norh korea

[GhOsT55]

TOKYO - North Korea asserted it has full autonomy to conduct missile tests, and outsiders do not have the right to criticize its plans, Japan's Kyodo News agency reported Tuesday.
Before the latest statement, North Korea's apparent moves toward test launching a long-range ballistic missile already spiked tensions in the region and drew warnings of serious repercussions from the United States and others.
In Paris, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said any North Korean missile test must draw "firm and just" international response. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged North Korean leaders to "listen to and hear what the world is saying."
Earlier Tuesday, North Korea lashed out at the United States over its plans to build a missile defense shield but did not directly address concerns that it was preparing to test-fire a missile capable of reaching the United States.
There were conflicting reports about whether a missile launch was imminent.
Japan's public broadcaster NHK said Tuesday that satellite images showed fueling vehicles still positioned around the suspected launch site in the country's northeast, but workers spotted near the head of the missile Monday weren't visible Tuesday.
The launch site appears to be guarded by about 1,000 troops, the report added.
U.S. officials in Washington said Monday the missile was apparently fully assembled and fueled, but Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Jinen Nagase said Tuesday he could not confirm that fueling had been completed.
South Korea's spy agency also believes North Korea hasn't yet completed fueling the rocket because the 40 fuel tanks seen around a launch site weren't enough to fuel a projectile estimated to be 65 tons, Yonhap news agency reported, quoting lawmakers who attended an intelligence briefing.
Bad weather over the purported launch site in North Korea on Tuesday also dimmed chances of an immediate launch. The area was cloudy, with rain expected through Wednesday morning, said South's Korea Meteorological Administration.
Kyodo News quoted an unidentified official from the North Korean Foreign Ministry as saying that Pyongyang did not regard itself as bound by prior agreements to refrain from missile testing.
"Our actions are not bound by the Pyongyang Declaration, the joint declaration made at the six-party talks in September last year or any other statements," Kyodo quoted the official as telling Japanese reporters in North Korea.
The official said his remarks represented Pyongyang's official line on the matter, Kyodo said.
There was nothing in Tuesday's Kyodo report to explain Pyongyang's declaration.
An agreement reached at six-party nuclear disarmament talks in September does not specifically address missile tests by the North. However, negotiators pledged to work toward establishing peace in the region. The six countries participating in the talks _ the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States _ also agreed to work toward normalizing relations.
North Korea and Japan agreed in 2002 to place a moratorium on missile tests.
On Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned the North that it will face consequences if it launches a missile, calling it a "very serious matter."
North Korea responded Tuesday by saying that U.S. moves to build a missile shield are fueling a dangerous arms race in space.
"The world is not allowed to avert its face from the grave situation in which it is facing the danger of a nuclear shower from the blue sky," the North's Minju Joson newspaper wrote in a commentary, according to the country's Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea also criticized a Japanese move to buy missiles and associated equipment from the U.S. to upgrade its missile defense system, claiming it showed an intent to become "a military giant" and mount "overseas aggression," the North's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in commentary carried by KCNA.
As tensions grew, meanwhile, the U.S. staged war games in the western Pacific on Tuesday with 22,000 troops, 280 aircraft and three aircraft carriers.
U.S. officials have said the missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2, has a firing range of 9,300 miles and could reach as far as the U.S. West Coast. Most analysts, however, say North Korea is still a long way from perfecting technology that would make the missile accurate and capable of carrying a nuclear payload.
The North's missile program has been a major security concern in the region, adding to worries about its pursuit of nuclear bombs. North Korea shocked its neighbors when it test-fired an earlier missile version over northern Japan in 1998.
In Seoul on Tuesday, Woo Sang-ho, a spokesman for South Korea's ruling party, said, "The government explained to North Korea the serious repercussions a missile launch would bring and strongly demanded that test fire plans be scrapped."
The U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Alexander Vershbow, said the U.S. would like to achieve normal relations with the North, saying a missile test "would only further compound North Korea's isolation and put it more apart from the international community."
China, the North's staunchest ally, said it had "taken note of the report that North Korea is likely to fire a missile," according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. She declined to elaborate further.
Japan has said that a new launch would threaten Japanese security and violate an agreement North Korea signed in 2002 and reaffirmed in 2004. Rice said it would also end a self-imposed moratorium on test firings that North Korea has observed since 1999 and a disarmament bargain it struck with the United States and other powers last year.
After its last long-range missile launch in August 1998, the North had said it was seeking to put a satellite in orbit. Pyongyang is widely expected to make a similar claim if it goes ahead with another test launch.
North Korea claims it has nuclear weapons, but isn't believed to have a design that would be small and light enough to top a missile. The North has boycotted international nuclear talks since November over a U.S. crackdown on its alleged illegal financial activity.
Despite the latest standoff, North and South Korea opened two days of meetings in the North Korean border city of Kaesong on Tuesday to work out details over expanding a joint industrial zone there. Some experts believe the South would curtail its economic cooperation with the North in the event of a missile launch.
Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung is also set to travel to Pyongyang next week to reprise the historic June 2000 summit between leaders from the North and South, although the reports of a possible missile test were complicating the arrangements, one of the former president's aides said Monday.

i dont kno where this fits in under navel stuff but i just thought i'd show it

[SeaQueen]

Originally Posted by GhOsT55

i dont kno where this fits in under navel stuff but i just thought i'd show it

Sure it does. Ballistic missile defence is a mission that the Navy does. One might be able to use news like this to base a scenario off of.

[GhOsT55]

:hmm:

[GhOsT55]

if any one has comcast just look for north korea now the us has its missile defence system and would north korea be so stipuid to launch it i belive the missile is a tapydong-2 cappable of hitting the west coast
and norad is probley at def-con 2 or 3

[shift-E]

Sure it does. Ballistic missile defence is a mission that the Navy does. One might be able to use news like this to base a scenario off of.

There already is a stock TBMD Quick-mission for the FFG (escorting BMD-capable Aegis CG).

Played it last night:hmm:

Kim Willy Wong is feeling neglected now all the attention has shifted to Iran (ha ha poor showing in the World Cup old chaps!). He's like a little kid throwing tantrums...countries like Iran, North Korea etc is the every day equivalent of the patients running the asylum. Should we still be surprised when they soil their underwear....or threaten to, anyway?

[LuftWolf]

The problem is not nations like Iran and North Korea.

The problem are the international entities and corrupt 1st world nations that don't have the spine to sustain their own cultures.

Iran and North Korea bark and the whole world flutters about like a bridge club.

What a farce.

Cheers,
David

[GhOsT55]

MORE INFO

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's defense minister said Thursday that Seoul believes North Korea's missile launch is not imminent despite concern in the region that the communist nation would test-fire a long-range missile.
"It is our judgment that a launch is not imminent," Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung told a parliamentary meeting in comments confirmed by his ministry.
Worries over a possible North Korean launch have grown in recent weeks after reports of activity at the country's launch site on its northeastern coast where U.S. officials say a Taepodong-2 missile _ believed capable of reaching parts of the United States _ is possibly being fueled.
Yoon said if the North fires a missile toward South Korean territory, combined U.S. and South Korean forces will be ready to intercept it.
Japan and the United States have issued strong statements of concern and have sent ships and planes to monitor the communist nation.
China on Thursday issued its strongest statement of concern over a possible launch, while Pyongyang warned of clashes in the skies as it accused U.S. spy planes of repeated illegal intrusions.
Beijing is the North's last major ally and key benefactor, and Washington has urged China to press the North to back down on its potential missile test.
"We are very concerned about the current situation," Jiang Yu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official, said at a regular briefing in Beijing. "We hope all parties can do more in the interest of regional peace and stability."
Jiang said China would "continue to make constructive efforts."
President Bush praised China on Wednesday for "taking responsibility in dealing with North Korea."
The North's test of a long-range missile in 1998 shocked Japan and prompted it to accelerate work with Washington on a joint missile defense system.
The communist nation has been under a self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile tests since 1999, when its relations with the United States were relatively friendly. However, it has since test-fired short-range missiles many times, including two in March.
There are diverging expert opinions on whether fueling would mean a launch was imminent _ due to the highly corrosive nature of the fuel _ or whether the North could wait a month or more.
A North Korean diplomat said in reported comments Wednesday that the country wanted to engage in talks with Washington over its concerns of a possible missile test. The Bush administration rejected the overture, saying threats aren't the way to seek dialogue.
"You don't normally engage in conversations by threatening to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles," U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said.
The U.S. instead called on North Korea to return to six-nation talks on its nuclear program.
Bolton said he was continuing discussions with U.N. Security Council members on possible action, and had met with Russia's U.N. ambassador. Washington is weighing responses to a potential test that could include trying to shoot down the missile, U.S. officials have said.
China said all parties should focus on finding a peaceful solution and also urged the North to return to the nuclear talks.
The sides should "be determined to realize a nuclear-free Korean peninsula," Jiang said. "China stands ready to work with relevant parties in the international community to press ahead with the process."
The North agreed at the those talks in September to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid, but no progress has been made on implementing the accord.
North Korea has issued repeated complaints in recent weeks about alleged U.S. spy flights, including off the coast where the missile test facility is located.
"The U.S. imperialist warmongers have been intensifying military provocations" against the North, the country's official Korean Central News Agency said. "The ceaseless illegal intrusion of the planes has created a grave danger of military conflict in the air above the region."
The U.S. has sent ships off the Korean coast capable of detecting and tracking a missile launch, a Pentagon official said. South Korean aircraft have also been flying reconnaissance over the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, said the military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the subject.
Japan said it, too, had sent naval ships and patrol planes to monitor the developments in North Korea, while playing down Pyongyang's capacity to load a nuclear warhead on its rockets.
The North has claimed to have a nuclear weapon, but isn't thought to have an advanced design that could be placed on a warhead. Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki backed that belief at the parliamentary hearing.
"At this point, we have encountered no information that indicates North Korea has the technology," he said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso vowed to continue efforts to persuade North Korea not to launch the missile.
"It's crucial to get North Korea to restrain itself from a missile launch," Aso said. "We should gather efforts before it happens, not afterward."
Japanese police were preparing for a "worst-case scenario," including the possibility that parts of a missile could fall on Japan, said Iwao Uruma, commissioner general of the National Police Agency.
About 1,000 people, including army veterans and activists, staged an anti-North Korea rally in Seoul, condemning the missile threat.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

[GhOsT55]

more stuff


The United States said Thursday that a U.S. missile-defense system under development has "limited operational capability" to protect against weapons such as the long-range missile North Korea is said to be near firing.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley underscored U.S. calls for North Korea to abandon any plans for testing the missile believed capable of reaching U.S. soil.
"We're watching it very carefully and preparations are very far along," Hadley said when asked about South Korea's assessment that a launch was not imminent.
"So you could, from a capability standpoint, have a launch," Hadley said. "Now what they intend to do _ which is what a lot of people are trying to read _ of course we don't know. What we hope they will do is give it up and not launch."
In Washington, a top Pentagon official said Thursday that a missile launch would be "a provocation and a dangerous action" that would lead the United States to impose "some cost" on North Korea.
Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international security policy, told a House Armed Services Committee hearing that he did not know if such a launch would happen. If it did, Rodman said the administration would take some action, but he did not specify what it would be.
"If such a launch takes place we would seek to impose some cost on North Korea," Rodman said. "That is the minimum response that you would expect of us."
"A launch of a missile would be a provocation and a dangerous action which would have to have some consequences," he said.
Col. Robert Carr, assistant director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also told lawmakers that "preparations continue" for a possible launch. He declined to speak further on the subject in public, telling lawmakers he would brief them on the matter in a closed session.
Hadley, who briefed reporters while traveling with President Bush in Europe, also spurned a suggestion by former Defense Secretary William Perry that the United States launch a pre-emptive strike against the North Korean missile.
"We think diplomacy is the right answer and that is what we are pursuing," Hadley said when asked about Perry's recommendation in an opinion article published Thursday in The Washington Post.
"The way out of this is for North Korea to decide not to test this missile," Hadley said.
The United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on missile defense systems during the past few decades.
"We have a missile defense system ... what we call a long-range missile defense system that is basically a research, development, training, test kind of system," Hadley said. "It does ... have some limited operational capability. And the purpose, of course, of a missile defense system is to defend .... the territory of the United States from attack."
Hadley said it was hard to say what North Korea would do.
"In terms of North Korean intentions, you know this is a very opaque society, and very hard to read," he said.
"What we need to do is look at their capabilities and that's what we're trying to do," Hadley said.
He said a missile test would disrupt the stalled six-party talks about North Korea's nuclear program.
In the op-ed, Perry said the Bush administration should strike and destroy the missile before it can be launched. Perry noted the Bush administration's doctrine of pre-emption, which it used as the basis for sending U.S. troops into Iraq in 2003.
"Therefore, if North Korea persists in its launch preparations, the United States should immediately make clear its intention to strike and destroy the North Korean Taepodong missile before it can be launched," Perry said in the piece, co-written with Ashton B. Carter, Perry's assistant at the Pentagon.

[GhOsT55]

more


The U.S. suggested Thursday it has limited ability to shoot a North Korean missile out of the sky and spurned suggestions of a pre-emptive strike on the ground. Still, it warned the Koreans would pay a cost for a missile launch.
The solution, said President Bush's national security adviser, is for the North to "give it up and not launch" the long-range missile that the U.S. believes is being fueled and prepared.
"We think diplomacy is the right answer and that is what we are pursuing," Steven Hadley told reporters.
The words came as tensions persisted over North Korea's apparent preparations to test-fire a Taepodong-2 missile _ and amid disagreements over U.S. military options for responding. The missile, with a believed range of up to 9,300 miles, is potentially capable of reaching the mainland United States.
A Pentagon official said Pyongyang risked unspecified retaliation in proceeding.
"If such a launch takes place, we would seek to impose some cost on North Korea," Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told the House Armed Services Committee.
Vice President Dick Cheney brushed aside a suggestion by former Defense Secretary William Perry that the Korean missile be obliterated at the launch site.
"I appreciate Bill's advice," Cheney said in an interview with CNN. "I think, obviously, if you're going to launch strikes at another nation, you'd better be prepared to not just fire one shot. And the fact of the matter is I think the issue is being addressed appropriately."
Cheney said that North Korea's "missile capabilities are fairly rudimentary" and that "their test flights in the past haven't been notably successful. But we are watching it with interest and following it very closely."
Missile defense experts disagreed on current U.S. ability to destroy such a missile once it is fired. But they seemed in agreement that shooting at it _ and missing _ would be a huge embarrassment.
"Either it won't work, in which case you've just undermined the rationale for the system. Or if it does work, you have created an even bigger international crisis," said Ivo Daalder, a White House national security aide in the Clinton administration.
"Even when you do intercept it, there's the real question of what have you done? These are international waters. Is this an act of war?" said Daalder, now a foreign policy and missile-defense specialist at the Brookings Institution.
Loren Thompson, a defense consultant at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., said there are "two basic problems" with trying to shoot down a Korean missile.
"Our system is barely operational. And the impact on Korean perceptions if we miss could be counterproductive," Thompson said.
"Bombs work a lot better than missile defense systems," Thompson added, echoing Perry's suggestion for a pre-emptive air strike.
In an opinion article in Thursday's Washington Post, Perry and former assistant defense secretary Ashton B. Carter wrote that Bush should immediately declare that the U.S. would destroy the missile before it could be fired.
"Diplomacy has failed, and we cannot sit by and let this deadly threat mature," wrote Perry and Carter. Both served in the Clinton administration.
Hadley, the president's national security adviser, brushed aside such suggestions.
When asked if the U.S. would consider launching such a strike on the launch site on Korea's northeastern coast, Hadley responded: "We hope it (North Korea) would come back to the table, and we hope it would be a little sobered by the unanimous message that the international community has sent."
International talks to persuade North Korea to restrict its nuclear program have not been held since last November. The five other nations party to the talks _ the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea _ have all strongly urged the North not to launch the missile.
Hadley, who briefed reporters in Budapest, Hungary, during a Bush visit, expressed some reservations about the ability of the United States to intercept and destroy such a missile, noting that the U.S. missile defense system was still in an early stage.
"It is a research development and testing capability that has some limited operational capability," Hadley said.
The missile defense system, which now includes advanced radar and interceptor missiles based in Alaska and California, has suffered repeated test failures since Bush ordered the program accelerated in early 2001.
Under the program, interceptor missiles are designed to strike and destroy incoming ballistic missiles.
The Pentagon has developed a rudimentary system that it says is capable of defending against a limited number of missiles in an emergency _ with a North Korean attack particularly in mind.
Some $91 billion has been spent over the past two decades on the program first proposed by President Reagan, according to congressional auditors.
"If the North Koreans fire the missile and the president chooses to launch an interceptor, the administration has an odd set of options," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the private Arms Control Association.
"If it hits the missile, will the North Koreans consider that an act of war? And if the interceptor misses the North Korean test missile, it would simply illustrate the fact that we spent tens of billions of dollars for a system that's not effective _ even against one missile from one known launch point."

[SeaQueen]

Originally Posted by shift-E

There already is a stock TBMD Quick-mission for the FFG (escorting BMD-capable Aegis CG).

Played it last night:hmm:

Yeah... but I don't like that one.

[Fish]

The country with the most firepower the world ever saw is rejecting a small country to light a new years rocket.

http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photo...-8492C-212.jpg

[goldorak]

Originally Posted by GhOsT55

if any one has comcast just look for north korea now the us has its missile defence system and would north korea be so stipuid to launch it i belive the missile is a tapydong-2 cappable of hitting the west coast
and norad is probley at def-con 2 or 3

Honestly i don't think that norad would go defcon 2 for a ballistic missile test.
The only time america went defcon 2 was during the cuba missile crisis and that was a "little" more dangerous than 1 single missile test.
They could be at defcon 4, even defcon 3 is highly improbable.

[Captain Norman]

Originally Posted by SeaQueen

Sure it does. Ballistic missile defence is a mission that the Navy does. One might be able to use news like this to base a scenario off of.

Ooh, that would be cool if someone made a scenario in which u launch a missile strike against a launch pad. That would be cool.

Originally Posted by Fish

The country with the most firepower the world ever saw is rejecting a small country to light a new years rocket.

http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photo...-8492C-212.jpg

That "new years rocket" can hold multiple nuclear weapons and probably destroy the Netherlands quite easily.