North Korea readies missile, makes new threat

[cottonzway]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090326/ts_nm/u s_korea_north_missile

North Korea said on Thursday that if the international community punishes it for next month's planned missile launch it will restart a nuclear plant that makes weapons grade plutonium.

The secretive state this week put a long-range missile in place for a launch the United States warned would violate U.N. sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for past weapons tests.

The planned launch, seen by some countries as a disguised military exercise, is the first big test for U.S. President Barack Obama in dealing with the prickly North, whose efforts to build a nuclear arsenal have long plagued ties with Washington.

North Korea warned that any action by the U.N. Security Council to punish it would be a "hostile act."

" ... All the processes for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula ... will be brought back to what used to be before their start and necessary strong measures will be taken," the North's foreign ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the official KCNA news agency.

North Korea has frozen its aging nuclear reactor and started to take apart its Yongbyon atomic plant under a deal signed by regional powers in 2005 that called for economic aid and better diplomatic standing for the isolated North in return. Despite the agreement, the North carried out a nuclear test in 2006.

The South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo quoted a diplomatic source as saying the North could fire its Taepodong-2 missile, which has the range to hit U.S. territory, by the weekend.

This is earlier than the April 4-8 timeframe Pyongyang announced for what it says is the launch of a satellite.

"Technically a launch is possible within three to four days," the Chosun Ilbo quoted a diplomatic source in Seoul as saying.

South Korea said the launch would be a serious challenge to security in north Asia, which accounts for one sixth of the global economy. Japan urged North Korea to refrain from action that would destabilize the region.

"We strongly urge the North to immediately stop the launch of a long-range missile, which would be a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution 1718," South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae told reporters.

ROCKET ON THE PAD

On Wednesday, a U.S. counter-proliferation official told Reuters that North Korea appeared to have positioned the rocket on its launch pad.

Another U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said North Korea had placed together two stages of what is expected to be a three-stage rocket.

Once it has been positioned, North Korea will need several days to fuel the rocket which could, in theory, carry a warhead as far as Alaska. The only previous test of the rocket in 2006 ended in failure when it blew apart seconds after lift-off.

South Korea plans to dispatch an advanced destroyer capable of tracking and shooting down missiles to waters off the east coast, Yonhap news agency quoted government sources as saying.

The planned launch and growing tension on the Korean peninsula are beginning to worry financial markets in the South, although so far there has been only minor impact.

"If they really fire something, it would definitely shake the financial markets, but only briefly, as has been the case in many previous cases of provocation and clashes," said Jung Sung-min, a fixed-income analyst at Eugene Futures.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a visit to Mexico, said the launch would deal a blow to six-party talks to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Those talks sputtered to a halt in December over disagreement on how to check the North was disabling its nuclear facilities.

"This provocative action ... will not go unnoticed and there will be consequences," she told reporters, repeating earlier warnings it could put the issue before the U.N. Security Council for additional sanctions.

Pyongyang repeated its threat on Thursday to quit the six-party talks, which also involve South Korea, Russia, Japan, the United States and China, if it was punished.

CHINA TO BLOCK MORE SANCTIONS?

North Korea faces a range of U.N. sanctions and many analysts doubt new ones would get past China -- the nearest Pyongyang has to a powerful ally -- in the Security Council.

China, sticking to its low-key approach, said it hoped all "relevant parties will remain restrained and calm."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cautioned the international community against making rash decisions.

"Do not try to make evaluations before events have occurred," he said in Moscow, while noting U.N. Security Council resolutions should be adhered to.

A successful launch would be a huge boost at home to leader Kim Jong-il, whose illness last year -- widely thought to have been a stroke -- has raised questions over his grip on power.

North Korea has given international agencies notice of the rocket's planned trajectory that would take it over Japan, dropping booster stages to its east and west.

The U.S. military has said it could with "high probability" intercept any North Korean missile heading for U.S. territory, if ordered to do so. Pyongyang says any attempt to shoot down the rocket would be an act of war.

 

[cottonzway]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090329/ap_on_r e_as/as_nkorea_missile

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea is preparing to launch a short- or medium-range missile, possibly right after it carries out its plan to fire a long-range rocket in early April, a Japanese newspaper reported Sunday.

North Korea says it will launch a communications satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8 as part of its space development program. Regional powers, however, suspect the North is using the launch to test long-range missile technology, and have warned it could face international sanctions under a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution prohibiting ballistic activity by North Korea.

U.S. officials said last week that North Korea has mounted a rocket onto its northeast coastal Musudan-ni launch pad, putting the country well on track for a launch. U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials have warned they will take the North to the U.N. Security Council if it goes ahead with its plan.

Tokyo's Sankei newspaper, citing several unnamed Japanese government sources, reported Sunday that the North is also preparing to test-launch another missile from Wonsan, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of Musudan-ni. It said U.S., South Korean and Japanese intelligence analyses said the missile could be short or medium range.

The report said the North may conduct another missile test if the U.N. Security Council approves sanctions against it, or if it cannot wrest concessions from the United States.

Japan's Defense Ministry declined to comment on the Sankei report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and National Intelligence Service — its main spy agency — said they couldn't immediately confirm the report.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday he thinks North Korea will launch a missile soon and there's not much the U.S. can do to stop it.

"I would say we're not prepared to do anything about it," Gates told "Fox News Sunday."

Senior U.S. officials believe the technology involved in the launch is intended to mask the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile, Gates said.

The North's long-term intent was to try to put a nuclear warhead atop a missile, but Gates said he was skeptical Pyongyang had that ability now.

North Korea warned last week it would take "strong steps" if the Security Council even criticizes the launch, suggesting it will reverse the steps it has taken so far to disable its nuclear facilities if sanctions are levied.

Under a 2007 deal with the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia and Japan, North Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for aid. The process has been stalled, however, by a dispute over how to verify the North's accounting of its past nuclear activities.

South Korea's foreign minister said in an interview published Sunday that the U.N. ambassadors of South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan have begun discussing how to respond to North Korea's rocket launch.

"We can't let it pass as if nothing happened if (the North) violates the Security Council resolution," Yu Myung-hwan was quoted as saying by the mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. "An appropriate U.N. measure based on the five countries' common stance will come out."

Sankei said in a separate dispatch from Washington that 15 personnel from the Iranian satellite and missile development company Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group are staying in North Korea at the invitation of the North Korean government.

Quoting unnamed intelligence sources in Washington it said are close to North Korean affairs, Sankei said the Iranians are likely to join North Korean preparations for the launch and also observe it. The report said North Korea sent missile experts to Iran when it launched a satellite in February.

North Korea is believed to have sold missiles to Iran, and Iran's Safir-Omid space launch vehicle owes much to the North's Taepodong missile.

Japanese and South Korean officials were not immediately available for comment on the report.

A recent satellite image suggests North Korea "is on or even ahead of the schedule" for an early April launch from its Musudan-ni site, according to Jane's Defence Weekly.

 

[cottonzway]

This seems to be getting little attention. I see this as a REAL threat to a new war in the world and I find it odd it is going on with little attention in general. I think I understand the reason though.

Cried wolf.

Americans are so use to not trusting our own government/military/intelligence that when legitimate concerns come up, they just ignore it and treat it as typical propaganda. The even more bizzare thing is this is not even being promoted heavily by the "usual suspects" of propaganda in the media.

I am not sure if others here are students of geo-politics and look at different sources of media then in the US, but this is a rather serious issue that to me looks like a means to another war. Maybe not with the US, though likely we are to follow any war with our insane foreign policy.

North Korea is the most brutal and ass-backwards country on the entire planet. They are lead by a total lunatic and unlike many of the ME countries that we have balkenized, have nuclear weapons. This is an ICBM test for them, make no mistake about it.

Japan is likely to blow it out of the sky and it will likely start a war between the two. With the amount of US troops station in South Korea, any war the North is involved with will likely draw the South in, thus by proxy, bring the US into.

Dangerous times ahead as this is not just empty rhetoric from NK and their actions are going to lead to someone countering them. Hopefully all is avoided, but it's odd this is getting almost no news coverage at all.

 

[DamnDirtyApe]

This seems to be getting little attention. I see this as a REAL threat to a new war in the world and I find it odd it is going on with little attention in general. I think I understand the reason though.

Nah man didn't you get the memo.. Global Wa.. I mean Climate Change is the threat that is going to destroy the planet unless you buy carbon credits NOW. What are you waiting for?

 

[cottonzway]

For Richard Haass to save me from the polar bears!

As for NK, serious issue IMO.

 

[Tommy Allison]

The only reason that sawed off little cocksucker is pulling this shit, is so our traitorous government will hand them over more money.

They pulled this shit a couple years ago with their fake nuke test. These assholes have been feeding their military, while starving their people.

The only thing we should do for Pyongyang, is detonate a REAL nuke and rid the world of the worst Elvis impersonator ever.

 

[methshin]

Not to sound like someone that endorses war or violence of any kind, but I seriously hope Japan pounds NK into submission. I tire of loudmouth leaders threatening the sanctity of the world with their pithy little demonstrations.

 

[cottonzway]

U.S. deploys anti-missile ships before N.Korea launch

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUST RE52T0F820090330?sp=true

SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States plans to deploy two missile-interceptor ships from South Korea on Monday, a military spokesman said, days ahead of a North Korean rocket launch seen by many as a test of its longest-range missile.

The launch presents the first significant challenge by the prickly state to U.S. President Barack Obama, who makes his first major international appearance this week at the G-20 summit where he will discuss Pyongyang's intentions with global leaders including Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The United States, however, has no plans to shoot down the rocket in a test seen by Washington as part of Pyongyang's goal to eventually develop an intercontinental ballistic missile, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday.

"I would say we're not prepared to do anything about it," Gates said on "Fox News Sunday."

"If we had an aberrant missile, one that looked like it was headed for Hawaii, we might consider it," he said, adding the Pentagon does not believe North Korea can put a warhead on the missile or reach the U.S. West Coast.

U.S. Forces Korea plans to dispatch two Aegis-equipped destroyers currently at the South Korean port of Busan, a spokesman said without offering further details.

Local media quoted informed sources as saying the vessels with sophisticated radar will monitor the launch.

Japan deployed two missile-intercepting vessels to waters off its west coast at the weekend.

The North Korean rocket is supposed to drop booster stages to the east and west of Japan. Government officials said Tokyo is poised to shoot down debris that poses a threat to its public.

PEACEFUL PURPOSE OR TEST?

North Korea has said the launch planned for April 4-8 is for the peaceful purpose of sending a satellite into orbit, while the United States, South Korea and Japan see it as a disguised test of the Taepodong-2 missile and a violation of U.N. sanctions.

The three have said they want the U.N. Security Council to punish the North for the launch but analysts see China, a veto-wielding permanent council member and the closest the North has to a major ally, blocking new sanctions and reluctant to call for tighter enforcement of existing ones.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he opposes a military response to the launch.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Lee added he does not want to punish Pyongyang by ending a joint business park located just north of their heavily militarized border or cutting humanitarian aid because those measures could hurt separate nuclear disarmament talks and Seoul's goal of peaceful unification.

"For us to go the other way, taking a harder stance, I don't think that would necessarily be helpful in achieving this ultimate objective," Lee said.

In July 2006, the only time the North tested the missile designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska, it exploded just seconds into its flight.

North Korea is expected to start fuelling the rocket this week, starting a process experts said takes three to four days to prepare it for launch. U.S. spy satellites can watch the moves at the North's east coast Musudan-ri missile base.

Weather forecasts for the area indicate rain on Saturday, the first planned day for the launch, followed by clear skies.

Japan's Sankei Shimbun at the weekend said the North may also test-fire a barrage of mid-range ballistic missiles when it shoots off the rocket, as it did in 2006, but experts see that as unlikely because it could undermine Pyongyang's position.

"Such a test would be squarely contradictory to its arguments thus far that the rocket launch is for peaceful space development," said Moon Hong-sik, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul.

 

[AnnetteMarie]

on the subject of the Far East, has anyone noticed a mass hacking has been going on out of China, searching for info on Tibetans and the sympathizers of the Dalai Lama's government? They have hacked into embassies all over the world. If they can do that for the Tibetan info, what else are they looking for?

 

[cottonzway]

I dunno. Good question. I would guess they are getting ansy about us and how much we owe them as well.

As for North Korea, something in my gut is telling me to pay attention to this. This is a case that North Korea is so out of control, brutal, and dangerous that they may be doing all of this not just for attention, but may want war. I study a lot of geo-politics and this is a lot different then many of the situations in the Middle East or Eurasia. Something big I feel is going to come out of this in the next few weeks.

 

[Frozen E.T. Burrito]

As for North Korea, something in my gut is telling me to pay attention to this.

Of what functional use do you consider it for you to worry about such things?

 

[cottonzway]

Of what functional use do you consider it for you to worry about such things?

It's of functional use to be informed not just for me, but anyone, of rather dangerous events around the world.

To be more specific, any other "war" that would get the US involved when we are in an economic crisis directly will effect me (you and everyone else as well) so I will need to adjust accordingly if such an event takes place in terms of what to do with my money.