Obama enroute to Korea DMZ

[American Patriot]

Will be there Saturday this week...

On to meet on Monday with China's Prez/PM/whatever

[Malsua]

Maybe Kim Jong ugh will get plucky and send some missiles over as a greeting. Not that I would want anything harmful to happen to Obama, I just think it would be a good opportunity for the North Korean slob to show how powerful he is.

[vector7]

2012/03/16 16:45 KST



N. Korea says will launch earth observation satellite in April

SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Friday it will launch an earth observation satellite aboard a long-range rocket next month, a move expected to spark international condemnation because the launch is seen as little different from a missile test.

The announcement came just weeks after North Korea agreed to temporarily put a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests and freeze its uranium-enrichment facilities in exchange for 240,000 tons of food aid from the United States.

North Korea said Unha-3 rocket carrying Kwangmyongsong-3 will blast off from its satellite launching station in North Pyongan Province between April 12 and 16, the Korean Committee for Space Technology said in Pyongyang.

The launch of a satellite built by indigenous technology is designed "to mark the 100th birth anniversary of President Kim Il-sung," the country's founder and the late grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un, the committee said.

The launch date is set around the late founder's April 15 birthday, one of the most important holidays in the isolated country. The North, one of the poorest countries in the world, has vowed to usher in a prosperous and powerful nation by the milestone anniversary.

The committee said a safe flight orbit has been chosen so that carrier rocket debris to be generated during the flight would not have any impact on neighboring countries.

North Korea "will strictly abide by relevant international regulations and usage concerning the launch of scientific and technological satellites for peaceful purposes and ensure maximum transparency," the North's committee said in an English-language statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The committee claimed that the launch will greatly encourage North Koreans "in the building of a thriving nation and will offer an important occasion of putting the country's technology of space use for peaceful purposes on a higher stage."

South Korea expressed "serious concern" over the North's plan to launch a long-range rocket. In a statement, Seoul's foreign ministry said that North Korea's planned launch would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution.

"If North Korea blasts off an 'application satellite' as announced, it will become a grave provocative act against peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia," the statement said.

The Seoul ministry called for North Korea to "immediately stop such a provocative act and abide by its international obligations."

The North's move could be aimed at boosting its negotiating power with the U.S. after their recent nuclear deal, said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul.

"The North could employ brinkmanship, as it wants to take the lead in future negotiations with the U.S.," Kim said.

The communist country has a track record of making commitments in return for economic concessions and then abandoning talks and reneging on its commitments.

Kim said the North could argue that its satellite launch would not be in violation of its moratorium on missile tests, a position that is expected to be rejected by the U.S.

"The borderline is ambiguous," Kim said, referring to technological similarity between a rocket launch and a long-range missile test.

In 2009, the North claimed it successfully put a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful space program. However, South Korea and the United States said at the time that the launch was meant to test North Korea's ballistic missile technology and that no object entered orbit.

The launch drew U.N. condemnation, prompting North Korea to quit the six-nation talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programs. The North conducted a second nuclear test in May 2009, drawing tightened U.N. sanctions.

The recent nuclear deal between Pyongyang and Washington raised hopes that the disarmament talks could be resumed. The talks also involve South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

The upcoming liftoff comes as the North is set to hold a key political conference. The KCNA reported in February that the Workers' Party conference in mid-April is designed "to glorify the sacred revolutionary life and feats" of its late leader Kim Jong-il and "rallied close" around his son and successor, Kim Jong-un.

The launch is meant to show to North Koreans that the young North Korean leader is in charge of his country, said Kim Yong-hyun.

[vector7]

US warns N. Korea satellite launch would scrap agreement

By REUTERS
03/16/2012 18:35

WASHINGTON - The United States warned North Korea on Friday that its plan to launch a satellite into orbit with a long-range rocket would violate its February agreement on a nuclear moratorium and endanger US plans to resume food aid.

"This calls into question whether, when the DPRK entered into that agreement with us, they did so in good faith," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

[vector7]

Japan warns it may shoot down North Korean rocket if it heads into their territory


Published March 20, 2012
| NewsCore

• 
  AP Dec. 24, 2011: Kim Jong Un, center, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's youngest known son and successor, with military officials, stand in front of his father's body displayed in a glass coffin, not in photo, at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, North Korea.

BEIJING – Japan's defense minister has said Tokyo may try to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it heads towards Japanese territory or waters, according to reports Tuesday.

The North has said it intends to launch a long-range rocket next month to put a satellite into orbit, but the United States and other nations consider it a thinly veiled missile test that would breach a United Nations ban, according to AFP.

"I am considering giving an order to intercept it," Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka told parliament. Such an order would be subject to approval by the prime minister, he added.

The leading Asahi and Yomiuri newspapers reported that Japan was considering deploying several Aegis-class warships and surface-to-air PAC-3 Patriot missiles to take down the rocket.

The Japanese government said late Monday that North Korea had informed the International Maritime Organization of the rocket's scheduled trajectory.

It added that it believed the projectile may pass over part of the Okinawa island chain in the far south of Japan.

Pyongyang's announcement that it would launch a satellite next month has cast doubt on whether a US-North Korean nuclear deal agreed last month will go ahead.

Tokyo's concerns about the rocket were aired as a senior Pyongyang official said the North has invited the United Nations atomic watchdog to send inspectors to help implement the deal with the United States.

The North's chief nuclear negotiator Ri Yong-Ho made the comments in Beijing on Monday evening, according to video footage of his remarks cited by AFP. Ri made it clear the North believes the agreement with the US is still in effect.

The North agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment programme, along with long-range missile launches and nuclear tests, in return for 264,554 tons (240,000 tonnes) of US food aid. It promised to readmit IAEA inspectors expelled three years ago.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday that the US had not yet heard that North Korea had invited IAEA inspectors.

"There's benefit for any access that the IAEA can get, but it doesn't change the fact that we would consider a satellite launch a violation, not only of their UN obligations, but of the commitments that they made to us on Leap Day," she said, referring to February's bilateral agreement.

[Malsua]

How great would that be if the Japanese shoot it down.

[Ryan Ruck]

They should do it anyway even if it comes nowhere near them.

[American Patriot]

I think they ought to shoot it down.

and say "Oops!"

[vector7]

North Korea Steps Up Air Force Training Flights




North Korea has stepped up the number of training flights since last month to as many as 650 sorties a day. The North Korean air force is conducting training flights even on weekends, several times flying so far down south near the border with South Korea that the South had to scramble fighter planes to form defensive formations.

A government source here said Wednesday, "We're analyzing the reasons for the marked increase in North Korean sorties compared to its usual winter training flights, focusing on the fact that they have increased after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected air force bases in January."

The South Korean and U.S. military believe North Korea is using up almost twice as much fuel than usual for the increased number of training flights and are looking into whether the North is tapping into fuel stockpiled for wartime.

Military sources said the North Korean air force conducted less than 100 sorties a day on average until last year and no more than 300 to 400 a day even during the winter months, when the North Koran military normally conducts intensive training exercises. That was still far behind the average of 700 to 800 sorties on per day by the South Korean Air Force.

Since the 1990s, the highest number of daily sorties by the North's air force was 450 to 500, but now that has risen to 650. A military source here said, "It costs W2-3 million each time to fly an F-16 fighter jet (US$1=W1,136). We don't know exactly how much the North Korean military is paying extra for the increased training flights, but the costs must have increased significantly."

As North Korea recently conducted several training flights on weekends, South Korean fighter jets had to be on the alert at all times.

One notable development related to the increased sorties is to do with the whereabouts of the young North Korean leader. In January this year, Kim Jong-un visited eight military installations, and half of them were air bases. One of them houses an elite squadron that operates a relatively advanced Russian MiG-29 fighter jet. North Korean authorities revealed a photo of Kim and unit members posing in front of a MiG-29, providing intelligence here with their first up-close image of the jet.

Some experts believe North Korean pilots appealed to Kim during his visit about the gap in the number of sorties between the North and South, and Kim authorized additional training flights to gain the support of the military, despite the heavy cost. The pilots then apparently conducted sorties even on weekends to demonstrate their loyalty to Kim.

Others say the increased sorties are a response to the South vowing recently to thwart any North Korean provocations by mobilizing its state-of-the-art F-15K fighter jets. Experts say this is probably why the North, during a massive military drill held recently in front of Kim, also deployed its MiG-29 fighter jets, as well as SU-25 close-air-support jets designed to destroy tanks and IL-28 bombers.

A government official here said, "We can't rule out that North Korea is stepping up training to carry out provocations, so we are increasing our readiness."

englishnews@chosun.com / Mar. 29, 2012 12:48 KST

[American Patriot]

They are fueling up their "Space Rocket" too.

Japan and South Korea are stepping up a few things as well while that's going on.... they are just waiting for the damned thing to go errant...

[vector7]

China, Russia Plan Naval War Exercises Next Month

BEIJING March 29, 2012 (AP)



China says it will join Russia in naval war games starting next month in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun as saying Thursday that the exercise will begin in late April and run into May. The specific locations were not disclosed.

Yang says the joint exercise is aimed at improving cooperation and ensuring stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

China and Russia have conducted several joint military exercises since 2005 within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The group also includes the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and aims to promote regional cooperation and check U.S. influence.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...month-16027166

[American Patriot]

Sheesh, IMAGINE THAT.... mortal enemies joining forces for practicing against... gosh, I don't know, US maybe?