Final Countdown - North Korea

[vector7]

N. Koreans mass at rally in capital to denounce US

By JAE-SOON CHANG
Associated Press Writer


AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Tens of thousands of North Koreans shouted slogans to denounce international sanctions at a rally in central Pyongyang on Thursday, as the communist country vowed to enlarge its atomic arsenal and warned of a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation" in the event of a U.S. attack.

The rally marked the 1950 outbreak of the Korean War, which about 5,000 people - mostly American and South Korean veterans and war widows - also commemorated at a ceremony in Seoul.

The anniversary came a day after President Barack Obama extended U.S. economic sanctions against North Korea, saying its arsenal and the risk of proliferation "continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States, according to the White House Web site.

The U.S. measures are on top of U.N. sanctions imposed on the North over its nuclear test in May. The U.N. sanctions bar member states from buying weapons from or selling them to North Korea. They also ban the sale of luxury goods to the isolated country and financial transactions.

In Pyongyang, an estimated 100,000 packed the main square, shouting "Let's smash!" in unison while punching clenched fists in the air, footage from APTN in North Korea showed. A placard showed hands crushing a missile with "U.S." written on it.

The isolated, totalitarian regime often organizes such massive rallies at times of tension with the outside world.

North Korea's "armed forces will deal an annihilating blow that is unpredictable and unavoidable, to any 'sanctions' or provocations by the US," Pak Pyong Jong, first vice chairman of the Pyongyang City People's Committee, told the crowd.

State-run newspapers ran lengthy editorials accusing the U.S. of invading the country in 1950 and of looking for an opportunity to attack again. The editorials said those actions justified North Korea's development of atomic bombs to defend itself.

The North "will never give up its nuclear deterrent ... and will further strengthen it" as long as Washington remains hostile, Pyongyang's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said.

At the rally in Seoul, Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Kim Yang called for North Korea to "abandon all programs related to nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles."

The new U.N. resolution - passed to punish Pyongyang after its May 25 nuclear test - seeks to clamp down on North Korea's trading of banned arms and weapons-related material by requiring U.N. member states to request inspections of ships carrying suspicious cargo.

North Korea has said it would consider any interception of its ships a declaration of war.

The U.S. Navy is currently following a North Korean ship suspected of carrying weapons in violation of the resolution, but Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Wednesday that the U.S. and its allies have not decided whether to contact and request an inspection of the ship.

The Kang Nam left the North Korean port of Nampo a week ago and is believed bound for Myanmar, South Korean and U.S. officials have said. A senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday that the ship had already cleared the Taiwan Strait.

Another U.S. defense official said he tended to doubt reports that the Kang Nam was carrying nuclear-related equipment, saying the information officials had received seemed to indicate the cargo was conventional munitions.

The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing intelligence.

Adding to the tensions, anticipation is mounting that the North might test-fire short- or mid-range missiles in the coming days. The North has designated a no-sail zone off its east coast from June 25 to July 10 for military drills.

A senior South Korean government official said the ban is believed connected to North Korean plans to fire short- or mid-range missiles. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

The North has also been holding two U.S. journalists since March. The reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegal border crossing and hostile acts earlier this month.

Ling's husband, Iain Clayton, said Wednesday that his wife called him on Sunday night and she sounded scared. He also said Ling's medical condition has deteriorated and Lee has developed a medical problem. Ling reportedly suffers from an ulcer.

[vector7]

N. Korean ship passing Malacca Strait

NHK ^| 2009/06/24 19:21(JST)

A North Korean cargo ship suspected of transporting weapons in violation of a UN Security Council resolution is sailing through the Strait of Malacca, possibly heading for Myanmar.

The US military is closely monitoring the Kang Nam, which may be carrying arms and missile parts.

The US Navy has deployed the USS John S. McCain, an Aegis-equipped destroyer based in Yokosuka near Tokyo, to join the round-the-clock watch. The cargo ship left a North Korean port last Wednesday.

A US diplomatic source told NHK that the Kang Nam was sailing through the Strait of Malacca on Wednesday afternoon local time.

US and Japanese diplomatic sources say the ship may soon turn north for Myanmar, and enter a port near Yangon -- the country's largest city. An intelligence report says the ship is also thought to be carrying automatic rifles and trench mortars.

The United States is considering asking Myanmar to inspect the ship in accordance with the recent Security Council resolution if the ship enters the country.

[vector7]

Jun 25, 2009 6:33
North Korea warns of 'fire shower' of nuclear attacks

By AP AND JPOST.COM STAFF

North Korea threatened the US with a 'fire shower' of nuclear attacks Thursday after the latter said it would provide nuclear defense for South Korea. The North said the US's actions justified its possession of atomic weapons.

The salvo in Pyongyang's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper was the North's latest reaction to last week's summit between President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. The allies issued a joint statement committing the US to defend the South with nuclear weapons.

It also came as an American destroyer trailed a North Korean ship suspected of shipping weapons in violation of a UN resolution punishing Pyongyang's May 25 nuclear test, and as anticipation mounted that the North might test-fire short- or mid-range missiles.

[Toad]

In a way, I almost always look forward to the next statement coming out of N. Korea. It gets so over the top, you're just left wondering what could they possibly say next to raise the bar.

[American Patriot]

I wish we'd board the damn boat and call their bluff. And if they aren't bluff, blow the crap out of them

[American Patriot]

President Obama Extending Sanctions on North Korea

Posted: June 25, 2009 11:13 AM

President Barack Obama is extending U.S. economic sanctions against North Korea for another year.

The White House says the North's possession of "weapons-usable fissile material" and its proliferation risk "continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States.

According to the White House, Obama has called Australia's prime minister to discuss how to ensure the U.N. sanctions are fully implemented.

Meanwhile, the communist regime is marking the 1950 outbreak of the Korean War by lashing out at a recent U.S. pledge to provide nuclear defense of South Korea. The North says the move boosts its justification to have atomic bombs and invites a potential "fire shower of nuclear retaliation all over South Korea."

The commentary appeared in Pyongyang's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

[American Patriot]

North Korea Not Expected to Test Long-Range Missile Soon, U.S. Official Says
Thursday, June 25, 2009

The United States does not expect North Korean to test an ICBM soon despite reports that Pyongyang is preparing a launch for early next month, CNN reported yesterday (see GSN, June 23).

A Japanese newspaper, citing U.S. and South Korean intelligence sources, last week reported that the Stalinist North is planning to send one of its long-range Taepodong 2 missiles in the direction of Hawaii sometime between July 4 and 8.

However, U.S. intelligence agencies have identified no "readily observable" preparations by the regime to carry out a long-range missile launch, one intelligence source told CNN.

A recent warning advising ships to stay out of a particular section of the Sea of Japan at various periods from yesterday to July 9 suggests the North only plans to test-launch short- and mid-range missiles for now, the U.S. official said.

Nevertheless, the Defense Department has bolstered its missile defenses around Hawaii.

"Previous long-range ballistic missile tests by the North have been failures," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said yesterday. "But they obviously are intent on developing on developing that capability, and so long as they are, we need to do responsible, prudent things. And in this case, [Defense Secretary Robert Gates] thinks the responsible, prudent thing is to deploy those assets."

Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense systems -- designed to intercept incoming missiles at their final phase of flight -- have been readied on Hawaii, bolstered by a powerful radar system. The Pentagon does not expect to field extra technology in the area, Morrell indicated.

"I think we're perfectly comfortable with the assets that are in place," he said. "This threat that is posed by North Korea is not a new one, so we have adjusted out assets that are normally in the area some time ago" (Benson/Levine, CNN, June 24).

The White House on Tuesday pledged to take all necessary measures to protect U.S. citizens from any danger posed by North Korea's missile tests, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

"The president and the Pentagon have done and are doing everything humanely possible to ensure the safety of all Americans should the North Koreans decide to test-fire another missile," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in an interview with the Fox News Channel.

"They did the same thing in 2006," Gibbs said, referring to an earlier Taepodong 2 missile test. "I think the North Koreans over the course of many, many years -- and bedeviling many administrations -- have continued to make irrational statements and take bellicose actions that further isolate itself from the world" (Hwang Doo-hyong, Yonhap News Agency, June 23).

[American Patriot]

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The magical mystery tour of a North Korean tub named Kang Nam
By Donald Kirk

LONDON — What if anything is a decrepit North Korean vessel named Kang Nam I transporting as it steams around the rim of China and Southeast Asia?

The North Korean ship, the Kang Nam I, anchored in Hong Kong waters on Oct. 24, 2006. (, File) AP/Vincent Yu
Kang Nam's destination looks like Myanmar (Burma), whose budding rapport with North Korea was rudely interrupted in October 1983 when three North Korean commandos planted a bomb in a plot to assassinate the South Korean president, General Chun Doo-hwan, on a state visit to Rangoon, now Yangon. Chun escaped, but 18 South Korean officials and three local citizens were killed. Myanmar and North Korea were not on speaking terms for years.

Such are the ironies of diplomacy, however, that Myanmar and North Korea resolved to forget the past and become fast friends again when their leaders realized they had much in common. North Korea this week is raising the stakes, almost daring the U.S. Navy to board the Kang Nam while claiming the U.S. is looking for a pretext for "a second Korean war".

Pyongyang's party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, in a particularly pyrotechnic display of rhetoric, has promised "fiery showers of nuclear retaliation" in response to attack. The newspaper likened the meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak in Washington on June 16 to "a disgusting kiss between master and servant".

Obama at the summit outraged North Korea by signing off on a joint statement affirming for the first time in writing the U.S. commitment to a "nuclear umbrella" over the Korean peninsula. On Wednesday, renewing U.S. sanctions on North Korea, he warned "the risk of the proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula constitutes a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States".

Against this background, North Korea is staging naval exercises off its east coast after warning shipping to stay away until July 10. The warning in turn suggests plans for more tests of mid- and short-range missiles, and another test of a long-range Taepodong-2 similar to the one that flew on a 3,200-kilometer trajectory toward Hawaii on April 5.

The Kang Nam sailed out of the port of Nampo on North Korea's west coast and a senior U.S. defense official told the Associated Press on Wednesday that it had already cleared the Taiwan Strait. The voyage might not have created such consternation were it not for rising tensions in which the North has said that stopping one of its vessels would be a "declaration of war" to which it would respond militarily.

In that context, the voyage of the Kang Nam challenges two American-led efforts to stifle nuclear proliferation.

The first is the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a U.S.-inspired program under which 15 or 16 "core" countries have the theoretical power to stop and board ships on the high seas to see if they're carrying weapons of mass destruction, components or the missiles with which to fire them. PSI also includes scores of observer members who cooperate to the extent of sharing information.

The second revolves around the United Nations Security Council resolutions to which North Korea objects mightily. These resolutions, adopted after North Korea's first nuclear test in October 2006, and again after the second nuclear test on May 25, provide "sanctions" to halt such shipments, to stop the export to North Korea of critical products, including arms, and to cut off international financial transactions in support of such business.

The temptation to check out what's on the Kang Nam is almost palpable considering the tantalizing questions that only a search would answer. A look at its cargo would provide insights into a relationship that supports the military aims of two of Asia's most sordid dictatorships, bonded in hostility and distrust of the outside world and suppression of foes at home.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's "military first" policy far surpasses in intensity the kinship that South Korea's Chun Doo-hwan had hoped to cultivate with Myanmar's military leaders before setting forth on his ill-fated expedition in 1983.

North Korea and Myanmar not only adhere to military rule but also entertain nuclear ambitions that South Korea has sublimated while allied with the U.S.

By the time North Korea and Myanmar opened ties in April 2007, North Korea was a nuclear power, Myanmar aspired to become one, and Pyongyang was providing Myanmar with arms, ammunition, missiles - and nuclear expertise.

Myanmar technicians were going to North Korea for training while Myanmar served as a useful transhipment point for North Korean military cargo on the way to clients in the Middle East by air as well as sea. In that context, the voyage of the Kang Nam raises the deepest suspicions.

"The suggestion that it is carrying missile equipment to Burma [Myanmar] ring true," said Mark Fitzpatrick, senior fellow for non-proliferation with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. State Department official, cited "the recent uptake in sightings of North Koreans in Burma" as well as "NK-Burma missile discussions" confirmed around four years ago.

"Much of the chatter in Burmese emigre circles has to do with rumors of NK nuclear cooperation with Burma," he said in e-mailed response to questions.

How much credence to give such talk, however, is another matter. "A nuclear connection is certainly conceivable," said Fitzpatrick, "but a missile connection is more likely." Then again, he noted, it was always possible "the ship is sending conventional arms or tunneling equipment to Burma".

In fact, tunneling is one field in which North Korea has developed a high level of expertise. North Korean engineering is responsible for digging tunnels under the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, for excavating numerous tunnels on roads through mountainous regions elsewhere and for digging deep excavations in which to hide arms and ammunition and conduct nuclear tests. North Korea in recent years is known to have shared tunneling equipment and expertise with Myanmar and other client states. (Please see Myanmar and North Korea share a tunnel vision, Asia Times Online, July 19, 2006.)

But when and how will intelligence analysts discover what the Kang Nam, with a dead weight of just 2,035 tons, is carrying? The load is less than massive, but the ship will still have to refuel before getting to Myanmar. Therein lies the best, if not the only hope, for fathoming the mystery of what's on board.

"With regard to the route, it stands to reason that the vessel would have to call in one or more ports along the way," said Fitzpatrick, adding that "Singapore is a natural port of call" and "it would be far easier to demand an inspection once the vessel is in a port." If the captain were to refuse, Fitzpatrick noted, "the port can refuse services, or impose restrictions based on customs or other regulations."

Until then, it appears quite unlikely that the American destroyer USS John McCain, tailing the Kang Nam, will not do much more than log its every move while looking for clues to its mission and cargo as U.S. Navy planes patrol the area.

The McCain is an Aegis-class vessel equipped with the latest missiles and technology for spotting and firing on targets. Still, all that weaponry will be for naught in the cat-and-mouse game of tracking an aging vessel that can travel at far less than half the speed of the McCain and has no weaponry other than whatever small arms its crew is carrying.

The greatest deterrent to stopping and boarding the vessel undoubtedly is the reluctance of China to support an incident that could add to the sense of crisis hanging over the Korean Peninsula. China's Foreign Ministry has come up with a rationale that shows how little the UN sanctions really mean in a crunch.

Professing support for the Security Council resolution, a spokesman observed that "ship inspections should be enforced according to relevant international and domestic law" with "ample evidence and proper cause" - meaning, not at all.

Such verbiage will not diminish concerns that the Kang Nam's cargo may not be for Myanmar at all but for the Middle East, possibly Iran or Syria.

Under the circumstances, it's hard to take seriously Myanmar's claim of no knowledge of a plan for the Kang Nam to go there. Then again, it's possible the fuss is for nothing. When the Kang Nam docked three years ago in Hong Kong, an inspection revealed nothing on board.

[eversman]

I have a question:

What if we dropped 50-100 bombs on iran, say, 100kT each, and 50 - 100 bombs on North Korea say 100kT each, all on strategic and tactical targets, do you really honestly think ANY nation with the power to confront us, would step up and risk it after we laid ruin to both nations?

It may be harsh but none of the populations of either country like us, point blank they hate us, so why spare them?

It would scare the rest of the world into staying out of our affairs, and it would make the point that evil nations meet an evil end. It would also make the point that we will use overwhelming force to prevent any harm to ourselves. The chinese arsenal is woefully unable to compete with the american one, and the russians are not going to go to nuclear war for Iran just as China wont for North Korea.

Maybe i've gone off the deep end, but seriously. maybe the only real answer is to do what we did in world war two with nazi germany and japan: wipe them off the earth in near totality wherever we find them. Nuclear weapons seem to be the best way to do that. Edit: Doug McArthur had it right. we should have rolled up the chinese and north koreans with nuclear weapons THEN. we wouldnt be in this mess now, if we had.

Am i off the deep end here? what are all your thoughts? does anyone in their right mind think al qaeda would get a nuclear weapon if they knew complete nuclear annhilation was the response???


ev

[American Patriot]

I have a question:

What if we dropped 50-100 bombs on iran, say, 100kT each, and 50 - 100 bombs on North Korea say 100kT each, all on strategic and tactical targets, do you really honestly think ANY nation with the power to confront us, would step up and risk it after we laid ruin to both nations?

Yeah, soon as we dropped the first one, we'd be in a world of shit. Not sure about 100kt bombs either. Don't know the types or ability to hit pin point locations with ICBMs, but I know most are around 20 MT warheads... nothing small.

It may be harsh but none of the populations of either country like us, point blank they hate us, so why spare them?

I don't personally like to see unnecessary killing. Yes, you're right from a pure sense of "common sense". They don't like us, they want us dead... so we kill them first and more. That works. But, it's still wrong. There's a lot of innocent people there who don't like their own government and want to come HERE to live.

It would scare the rest of the world into staying out of our affairs, and it would make the point that evil nations meet an evil end. It would also make the point that we will use overwhelming force to prevent any harm to ourselves. The chinese arsenal is woefully unable to compete with the american one, and the russians are not going to go to nuclear war for Iran just as China wont for North Korea.

I don't think it would scare them out of our business, not if we were the ones to start dropping nukes on people. I think the options are there, but doing so is a very, very hard decision. The President would be personally held responsible for the deaths of thousands or millions and probably would be considered a war criminal.

Maybe i've gone off the deep end, but seriously. maybe the only real answer is to do what we did in world war two with nazi germany and japan: wipe them off the earth in near totality wherever we find them. Nuclear weapons seem to be the best way to do that.

The real answer is to kick ass and take names.. yes, nuking them, no. Not unless they nuke us first. Or Israel. If they do that, then all bets are off in my book.

Am i off the deep end here? what are all your thoughts? does anyone in their right mind think al qaeda would get a nuclear weapon if they knew complete nuclear annhilation was the response???


ev

Not off the deep end, merely a "What If" discussion.

[eversman]

Just speaking to the weapons yields, hiroshima was 17 kT. the ones currently deployed at sea on Trident II missiles are either 100kT strategic warheads, or 335kT warheads.

The trident is capable of +/-100 meters CEP. so with a weapon that large, its capable of point targets. you MAY need something bigger for superhardened and deep targets, or you could use multiple warheads on the same target to dig it out.

100kT would minimize a lot of the collateral, but its still like doing surgery with a butcher knife. again, merely speaking to the weapons themselves and their effectiveness/ usage.

Yeah, soon as we dropped the first one, we'd be in a world of shit. Not sure about 100kt bombs either. Don't know the types or ability to hit pin point locations with ICBMs, but I know most are around 20 MT warheads... nothing small.

I don't personally like to see unnecessary killing. Yes, you're right from a pure sense of "common sense". They don't like us, they want us dead... so we kill them first and more. That works. But, it's still wrong. There's a lot of innocent people there who don't like their own government and want to come HERE to live.

I don't think it would scare them out of our business, not if we were the ones to start dropping nukes on people. I think the options are there, but doing so is a very, very hard decision. The President would be personally held responsible for the deaths of thousands or millions and probably would be considered a war criminal.


The real answer is to kick ass and take names.. yes, nuking them, no. Not unless they nuke us first. Or Israel. If they do that, then all bets are off in my book.

Not off the deep end, merely a "What If" discussion.

[American Patriot]

Nagasaka was 21 kt.

Hiroshima was never really "determined" precisely. But based on thermal effects it was closer to 14 or 15 kt

[Beetle]

Why Burma May Be North Korea's Best Friend

By Ishaan Tharoor Friday, Jun. 26, 2009

North Korea is great at scaring its neighbors. The isolated dictatorship carries a real nuclear threat, and tested its latest device this May in an underground bunker. Tensions in East Asia heightened this week after Pyongyang threatened "a fire shower of nuclear retaliation" if the U.S. or its allies in the region attempted any provocative action when trying to curb North Korea's missile program. Even those with historically warmer ties to the pariah state, such as Russia and China, have bristled at Pyongyang's latest moves. Still, North Korea may not be without friends.

Reports this week reminded the world of a fitting — if slightly bewildering — relationship: a decrepit and slow North Korean cargo ship, reportedly laden with arms, is on its way to Burma, a country ruled by a similarly obstinate and oppressive military junta. A watchful U.S. missile destroyer is following, close on its heels. (Read "Time to Face Facts on Our North Korea Ignorance.")
From most accounts, the Kang Nam 1 is a rusty old freighter, inching along at a paltry 10 knots an hour. By Thursday, it was believed to be chugging through Chinese or Taiwanese waters, having left the North Korean port of Nampo a week ago, and headed, according to the South Korean press, to the Burmese port of Thilawa. Its cargo is unknown; Burma's state newspaper claims authorities expect the arrival of a "rice-bearing" North Korean vessel, though most news reports suspect the Kang Nam 1 bears a load of small arms and other conventional weapons. North Korea, whose people have lived on the verge of famine for decades, is not a known food exporter.
What it does export is invariably shrouded in mystery. Pyongyang exists frozen outside the global economy and raises funds through a host of backdoor activities, including the manufacture of counterfeit money and dissemination of its military secrets and technological capabilities to a whole network of dubious customers. As a consequence of Pyongyang's recent bellicose behavior, a new U.N. resolution passed this June forbids the country from exporting arms and authorizes member states to search North Korean vessels suspected to be carrying them, though they must first seek Pyongyang's legal consent — effectively, a non-starter. Nevertheless, the U.S.S. John McCain, an Aegis class destroyer, has been tailing the freighter and will be replaced now by the U.S.S. McCampbell as the Kang Nam 1 nears the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, perhaps the world's biggest maritime pit stop. The city-state's government says it will act "appropriately" should the vessel call at its port with illegal materials on board. According to South Korean press, the Kang Nam 1 will need to refuel soon. (See pictures of North Korea's rubber-stamp elections.)
North Korean links with Burma range far beyond small firearms — indeed, ties between the two outcast nations are literally deep. North Korean engineers reportedly aided the Burma's junta in building a vast series of 600 to 800 tunnel complexes and underground facilities, particularly beneath the junta's secretive new capital of Naypyidaw. Photographs leaked earlier this month to YaleGlobal, an international affairs website, show North Korean technicians milling around guest houses in the capital. Others published by the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma, an anti-government television channel, detail the extent of some of these complexes, which have independent power supplies, built-in ventilation systems, and are reportedly large enough to allow large vehicles to drive through them. The projects have been nicknamed "tortoise shells" by the government — the often brutally repressive regime intends to use North Korea's subterranean savvy to man a network of underground command centers, linked with fiber-optic cable, that can rule Burma in times of emergency and quash any civilian uprising.
The Burmese and North Koreans were not always this close. In 1983, North Korean agents bombed a South Korean delegation visiting a monument in Rangoon. More than 20 people died and Burma severed relations with Pyongyang. But the two nations held secret talks during the 1990s and restored formal ties in 2007. Soon thereafter, North Korean vessels started docking at Burmese ports, reportedly unloading heavy equipment and weapons parts. It is suspected that resource-rich Burma sends minerals, rubber and foodstuffs to North Korea in return for such assistance.
A tense standoff between U.S. ships and the Kang Nam 1 would hardly upset Pyongyang; the Burmese junta has proven to be wholly insensitive to criticism and protest from the outside world. Watchers of both isolated states see a joint circling of wagons in the face of a hostile international community. With many policy makers already tearing at their hair over North Korea's nuclear intransigence, it's a state of affairs that can only deepen global concern.

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...rss-topstories

[vector7]

Air Force test fires missile from Calif coast

Associated Press - June 29, 2009 8:13 AM ET



VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - The Air Force says it has successfully launched an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile from a California base, firing it to targets in the Pacific Ocean.

Lt. Geoffrey Raymond said the ICBM was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 3:01 a.m. Monday.

He said it carried three unarmed re-entry vehicles that hit their targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, some 4,200 miles away.

The Air Force said the launch was an operational test to check the weapon system's reliability and accuracy.

Test data will be used by United States Strategic Command planners and Department of Energy laboratories.

[vector7]

Vandenberg successfully launches Minuteman III

by 1st Lt. Raymond Geoffroy
30th Space Wing Public Affairs



6/29/2009 - VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration test assembly launched from North Vandenberg today at 3:01 a.m.

The launch was an operational test to verify the weapon system's reliability and accuracy.

The missile carried three unarmed re-entry vehicles approximately 4,190 miles at speeds in excess of 24,000 mph to their pre-determined targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Col. David Buck, the 30th Space Wing commander, was the mission's launch decision authority. Lt. Col. Lesa K. Toler, the 576th Flight Test Squadron commander, was the mission director for this test launch.

"It's really something when you see a truly outstanding team come together," Colonel Buck said. "As a former Top Hander myself, I know that the Airmen of the 576th FLTS are the best of the best when it comes to force development evaluation, and, as the 30th Space Wing commander, I know that this is the best range team in the world. I couldn't think of a better team to demonstrate the awesome capability of our ICBM fleet."

Throughout the preparation and execution of the mission, maintenance and operations task force personnel from the 91st Missile Wing out of Minot AFB, N.D., integrated with the 576th FLTS to perform operational tasks. Members of the 576th FLTS installed tracking, telemetry and command destruct systems on the missile to collect data and meet 30th Space Wing safety requirements.

"These are dangerous times we're living in right now," said Colonel Toler. "It's extremely important our combatant commander has the capabilities he needs to perform the mission of fighting and winning our nation's wars. Testing an operational asset pulled from the missile field at Minot provides us confidence our weapon system is capable of performing when needed."

The data collected will be used by the entire ICBM community, including the United States Strategic Command planners and Department of Energy laboratories

[vector7]

US defence of Hawaii upsets North Korea

June 29, 2009 - 3:59PM

North Korea has criticised the US for positioning missile defence systems around Hawaii, saying it's part of a plot to attack the regime.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has ordered the deployment of a ground-based, mobile missile intercept system and radar system to Hawaii amid concerns the North may fire a long-range missile toward the islands, about 7,240km away.

"Through the US forces' clamorous movements, it has been brought to light that the US attempt to launch a pre-emptive strike on our republic has become a brutal fact," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said on Monday.

The paper also accused the US of deploying nuclear-powered aircraft and atomic-armed submarines in waters near the Korean peninsula, saying the moves prove "the US pre-emptive nuclear war" on the North is imminent.

The commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, said the North will bolster its nuclear arsenal in self-defence.

The North routinely accuses the US of plotting to invade the North. But the US, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, says it has no such plan.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high since the North defiantly launched a rocket in April and conducted an underground nuclear test last month, prompting UN Security Council sanctions.

North Korea responded to the UN resolution on the nuclear test with threats of war, and pledged to expand its nuclear bomb-making program.

In what could be the first test of the UN sanctions, an American destroyer has been tracking a North Korean ship sailing off China's coast amid suspicions that it is carrying illicit weapons.

The Kang Nam, which left a North Korean port on June 17, is the first vessel monitored under UN sanctions that ban the regime from selling arms and weapons-related material.

The resolution requires member nations to request permission to inspect the cargo of ships suspected of carrying banned goods.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said on CBS television on Sunday that Washington is "following the progress of that ship very closely".

Rice would not say whether the US would confront the Kang Nam.

North Korea has said it would consider any interception of its ships a declaration of war.

[vector7]

Uranium gives North Korea simpler method to make bombs

By KWANG-TAE KIM
Associated Press
Updated: 06/29/2009 01:34:35 AM PDT

SEOUL, South Korea — After repudiating negotiations on dismantling its plutonium-based nuclear program, North Korea admitted this month to having an even more worrying way to make bombs.

Following nearly seven years of adamant denials, North Korea announced it can enrich uranium — a simpler method of building nuclear weapons than reprocessing plutonium. Uranium can be enriched in relatively inconspicuous factories that can better evade spy-satellite detection, and uranium bombs may work without test explosions.

The admission — made in a threatening response to a June 12 U.N. Security Council resolution punishing Pyongyang for an underground plutonium bomb test last month — poses a new challenge to the U.S., China, South Korea, Russia and Japan as they seek to stem the reclusive country's atomic ambitions.

Since 2003, they have focused on persuading the North to disable a nuclear reactor north of Pyongyang, where the communist regime had been laboriously extracting plutonium, not a naturally occurring material, from spent fuel rods.

Natural uranium, on the other hand, is readily available. North Korea has said it has an estimated 26 million tons of natural uranium deposits, of which about four million tons can be economically extracted. .

That doesn't mean North Korea can make a uranium bomb overnight. The uranium must be highly enriched first, and making enough for a bomb requires operating 1,000 to 3,000 centrifuges for a year,

said Lee Choon-geun, an expert at South Korea's state-funded Science and Technology Policy Institute.
But its recent announcement suggests the country has begun heading in that direction.

And once the weapons-grade enriched uranium is in hand, it is "significantly easier" to build a bomb from it than from plutonium, said Ivan Oelrich, vice president of the Federation of American Scientists.

Uranium also can be enriched in a facility like an ordinary factory making it difficult for spy satellites to detect, according to South Korea's Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control.

And testing is not as essential for bombs built from uranium as for plutonium bombs. The North has conducted two nuclear tests of plutonium-made bombs, in 2006 and in May, which drew international condemnation and garnered U.N. sanctions.

Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank, noted that the United States' first uranium bomb wasn't tested until it was dropped on Japan in August 1945.

In contrast, "a plutonium bomb generally is more sophisticated and needs to be tested before it can be used with confidence," he said.

Little concrete information is available about North Korea's uranium program and how far they've come in developing it. Oelrich estimated it is "in its infancy."

One senior South Korean official said he suspects the North has already embarked on uranium enrichment with the ultimate purpose of building bombs. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

"I don't believe they have a commercial-scale plant up and running, and it will take them some time," Pinkston said. "However, they could cooperate with Iran and reduce the time required to build and operate a large-scale facility since Iran has made significant progress and is already operating a large facility."

North Korea and Iran are believed to be trading information about nuclear and missile technology, making proliferation a key concern.

"The more fissionable materials they have ... the more dangerous is the situation," said James Kelly, a former assistant U.S. secretary of state who confronted North Korean officials about uranium enrichment during a 2002 visit to Pyongyang.

North Korea claimed earlier this month it was "compelled to go nuclear" because of hostility from Washington.

"It has become an absolutely impossible option for the DPRK to even think about giving up its nuclear weapons," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media, using the initials for the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The statement did not make clear whether the regime has secretly built up the program over the past seven years that it has denied its existence — or started it recently.

"The process of uranium enrichment will be commenced," the June 13 statement said. "Pursuant to the decision to build its own light-water reactor, enough success has been made in developing uranium enrichment technology to provide nuclear fuel to allow the experimental procedure."

Building a light-water reactor, ostensibly for civilian energy purposes, would give the North Koreans a premise for enriching uranium. Uranium enriched to low levels is used in power reactors; left spinning, centrifuges will enrich uranium to the high levels needed for bombs.

Suspicions about a North Korean uranium enrichment program date back years.

North Korea worked with A.Q. Khan, creator of Pakistan's atomic bomb, to obtain the centrifuges needed for uranium enrichment before his operation was disrupted in 2003, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said.

He wrote in his 2006 memoir that Khan transferred nearly two dozen centrifuges — the main equipment used for uranium enrichment — to North Korea, as well as nearly 18 tons of materials, including centrifuges, components and drawings, to Iran and Libya.

Khan also "provided North Korea with a flow meter, some special oils for centrifuges, and coaching on centrifuge technology, including visits to top-secret centrifuge plants," Musharraf wrote in "In the Line of Fire."

In addition, North Korea bought 150 tons of aluminum tubes from Russia, another material used to build the centrifuges required to enrich uranium, said Lee, of the Science and Technology Policy Institute.

In 2007, then-U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said Washington knew Pyongyang had purchased equipment only used for uranium enrichment.

The future of nuclear disarmament negotiations with North Korea — known as the six-party talks and involving the two Koreas, the U.S., Russia, China and Japan — remained unclear weeks after North Korea abandoned the process and vowed to restart its plutonium reprocessing plant.

The decision to reveal its capability to enrich uranium now is most certainly tied to the succession campaign believed under way in North Korea, said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at Sejong Institute security think tank.

The country is in the middle of a "150-day battle" to build up the country's economy; many see it as a political campaign for Kim Jong Un, the 26-year-old reportedly slated to succeed his father, 67-year-old leader Kim Jong Il.

"Uranium enrichment can be used as a propaganda campaign to show Kim Jong Un's boldness as well as the North's determination not to buckle under pressure and solve its energy shortages, Cheong said.

[American Patriot]

Air Force test fires missile from Calif coast

Associated Press - June 29, 2009 8:13 AM ET



VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - The Air Force says it has successfully launched an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile from a California base, firing it to targets in the Pacific Ocean.

Lt. Geoffrey Raymond said the ICBM was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 3:01 a.m. Monday.

He said it carried three unarmed re-entry vehicles that hit their targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, some 4,200 miles away.

The Air Force said the launch was an operational test to check the weapon system's reliability and accuracy.

Test data will be used by United States Strategic Command planners and Department of Energy laboratories.

LOL! Hey, North Korea. Our shit works. What about yours???????????


ROTFLMAO.

FINALLY a statement from the United States military. We can do...

[Beetle]

That is great. I have said that we should conduct a few missile test of our own. Now, we need to have nuclear infomercials in Taiwan, SK, and Japan! That should get China's attention.

[American Patriot]

South Korea getting U.S. missiles to boost defences: report

Reuters
Sunday, June 28, 2009; 12:44 AM

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea is acquiring 40 U.S.-made missiles for an Aegis destroyer this month to boost its defenses amid reports North Korea may soon test-fire missiles, Yonhap news agency on Sunday quoted a military source as saying.

North Korea, which rattled regional security with a May 25 nuclear test, is preparing to test a long-range missile that could hit U.S. territory and mid-range missiles that could hit all of South Korea, a South Korean presidential Blue House official said last week.

The surface-to-air missiles for the Aegis destroyer, designed to track and shoot down objects including missiles, can hit targets up to 160 km (100 miles) away, Yonhap quoted the source as saying.

North Korea has also warned ships to stay away from waters off its east coast city of Wonsan, Japan's Coast Guard said last week, in a possible indication of a missile test.

North Korea launched in April a rocket it said was carrying a satellite. The move was widely seen as a disguised test of its long-range Taepodong-2 missile and a violation of U.N. resolutions barring the reclusive state from ballistic missile testing.

The U.N. Security Council punished it for the missile launch by tightening existing sanctions and imposing new ones after the nuclear test to halt its arms trading, one of the few items the cash-short state with a broken down economy can export.

The U.S. Navy has said it is monitoring a North Korean ship under the new U.N. security resolutions imposed after the nuclear test. A South Korean intelligence source said the ship is likely carrying missiles and parts, and it could be heading to Myanmar, broadcaster YTN said.

At the weekend, the prickly North warned in an official media report it would shoot down any Japanese military plane that breached North Korean air space.

South Korean officials have said the North's recent saber rattling may be a way for leader Kim Jong-il to build internal support as he prepares for succession in Asia's only communist dynasty.

(Reporting by Cheon Jong-woo; Editing by Jon Herskovitz)