch failed in the first of three stages, raising doubts among outside observers whether North Korea could fix what was wrong in just eight months, but those doubts were erased today.
The Unha rocket, named after the Korean word for “galaxy,” blasted off from the Sohae launch pad in Tongchang-ri, northwest of Pyongyang, shortly before 10 a.m. in North Korea (7 p.m. CST Tuesday), just three days after North Korea indicated that technical problems might delay the launch.
A South Korean destroyer patrolling the waters west of the Korean Peninsula immediately detected the launch. Japanese officials said the first rocket stage fell into the Yellow Sea and a second stage fell into the Philippine Sea hundreds of miles farther south.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed that “initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit.”
In an indication that North Korea's leadership was worried about the success of the launch, the plan was kept quiet inside North Korea until a special noon broadcast on state TV declared the launch a success. Pyongyang was much more open during its last attempt in April, and even took the unusual step of inviting scores of foreign journalists for the occasion, but that launch ended in failure.
At one hotel bar today, North Koreans watched raptly, cheering and applauding at the close of the brief broadcast. As vans mounted with loudspeakers drove around the capital announcing the news, North Koreans bundled up in parkas ran outside to celebrate.
Pyongyang did not immediately release images of the launch, but hours later Associated Press reporters at the Pyongyang satellite command center viewed a playback showing the rocket blasting off against a snowy backdrop in the northwest. The white rocket was emblazoned with the name “Unha-3” and the North Korean flag.
Space officials say the rocket is meant to send a satellite into orbit to study crops and weather patterns.
But the launch could leave Pyongyang even more isolated and cut off from much-needed aid and trade.
The U.N. imposed two rounds of sanctions following nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 and ordered the North not to conduct any launches using ballistic missile technology. Pyongyang maintains its right to develop a civilian space program, saying the satellite will send back crucial scientific data.
The White House condemned what National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor called “yet another example of North Korea's pattern of irresponsible behavior.”
“The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and fully committed to the security of our allies in the region,” Vietor said in a statement. “Given this current threat to regional security, the United States will strengthen and increase our close coordination with allies and partners.”
Vietor said the international community must “send a clear message that its violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions have consequences.”
China expressed its unhappiness but called for a moderate response from the United Nations.
“We express regret at (North Korea's) launch in spite of the extensive concerns of the international community,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters. He added that China “believes U.N. Security Council reaction should be prudent and moderate and conducive to maintaining stability and avoiding escalation of the situation.”
Hong said dialogue and negotiations are the way forward.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of overreacting to the launch “out of hostile feelings.”
“We hope that all countries concerned will use reason and remain cool so as to prevent the situation from developing to undesirable direction,” the official Korean Central News Agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying. The spokesman said the country will “continue to exercise our legitimate right to launch satellites.”
But North Korea also defends its need to build nuclear weapons, citing the U.S. military threat in the region, and rocket tests are seen as crucial to advancing its technology.
Pyongyang is thought to have a handful of rudimentary nuclear bombs. It followed up a failed 2009 launch with a nuclear test, and announced it would begin enriching uranium, which would provide a second source of atomic material.
Experts believe the North lacks the ability to make a warhead small enough to mount on a missile that could threaten the United States, but today's launch marks a milestone in its decades-long effort to perfect a multistage, long-range rocket capable of carrying such a device.
This launch will help the North Koreans map out what kind of delivery vehicle they need for a nuclear warhead, said retired Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton, a weapons expert and intelligence analyst.
“North Korea will now turn its attention to developing bigger rockets with heavier payloads,” said Chae Yeon-seok, a rocket expert at South Korea's state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute. “Its ultimate aim will be putting a nuclear warhead on the tip.”
For North Koreans, today's launch caps a heady year of milestones: the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the nation's founder, and the inaugural year of leadership under his grandson, Kim Jong Un. And on Dec. 17, North Korea will mark the anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Il.
“How happy would our General (Kim Jong Il) have been,” Pyongyang resident Rim Un Hui said. “I'm confident that our country will be stronger and more prosperous under the leadership of Kim Jong Un.”
Associated Press writers Kim Kwang Hyon and Jon Chol Jin in Pyongyang, North Korea; Foster Klug, Hyung-jin Kim and Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Peter Enav in Taipei, Taiwan; Matthew Pennington and Noel Waghorn in Washington, and Mari Yamaguchi and Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo contributed to this report.

[American Patriot]

North Korea launches its second rocket this year

This image shared by the Union of Concerned Scientists shows the announced zones where stages of the North Korean rocket are expected to splash down. (Union of Concerned Scientists / December 10, 2012)

See more »


By Emily Alpert

December 11, 2012, 5:24 p.m.

North Korea launched a rocket Wednesday morning, according to South Korean media and the Associated Press. The launch marks the second such mission this year, after a failed attempt that embarrassed the regime in April.


The rocket was fired at 9:51 a.m., according to the Yonhap news agency in South Korea.


Though North Korea describes the effort as a peaceful satellite launch, the technology used to send a satellite into orbit or launch a missile carrying a warhead is essentially the same, raising fears that a successful mission could be a stride toward putting the United States in North Korea's sights. The U.S., South Korea and other nations condemned the planned launch as a brazen provocation when it was first announced.


The April launch ended in less than two minutes. The rocket broke into pieces shortly after liftoff, a black eye for the country as it marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of founder Kim Il Sung. Earlier attempts to launch a satellite also failed, according to Western officials.


North Korea experts say the latest undertaking is a bid to regain face after the April effort and an attempt to bolster the leadership of Kim Jong Un, who took power late last year.


The country announced at the beginning of the month that its scientists had analyzed the errors behind the April failure, but some analysts were skeptical that it had had enough time to fix the problems.

[American Patriot]

German calls in North Korean ambassador to protest rocket launch


By The Associated Press December 12, 2012 11:04 AM



BERLIN - The German government says it has summoned in North Korea's ambassador to officially protest the country's successful launch of a three-stage rocket.

The rocket put North Korea's first satellite into space but it was similar in design to a model capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Wednesday called it a "deliberate provocation" which "irresponsibly violated (North Korea's) international obligations and increased tensions in the region."

The Foreign Ministry said the ambassador was called in to make sure Germany's concerns were "conveyed without any possibility of misunderstanding."

Westerwelle says he also instructed Germany's ambassador in Pyongyang to file an official protest.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/...#ixzz2Er1kMLCH

[American Patriot]

December 12th, 2012
10:58 AM ET


North Korea hits its mark

By Patrick Cronin, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Patrick M. Cronin is Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C. The views expressed are his own.
North Korea’s successful missile launch now presents Pyongyang as on the cusp of joining the elite club of nations with nuclear-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). That is quite a turn around for the young Kim Jong Un, suddenly thrust into power a year ago, whose first attempt at launching a three-stage missile, during the April centennial of founder Kim Il Sung’s birth, was a show that flopped before a global audience.
Shorn of North Korea’s legendary propaganda, the country has been steadily increasing its missile ranges to the point where it can reach not just U.S. bases in Japan, but also those in Guam, Hawaii and Alaska. The estimated range of 3,400 miles for the Unha-3 puts the capability at the gateway of an ICBM. While touted as a peaceful satellite space launch, all that North Korea needs to do is to now marry up its long-range missile with a nuclear warhead. It appears determined to achieve that mark.
Fewer than 10 countries are believed to have nuclear weapons and perhaps only seven have ICBMs. While North Korea has a penchant for marketing failure as achievement, it truly has something about which to boast when it comes to weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The North is believed to have enough fissile material for a dozen or more nuclear weapons, and it could reveal a new ability to fashion a miniaturized warhead anytime in the next year or so.
More from CNN: 'We have to worry'

Skeptics who dismiss North Korea’s missile and nuclear capabilities should remember that these military programs siphon off a huge percentage of the country’s meager gross domestic product, with perhaps a quarter of its GDP spent on defense. Moreover, it receives technical assistance from Iran and has previously been helped by black marketeers such as Pakistan’s A.Q. Khan network.
Of course, North Korea’s capabilities have come at enormous cost to the people of that country. The United Nations estimates that one-fourth of North Korea’s 24 million people are malnourished, and two-thirds rely on government rations to survive. In the latest Transparency International index on corruption, North Korea ranks dead last.
Yet while neighboring South Korea is one of the world’s most successful economies (a member of the Group of 20 and 15^th in GDP), it is North Korea that has long-range missiles and a nuclear-weapons program. When North Korea chooses to reveal its ability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead, it will have what it believes is the ultimate insurance policy and bargaining chip: a nuclear ICBM capable of hitting U.S. territory.
Adhering to the ancient military maxim that all war is deception, North Korea preceded its launch with well-timed misinformation. Reports that the launch window needed to be extended in order to repair technical problems were quickly followed with a launch on the first day of favorable weather.
More from CNN: Why it matters

Kim Jong Un appears bent on achieving permanent nuclear-weapon-state status for North Korea. Kim 3.0’s about-face on a missile and nuclear moratorium, missile diplomacy, and recent revelations about proliferation off the Korean Peninsula undercut hopes that the younger leader with an outgoing style is pursuing reform. The peninsula remains the most militarized zone in the region, and a single provocation along the lines of either the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan or the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 could escalate and bring not just the two Koreas to blows, but also risk war between their major-power allies, the United States and China.
South Korea’s Park Geun-hye, who remains ahead in presidential polling ahead of elections on December 19, has called for North Korea to follow the example of Burmese reform. She is likely to seek an inter-Korean summit meeting; but the risks to the Kim family regime may be too great to allow significant political and economic opening. In this sense, North Korea may be more akin to the Soviet Union than China, and any relaxation of the means of central government authority may trigger a sudden loss of power of the Pyongyang elite.
Paradoxically, the successful trajectory of North Korea’s missile makes the future trajectory of North Korea and the Kim regime even less certain than ever before. Its economy is unsustainable, the potential for escalation over future provocations is considerable, and there are real questions about whether Kim can successfully suppress opposition from consolidating the power that his father and grandfather held. Scholar Robert Collins has analyzed the seven phases of state collapse, and North Korea’s recent rapid replacement of defense chiefs could signal that the country is on the verge of moving from active suppression of emerging factions to open resistance of those factions against the central government. A rising Asia will have to navigate potential conflict and sudden change involving North Korea.
In the long run, North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs are very likely to represent Pyrrhic victories for the Kim regime unless it can institute serious reforms. Rather than being welcomed by investment, it will now face yet another round of sanctions. It may be saved from biting financial measures by the political transitions in surrounding countries, starting in South Korea, where the next president is determined to seek a summit meeting with Kim. But a penalty must be exacted on the North’s defiance, and that will come through military upgrades to South Korea’s military, the U.S. defense posture on and near the peninsula, and in Japan. Boosted by the recent success of Israel’s Iron Dome defenses, the three countries may well move in the direction of a regional missile shield.
North Korea has displayed its capabilities, and now the international community is faced again with whether it can muster effective responses. That’s a challenge, not least because goals differ. China, for instance, favors preserving stability and averting conflict, while the United States wishes to contain and dismantle the North’s burgeoning WMD systems. China’s new leadership under Xi Jinping is eager to demonstrate the Beijing’s ally is not out of control, but it is unlikely to come down hard on North Korea, given that doing so could risk upheaval or provocations that might trigger war.
A new Japanese government will now have even greater cause to expand its missile and other defenses, while seeking closer cooperation with South Korea and the United States. And the Obama administration, even in the midst of transitioning its national security team, will have to demonstrate strength while crafting a shared approach to the North Korean challenge with a new South Korean government seeking inter-Korean rapprochement.
North Korea has chosen its timing well. But whether it can withstand its own internal contradictions, coupled with future international steps aimed at graduating pressure on the regime when it conducts provocative acts, is another matter.

[American Patriot]

N. Korea's launch sparks worries about nukes, Iran and the Pacific

By Josh Levs, CNN
updated 12:56 PM EST, Wed December 12, 2012


North Korea fires long-range rocket


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The launch was a "big deal," crossing a "major threshold," experts say
• Panetta cites "threat from North Korea," calls the launch "clear provocation"
• Iran says it is happy for North Korea; China expresses regret about the launch
• Attempts in 1998, 2006, 2009 and April of this year failed to put a satellite into orbit

Erin Burnett is live from Afghanistan with an exclusive interview with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Watch Erin Burnett OutFront, Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
(CNN) -- North Korea's newly launched satellite marks a "big deal" for Pyongyang, the crossing of a "major threshold" and a "public relations win" for the secretive country's new leader, Kim Jong Un, experts say.


The success, after years of failed attempts, triggered worries among world leaders about nuclear weapons, Iran and the balance of power in the Pacific.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called the launch "clear provocation."


Experts do not believe North Korea has a nuclear warhead small enough to fly on the kind of missile that Pyongyang has now proved it can send long-distance.
But the launch allowed the regime to flex its military and technological muscle on the world stage.


Panetta told CNN he is "very confident" that if North Korea were to launch a missile at the United States, the U.S. military could guard against it.


"Obviously the hope is that we never have to face that kind of threat," he said. A central reason the United States is working to "rebalance the Pacific" is to deal with "the threat from North Korea," he added.


Washington is leading the global response, threatening to impose sanctions on Pyongyang like those that have helped devastate Iran's economy.
"We will go to New York with a full head of steam and work hard with our partners ... to get a tough, swift reaction" from the U.N. Security Council, a senior administration official warned.


But China and Russia, North Korean allies and two of the council's permanent members, could exercise their veto power.


The United States and other nations may impose unilateral measures, senior administration officials warned. But Pyongyang has ignored such threats before.


What the launch means
Wednesday's success was a breakthrough for the reclusive, nuclear-equipped state.
North Korea "could sell this technology to others, including Iran and Pakistan, who have been regular customers of North Korea's other missiles," warns Victor Cha, who analyzes the region for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"They still have other technological thresholds to cross (miniaturized warheads, reentry vehicle), but this was undeniably a major one."
The rocket blasted off from a space center on the country's west coast and delivered a satellite into its intended orbit, the North Korean regime said. The launch followed a botched attempt in April and came just days after Pyongyang suggested that a planned launch could be delayed.
North Korea's previous claims of successful launches have been dismissed by the United States and other countries.
What is a successful rocket launch?
North Korea announces rocket launch
Japan: Missile launch is intolerable
S. Korea eyes future threats from North
But this time, a U.S. official confirmed that the object is in orbit. U.S. officials were looking into whether it is an operating satellite, the official said.
The regime's state-run Korean Central News Agency said the satellite, named Kwangmyongsong-3, was "fitted with survey and communications devices essential for the observation of the earth."
The satellite itself is probably not very sophisticated, said David Wright, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The regime showed it in April, and it was a small box with solar panels and a simple camera with some basic communication devices, he said.
But the regime doesn't "really care so much what's in it." It's more about a statement, Wright said.
In Japan and South Korea, people will hear about North Korea's achievement -- and will probably be struck by its power, he said.
Any show of might can help strengthen North Korea's position in international talks on numerous issues, including nuclear negotiations.
The South Korean government said the launch was confrontational and a "threat to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the world." Japan called it "intolerable."
Iran praises the launch as the world assails it
Iran, meanwhile, praised North Korea's move Wednesday.
General Masoud Jazaeri, a senior Iranian military official, expressed happiness about the launch, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reported.
"Experience has shown that independent countries, by self-confidence and perseverance, can quickly reach the height of self-sufficiency in science and technology. Hegemonic powers, such as the United States, are unable to stop the progress of such countries," he said.
China expressed regret that the launch had taken place, noting "concerns among the international community."
'Unha-III' factfile
Stages: 3

Height: 32 meters

Payload: 100 kilograms

Previous launch: April 13, 2012

"We hope relevant parties stay calm in order to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Hong Lei, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a news conference.
Several governments criticized Pyongyang's decision to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on its rocket program rather than on assisting its poor, malnourished population.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he deplored the fact that North Korea "has chosen to prioritize this launch over improving the livelihood of its people."
The North's failed launch attempt in April ended a deal for the United States to provide thousands of tons of food aid to the country.
Read: Why launch the rocket now?
Read: Launch driven by political pressures
In his father's footsteps
"I think this is very important to Kim Jong Un to build political legitimacy and bolster the spirits of his people," said James Schoff, a North Korea specialist with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "He is doing this despite the fact that he knows he is going to come into a lot of criticism in the region for it."
The launch has taken place during a period of power consolidation for Kim in which he has purged senior military officers in an apparent effort to stamp his authority on the regime's leadership.
"If Kim Jong Un pulls off a successful long-range missile test, it's a very important signal saying that 'Yes, I, Kim Jong Un, have replaced the powerful generals,' " said John Park, a Stanton junior faculty fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It shows that 'I have found the right balance and I am now in charge.' "
The launch also ties in with important dates for the regime's ruling dynasty.
Pyongyang had said this rocket launch would be "true to the behests" of Kim Jong Il, the late North Korean leader and father of Kim Jong Un.
Kim Jong Il died on December 17 last year, so the rocket launch took place just days before tearful mourners are expected to gather for the first anniversary of his death.
Experts had also speculated that Pyongyang wanted this launch to happen before the end of 2012, the year that marks the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and grandfather of Kim Jong Un.
Another factor may also be at play: The launch took place ahead of national elections in Japan on Sunday and in South Korea on December 19. North Korea is a crucial foreign policy issue in both of those countries.
The rocket took off Wednesday morning and flew south over the Japanese island of Okinawa. There were conflicting reports about how many parts fell into the sea.
Read more: What does North Korea's planned rocket launch mean?
A launch had seemed unlikely to take place so soon after North Korea announced Monday that it was extending the rocket's launch window into late December, citing technical issues in an engine.
Previous attempts by the North in 1998, 2006, 2009 and April of this year failed to achieve their stated goal of putting a satellite into orbit and provoked international condemnation.
The rockets launched in 1998 and 2009 flew for hundreds of kilometers but didn't succeed in deploying satellites, other countries and experts said at the time. North Korea nonetheless insisted that both satellites did reach orbit, with KCNA reporting that they were transmitting "immortal revolutionary" songs back to Earth.
The 2006 launch failed soon after takeoff and wasn't reported by state media.
In April, the North Korean regime invited members of the international news media, including CNN, into the country to observe the preparations for its planned launch. But the strategy backfired when the rocket broke apart shortly after blasting off. On that occasion, state media took the unusual step of admitting the launch's failure.

[American Patriot]

12 December 2012 Last updated at 13:59 ET

UN Security Council condemns North Korea rocket launch







The UN Security Council has condemned North Korea for launching a missile in defiance of a UN resolution.


The Council president, Moroccan ambassador Mohammed Loulichk, described the launch as "a clear violation of Security Council resolutions".


The US says Pyongyang will face "consequences" for the launch, calling it a "highly provocative act that threatens regional security".


The US and its allies view the launch as a disguised ballistic missile test.


White House spokesman Jay Carney would not specify what "consequences" Washington was considering, saying it would first assess what action was taken by the Security Council.


Western diplomats would like the UN statement of condemnation to be followed by a resolution in the coming days, says the BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN.


Whether a UN resolution would strengthen existing sanctions depends on China, a permanent member of the Security Council and North Korea's closest ally, our correspondent adds.


So far Beijing has expressed "regret" at North Korea's action, but also urged restraint on any counter measures.


'Irresponsible behaviour'

The Unha-3 rocket, launched at 09:49 local time (00:49 GMT), appears to have followed its planned trajectory, with stages falling in expected areas.


News of the launch was announced on state TV, with people in Pyongyang saying it gave them "great pride"



North Korea says a satellite has been placed in orbit; the US confirmed an object had been put into space.


US National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said the launch was "another example of North Korea's pattern of irresponsible behaviour".


The launch comes a week ahead of the South Korean presidential election and roughly a year after the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, on 17 December 2011.
'Extremely regrettable'

The three-stage rocket blasted off from a site on North Korea's west coast.


"The launch of the second version of our Kwangmyongsong-3 [Unha-3] satellite from the Sohae Space Centre... on December 12 was successful," state news agency KCNA said. "The satellite has entered the orbit as planned."


The rocket had been scheduled to pass between the Korean peninsula and China, with a second stage coming down off the Philippines.

Regional media coverage

Most media outlets from South Korea, Japan and China reported the rocket launch at least an hour before Pyongyang's state-run news agency KCNA and the national radio station.


Most TV stations and news portals described the timing as "unexpected", with China's Xinhua news agency an exception.
Xinhua published a commentary a few hours after the launch and defended North Korea's "right to conduct peaceful exploration" of outer space.
After reporting the launch, South Korean and Japanese media quoted officials of the two countries who were sharply critical of it.

• Key step in missile ambitions
• Neighbours wrong-footed
• International reaction
• N Korea's missile programme

The Japanese government, which put its armed forces on alert ahead of the launch, said the rocket had passed over parts of Okinawa prefecture, south of the Japanese mainland.


South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, meanwhile, called an emergency meeting of his top advisers. His foreign minister said the government strongly condemned the launch.


Britain has summoned the North Korean ambassador for urgent talks.


Foreign Office Minister Sayeeda Warsi told parliament the ballistic missile test was unacceptable.


North Korea, which had said the launch could be delayed due to a technical problem, is believed to be working on the development of a long-range missile capable of reaching the west coast of the US mainland.


It has not previously successfully launched a three-stage rocket. Its most recent test, in April 2012, ended in failure, when the rocket flew for only a few minutes before exploding and crashing into the sea west of the Korean peninsula.


Officials fear it could be working towards a missile on which a nuclear warhead could be mounted - but it is not thought to have fully developed either the missile or the warheads yet.

[American Patriot]

Umm no.. we didn't fail. lol CBS is so fucking full of shit and making things up now. LOL

December 12, 2012 6:42 PM




U.S. failed to predict North Korea rocket launch

By

David Martin

Play CBS News Video




(CBS News) North Korea, a hermit dictatorship that cannot always feed its people, has become the 13th nation to orbit a satellite. The success of Wednesday night means the nuclear armed nation has a rocket capable of reaching as far as the United States.


U.S. intelligence failed to detect signs the North Korean launch was imminent.


Officials insist that made no difference in the ability of the American missile defense system to track the rocket as it jettisoned its first stage in the Yellow Sea as planned, and its second in the Philippine Sea before boosting what the North Koreans say is a weather satellite into polar orbit.


U.S. Navy ships in the Pacific and missile defense crews in Colorado had already been placed on alert and did not require warning of a launch. Had the rocket been fired on a trajectory that threatened the United States, officials say interceptors based in Alaska and California would have been ready to shoot it down.


Photos: North Korea's long-range rocket launch
After N. Korea rocket launch, all eyes on China
U.S. condemns N. Korea's long-range rocket launch

Still, these officials say they are now trying to determine whether North Korea deliberately disguised its launch plans, or whether U.S. intelligence simply missed the final preparations.


Last April, a similar rocket failed two minutes after launch. This time, North Korea announced it was experiencing technical difficulties and would need to extend the launch window to the end of the month. Whether those difficulties were real or fake, the rocket was quickly prepared for launch without U.S. intelligence detecting it had been fully fueled.


The satellite is now circling the Earth, and is likely to stay up for a year or two, although it appears the North Koreans are having trouble controlling it.

[American Patriot]

[AGEUSAF]

Umm no.. we didn't fail. lol CBS is so fucking full of shit and making things up now. LOL

December 12, 2012 6:42 PM




U.S. failed to predict North Korea rocket launch

By

David Martin

Play CBS News Video




(CBS News) North Korea, a hermit dictatorship that cannot always feed its people, has become the 13th nation to orbit a satellite. The success of Wednesday night means the nuclear armed nation has a rocket capable of reaching as far as the United States.


U.S. intelligence failed to detect signs the North Korean launch was imminent.


Officials insist that made no difference in the ability of the American missile defense system to track the rocket as it jettisoned its first stage in the Yellow Sea as planned, and its second in the Philippine Sea before boosting what the North Koreans say is a weather satellite into polar orbit.


U.S. Navy ships in the Pacific and missile defense crews in Colorado had already been placed on alert and did not require warning of a launch. Had the rocket been fired on a trajectory that threatened the United States, officials say interceptors based in Alaska and California would have been ready to shoot it down.


Photos: North Korea's long-range rocket launch
After N. Korea rocket launch, all eyes on China
U.S. condemns N. Korea's long-range rocket launch

Still, these officials say they are now trying to determine whether North Korea deliberately disguised its launch plans, or whether U.S. intelligence simply missed the final preparations.


Last April, a similar rocket failed two minutes after launch. This time, North Korea announced it was experiencing technical difficulties and would need to extend the launch window to the end of the month. Whether those difficulties were real or fake, the rocket was quickly prepared for launch without U.S. intelligence detecting it had been fully fueled.


The satellite is now circling the Earth, and is likely to stay up for a year or two, although it appears the North Koreans are having trouble controlling it.

Yea I know for a fact we didn't fail to predict this thing. What a load....I know exactly how this goes after a couple month rotations you get sick of doing the same thing everyday just waiting for these asshats to get the nerve to push the freaking button. Failed to predict lol god more like waited for weeks and weeks for them to do it....but it is great duty.

[American Patriot]

hahahaha. "Great Duty" huh?

I sit in the building where alert is a daily response to everything. hahahaha

[American Patriot]

Report: North Korea's Satellite May Be 'Tumbling Out Of Control'

by Mark Memmott


December 13, 2012 7:15 AM


An image, from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), of what's said to be the launch on Wednesday.


AFP/Getty Images
There are conflicting reports about whether the satellite launched into space Wednesday from North Korea is safely circling the planet.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency writes that South Korea's defense ministry says the object is in orbit, but adds that "it was not yet known whether it was functioning properly."
NBC News says it has been told by "U.S. officials" that the satellite appears to be is "tumbling out of control." The network adds that "the officials said that it is indeed some kind of space vehicle, but they still haven't been able to determine exactly what the satellite is supposed to do."
An out-of-control object could pose a danger to those of us on the ground, of course. It could also cause problems for other objects in space. In February 2009, two large communications satellites collided over Siberia, "spewing out clouds of space junk," as NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reported.
As for the launch itself, The Associated Press writes that "the U.N. Security Council said in a brief statement after closed consultations Wednesday that the launch violates council resolutions against the North's use of ballistic missile technology, and said it would urgently consider 'an appropriate response.' "
Another related post: "What North Korea's Rocket Launch Means — And What It Doesn't."
Update at 9:10 a.m. ET. Tracking The Satellite:
N2YO.com has put a "real time satellite tracking" graphic up that aims to keep an eye on where the object is.

[American Patriot]

Mark Stone
China Correspondent




North Korea has described the United Nations condemnation of its rocket launch as 'hostile' in a Foreign Ministry statement.
"Hostile forces are showing signs of a sinister bid to take issue with the launch for peaceful purposes, while terming it a "violation of resolution" of the UN Security Council," the statement said.
North Korean successfully launched a rocket on Wednesday morning and claimed they put a satellite into orbit. Parts of the rocket jettisoned into the Yellow Sea and South China Sea.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency released a photograph which they claim is of one of the rocket parts.

The rocket, launched in northwest North Korea, passed over Japan's Okinawa

The move was almost universally condemned as a cover for the test of intercontinental ballistic missile technology.
The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting in New York late on Wednesday in which they collectively expressed outrage at the launch.
The British Foreign Office summoned North Korea’s UK ambassador to explain his country’s "provocative" move and the White House called the launch a "highly regrettable threat to regional security”.
Even North Korea’s only real ally, China, said the launch was a "regret". China is a member of the UN Security Council and was at the table in New York.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has now said any UN response should be "prudent, appropriate and conducive to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and avoid the escalation of the situation".

The launch is being monitored at a satellite control centre

North Korea insists that its rocket launch is in line with any country’s right to pursue a peaceful space programme.
"The successful satellite launch in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was a desire at the behest of leader Kim Jong Il and part of peaceful work in line with the country's scientific and technological development plan for the economic construction and improvement of people's living standard," a DPRK statement read.
"The right to use outer space for peaceful purposes is universally recognised by international law and it reflects the unanimous will of the international community. So this issue is not one over which the UNSC can say this or that," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said.
Through the UN, the international community will now decide on its next move.
Sanctions have so far not worked. Further options will be considered and China is likely to be a key player.

South Korean activists start a fire in protest at the launch

Beijing is effectively propping up Pyongyang politically, economically and militarily.
The hope from the rest of the Security Council is that the new incoming Chinese leadership could exert pressure on North Korea to stop their tests and reform.
Beijing has its own agenda though. It continually calls for "calm and proportionate" action against North Korea because the removal of the Kim regime would cause a flood of refugees into China.
The re-unification of the North with South Korea would bolster America’s influence in the region which Beijing would want to avoid.
However, there are questions over how much leverage China really has over North Korea.

South Koreans are angy at the move

Beijing’s "concerns" and "regrets" over the launch didn’t stop it. An editorial in the Chinese State-run newspaper Global Times on Thursday suggests that China has lost leverage.
"China's ability to influence countries in the region is limited..." the editorial read. "The real problem is China's strength is not sufficient to influence its neighbour's situation."
The statement concluded with a defiant dismissal to any attempts to stop them: "No matter what others say, we will continue to exercise our legitimate right to launch satellites and thus actively contribute to the economic construction and improvement of the standard of people's living while conquering space."

[American Patriot]

US hesitant in condemning North Korean launch


By By BRADLEY KLAPPER, Associated Press – 14 hours ago


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is drawing no "red line" for North Korea after a successful long-range rocket test, tempering the public condemnation to avoid raising tensions or possibly rewarding the reclusive communist nation with too much time in the global spotlight.


The U.S. has told the world that it won't tolerate Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons or Syria's use of chemical stockpiles on rebels. North Korea, in some ways, is a trickier case.


The U.S. wants to forcefully condemn what it believes is a "highly provocative act," and that was the first public reaction from the White House late Tuesday. But it also is mindful of the turmoil on the Korean peninsula and treading carefully, offering no threat of military action or unspecified "consequences" associated with other hot spots.


Just two years ago, the North allegedly torpedoed a South Korean warship and shelled a South Korean island. Some 50 South Koreans died in the attacks that brought the peninsula to the brink of war.


North Korea already has the deterrent of a nuclear weapons arsenal. The U.S. is bound to protect next-door South Korea from any attack, but has no desire now for a military conflict.


Raising the rhetoric can even serve as a reward for seeking attention to a government that starves its own citizens while seeking to leverage any military advance it makes into much-needed aid.


"No doubt Pyongyang is pleased. It again has unsettled its leading adversaries. And it is in the news around the world," said Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the Cato Institute. "The allies should have responded with a collective yawn. After all, the plan is nothing new. The DPRK has been testing rockets and missiles for years."


The United States remains technically at war with the notoriously unpredictable North Koreans, whose opaque leadership has confounded successive American administrations. With no peace agreement, only the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War keeps the U.S. and the North from hostilities. Some 28,500 U.S. troops remain in South Korea to deter potential aggression.


Wednesday's surprising, successful launch raises the stakes, taking North Korea one step closer to being capable of lobbing nuclear bombs over the Pacific. As the North refines its technology, its next step may be conducting another nuclear test, experts warn.


The three-stage rocket is similar in design to a model capable of carrying a nuclear-tipped warhead as far as California. The rocket launched a satellite into space. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the U.S. would study the launch.


"I think we still have to assess just exactly what happened here," Panetta told CNN in an interview Wednesday. He said part of the assessment would examine the final stage that launched the satellite "to determine, really, whether or not that did work effectively or whether it tumbled into space. I mean, that's the issue that we need to assess."


Despite its technological advances and military bluster, it's doubtful that the North intends to strike first against the U.S.


Even so, Panetta said the U.S. has the capability to prevent such a strike.


"I'm very confident that American defense capabilities are able, no problem, to block a rocket like this one," he told CNN when asked about the capability of U.S. missile defense systems.


North Korea has spent decades threatening but avoiding a direct confrontation with the tens of thousands of American forces in South Korea and Japan. The government has remained firmly in power despite a drought-plagued agricultural sector that leaves many North Koreans in search of food and a crumbling economy that affords few any chance of social betterment.


"It is regrettable that the leadership in Pyongyang chose to take this course in flagrant violation of its international obligations," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters. He said the U.S. would try to further isolate North Korea in response.


State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called the launch "highly provocative and a threat to regional security." It will only further impoverish North Koreans, she said.


Neither Carney nor Nuland elaborated on possible consequences. The White House's initial statement referred only to potential action at the U.N. Security Council, which condemned North Korea on Wednesday and said it would urgently consider "an appropriate response." The threat of sanctions is unclear; China, North Korea's benefactor, holds veto power.


Analysts were mixed on whether a tougher reaction was appropriate.


"There has been an unspoken tendency in the United States to discount these tests as yet another foolish attempt by the technologically backward and bizarre country," said Victor Cha, a Korea expert at Georgetown University and former White House policy director for Asia. "This is no longer acceptable. The apparent success of this test makes North Korea one of the only nonallied countries outside of China and the Soviet Union to develop long-range missile technology that could potentially reach the United States."


The administration's restrained response contrasts with the warnings of military action against Iran and Syria for actions far less imminently threatening to the United States, but directly threatening Israel, an important ally.


Obama has said he won't allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and insists that he won't get involved in a policy of containment similar to the one the U.S. is stuck with in North Korea. He promises that he isn't bluffing.


The U.S. and Israel have held talks over what benchmarks in uranium enrichment and weapons work the Iranians would have to reach for possible military action to be triggered.


What's clear from his words is that Obama wouldn't wait for Iran to have a bomb, meaning the threshold for a U.S. attack against Tehran is far lower than against North Korea, which tested its first nuclear weapon more than six years ago.


As for Syria, the president has issued a "red line" to President Bashar Assad's government concerning chemical weapons that have never been used and are accompanied by no weapon capable of delivering them anywhere near the United States.


U.S. officials fear the increasingly desperate Assad could deploy the weapons in a bid to win a civil war that has left more than 40,000 people dead since March 2011. Or, he could transfer some weapons to anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli militant groups such as Hezbollah.


Judged on capacity and not intent, either of those scenarios would pale in comparison to the North being able to fire a nuclear warhead at the continental United States. But with U.S. officials convinced that Assad's exit may be nearing, the sterner American cautions in Syria may be less likely to be tested. If they are, the United States wouldn't have to worry about nuclear weapons as a counter-threat.

[American Patriot]

N Korea orders more rocket launches

• AAP
• December 14, 2012 8:39AM

Satellite launched by N Korea in orbit

The satellite launched by North Korea's rocket is in operational orbit, South Korea's defence ministry says.
Sky News13 December 2012




0:11 / 2:58






North Korea is planning on more rocket launches. Source: AAP



NORTH Korea's leader has ordered more satellite launches two days after Pyongyang's long-range rocket launch triggered global outrage and UN condemnation.

Kim Jong-Un, who oversaw Wednesday's launch, stressed the need "to launch satellites in the future... to develop the country's science, technology and economy", according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
North Korea says it placed a satellite in orbit for peaceful research, but critics say the launch amounted to a banned ballistic missile test that marked a major advance for the communist state's nuclear weapons programme.
The UN Security Council held emergency talks after the North, already under international sanctions for nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, ignored pleas from friends and foes and went ahead with the launch.
The council warned of possible measures over what the United States called a "highly provocative" act as the US and countries including South Korea and Japan pressed for stronger sanctions against Pyongyang.




Kim had issued the final written order for the rocket launch on Wednesday morning and "keenly observed" the whole process, said KCNA, unveiling new details of the leader's whereabouts on the day.
By placing a satellite in orbit, North Korea "showed at home and abroad the unshakable stand... to exercise the country's legitimate right to use space for peaceful purposes", Kim said, according to KCNA.
Analysts say the symbolism of the launch was a prime motivating factor for North Korea as the youthful Kim, who is not yet 30, shores up his leadership a year on from the death of his father Kim Jong-Il on December 17 last year.
"The launch means the fulfillment of Kim Jong-Il's last wish," said Yoo Ho-Yeol, a political science professor at Korea University in Seoul.
"As such, it helps cement Jong-Un's grip on power and strengthens his authority over the North's military elites, securing their loyalty and a sense of solidarity under his leadership," Yoo said.
The rocket launch has been seen as a timely boost for Kim, laying to rest the humiliation of a much-hyped but failed launch of North Korea's Unha-3 rocket in April, when the carrier exploded shortly after take-off.
Outrage over the recent launch was mixed with concern that North Korea may follow past practice in following up a missile or rocket launch with a nuclear test.
The North's first nuclear test in 2006 came three months after it tested a long-range missile. On that occasion, Pyongyang announced the test six days before it exploded the device.
The second test, in May 2009, came a month after a rocket launch that North Korea claimed had put a satellite in space.
Pyongyang had threatened the second test unless the UN Security Council apologised for its condemnation of the launch.

[American Patriot]

[American Patriot]

Don't worry, the MDA was on it. We not only predicted it, we knew when it was going to happen. We had people on duty and Navy ships standing off to blow it out of the sky.

Obama should keep partying, that ought to save the country.

Obama’s Asia team caught off guard, partying when rocket launched

Posted By Josh Rogin Thursday, December 13, 2012 - 5:30 PM Share

The Obama administration's Asia team was caught so off guard by North Korea's Dec. 11 rocket launch, several of them actually had to put down their drinks and suddenly leave a holiday party being held in honor of the Japanese emperor's birthday.
Several top U.S. officials dealing with Asia and North Korea from the State Department, the Pentagon, and the National Security Council were relaxing Tuesday night at the Japanese ambassador's Nebraska Avenue residence in Washington when the news came over their blackberries that North Korea had launched another Unha-3 rocket with a "satellite" attached, this time with much more success than a previous attempt in April.
Just minutes before the launch news became known, several officials were overheard remarking how nice it was that North Korea was apparently delaying the launch, giving U.S. North Korea watchers hope that their holiday festivities would not be interrupted.
"Nobody in the U.S. government thought this would happen when it did," said one top Asia expert who attended the party. "A lot of the guys who do the Korea stuff both on the policy and intelligence side were at this thing. They were saying ‘We bought ourselves some time.' People were hoping it didn't happen before Christmas because they wanted to take time off."
Among the Obama Asia officials at the party when the rocket launched were Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Affairs Jim Zumwalt, National Security Council Director for East Asia Syd Seiler, Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy Northeast Asia Director Chris Johnstone, OSD Senior Advisor for Asia Amy Searight, and others. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs Peter Lavoy was at the Pakistani ambassador's Christmas Party, as was your humble Cable guy.
Seiler is the former CIA official who several sources close to the administration say traveled to Pyongyang in March with former intelligence official Joe DeTrani to urge North Korea to cancel its previous missile launch, which happened in April.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland rejected the idea that the administration was caught off guard by the launch this time.
"For weeks and weeks and weeks we have been warning against this launch and we've been preparing a response if the North Koreans did the wrong thing as they did," she said.
But several attendees at the Japanese emperor's birthday celebration told The Cable that the fact so many Asia officials were not at their desks illustrated how surprised the administration was about the timing of the launch.
"Everybody stood down. Nobody thought they were going to do it this week. It was a real head fake by the North Koreans," another top Asia expert and party attendee said. "DOD, State, and the White House were just stunned by it. They were shocked."
There were varying explanations as to why the Obama administration was caught off guard. North Korea said Dec. 10 said that "technical issues" were forcing it to push back the launch window. Previously, North Korea had said the launch would come by Dec. 22, and the new window was supposed to end Dec. 29. News reports Dec. 9 and 10 also said the missile was being removed from the launch pad. Those reports turned out to be wrong.
A widely read Dec. 10 post on the North Korea watching website 38 North, run by former nuclear negotiator Joel Wit, pointed to commercially available satellite imagery to argue that the launch would not come for at least another 10 days.
"A key question is how long it might take for the North Koreans to repair the rocket, move it back to the pad and conduct the test. That effort could take approximately 9-10 days based on what is known about the first stage rocket technology as well as past North Korean behavior," the post said. "Given that timeline, a launch might take place as early as December 21-22, with added flexibility possible since Pyongyang has extended its launch window until December 29."
In a subsequent post after the launch, the editors of the site said there was simply not enough information to predict that that North Korea could launch the rocket so soon, and that the North Koreans had succeeded in fooling various intelligence agencies and North Korea watchers with the surprise launch. It remains unclear whether the North was waging a disinformation campaign or simply was able to repair the rocket on the launch pad.
"We will, of course, never know what really happened," the post stated. "Either way, the North was able to fire the rocket off quickly, fooling not only us, but evidently also various intelligence agencies with access to reams of secret information."
Some observers have also criticized the administration's slow reaction to the launch -- the White House issued a statement condemning North Korea's actions roughly two and a half hours after the news broke.
That was because the administration was evaluating exactly what happened and trying to get more information, Nuland explained.
As for whether the U.S. government believed reports that the rocket was not ready to launch for at least another week and a half, Nuland said, "I am not going to get into what our intelligence was telling us before, during, or after the launch."
North Korea hands are divided on the way forward. The U.N. Security Council is working on a statement now, but previous statements have not given the North Koreans pause.
Wit, who favors engagement, told The Cable that the North Koreans will continue to test their missile technology and develop their uranium enrichment capabilities and that the Obama administration's hands-off approach isn't working.
"It's been clear for some time that this policy of strategic patience isn't working and this is the most recent and obvious manifestation of that," he said. "We need to do a serious review of our policy."
Former NSC Senior Director for Asia Victor Cha countered that negotiations with North Korea are simply not possible until the North Koreans agree to basic parameters and express the willingness to negotiate in good faith, which hasn't happened. At the same time, the United States has to do something different, he said.
"Strategic patience is not working because our patience is allowing them to advance their long-range missile program and their uranium program. We've got to make a decision," said Cha.
"If we really think this is a threat, we've got to figure out a way to do something that makes it difficult for this regime to continue. If it's not a threat, then we should find a way to get them not to proliferate. That's the problem with strategic patience: It goes in neither of these directions."
Nuland said the administration has only one viable course of action at the moment.
"We have been encouraging this new leader to make a better choice for his people and for regional security. Unfortunately that's not the path that he has chosen," she said. "So we are left with increasing the pressure and that's what we'll do."