North Korea threatens to wipe out US forces in South Korea

[Kaiser]

North Korea Threatens To Wipe Out US Forces In South Korea
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Mon, 19 Jun 2006, 00:32


Seoul: North Korea on Sunday threatened to "mercilessly wipe out" US forces in case of war during a national meeting to mark leader Kim Jong-Il's 42 years' work at the ruling party.

The threat, in a ruling party report carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), came as North Korea was reportedly preparing to test-fire a long-range missile despite strong protests from the United States and its allies.

Choe Thae Bok, a ranking Workers Party official, said Washington was "hell-bent on provocations of war of aggression" in the report to mark the 42nd anniversary of Kim's start at the party, KCNA said.

"If the enemies ignite a war eventually, the Korean army and people will mercilessly wipe out the aggressors and give vent to the deep-rooted grudge of the nation," Choe was quoted as telling the meeting.

North Koreans are customarily advised to watch the televised event, according to Seoul officials who cautiously questioned a news report that had linked the notice to a possible missile launch.

Japanese and South Korean media said North Korea was planning a missile test for this weekend.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying the missile launch could take place either Sunday or Monday.

But as of Sunday, North Korea was not confirmed yet to have fueled the missile at a launch pad in the remote northeast of the country, the final step before a test-firing.

North Korean technicians have already reportedly assembled a multi-stage Taepodong-2, with a range of 3,500 to 6,000 kilometers (2,200 to 3,750 miles).

But South Korea maintained its usual level of military alert on Sunday despite the news reports about an imminent missile test launch.

"The military is on the same level of alert as usual. There has been no upgrade in the military alert yet," a defense ministry spokesman said.

A South Korean lawmaker cited North Korean delegations he met in Seoul during last week's inter-Korean celebrations as denying plans to test-fire a ballistic missile, Yonhap said on Saturday.

South Korea, which seeks to reconcile with North Korea after decades of hostility since the 1950-1953 Korean War, has urged Pyongyang to abandon any plans to test-fire the missile.

Both Washington and Tokyo have warned Pyongyang that a test would constitute a "grave and provocative" act.

North Korea shocked the world in 1998 by firing a missile without any warning over Japan into the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea last year declared it had nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang has boycotted six-way talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program since November, after the United States imposed sanctions on the North for alleged counterfeiting and money-laundering.

http://www.***********.com/news/publ...cle_006496.php

To me it looks as though there might be a war on its way

 

[Kaiser]

US: North Korea has fully fueled long-range missile for test

North Korea has apparently finished loading fuel into a long-range ballistic missile, Bush administration officials said today as signs continued that the reclusive communist state will soon test a weapon that could reach the US.

US intelligence indicates that the long-range missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2, is assembled and fully fuelled, said two officials.

That reportedly gives the North a launch window of about a month. Unlike other preparatory steps the US has tracked, the fuelling process is very difficult to reverse, and most likely means the test will go ahead, another senior administration official said.

The precise timing is unclear, the official said.

The US assumes North Korea would only perform a test, not fire the weapon as an act of war, and could claim afterward that it was launching a space mission, the official said. That would still be considered a violation of the moratorium North Korea has observed since 1999, the official said.

The test would probably take place over water, not land, and occur during daylight hours, the official said. North Korea is 14 hours ahead of the US East Coast.

The US would probably know “within seconds” that a launch had taken place, the official said.

“It’s big, it shakes, and we have a lot of ways to watch and listen,” the official said.

At the Pentagon, spokesman Bryan Whitman would not comment on whether US intelligence indicates that the North Koreans are preparing for a possible missile launch. Whitman said the Pentagon uses the term “launch,” instead of test, because of the possibility that the North Koreans have hostile intent.

“‘Test’ would imply that you know the intentions. We don’t know the intentions,” he said.

Whitman would not say whether the US might activate its missile defence systems in the event of a North Korean launch.

Although the three-stage Taepodong 2 could theoretically reach the US West Coast, most experts think North Korea is still a long way off from perfecting the technology that would make the missile accurate and able to carry a nuclear payload.

Robert Zoellick, the departing deputy secretary of state, said North Korea’s fuelling of the missile became known only recently.

“I don’t know if they will proceed with the test,” Zoellick told reporters in a farewell interview at the State Department.

At UN headquarters in New York, US Ambassador John Bolton said he was holding preliminary consultations with Security Council members on steps that might be taken if North Korea fires a missile, “because it would obviously be very serious.”


“But we don’t really know what the North Korean intentions are at this point, so I think we need to wait for the event,” he said.

“Obviously the first preference is that the North Koreans not light the missile off,” Bolton said, noting that the US, Japan, Australia, South Korea and other countries had urged North Korea to abandon any missile firing.

Aboard Air Force One with President George Bush, White House spokesman Tony Snow declined specific comment on reports that the fuelling is complete.

“North Korea has imposed a moratorium on launching missiles,” Snow said.

“We hope it will continue that moratorium and we hope it also will abide by commitments it made, last year to dismantle nuclear weapons and renounce further development of them.”

Snow said President Bush has made some of the administration’s recent telephone calls to more than a dozen heads of state about the indications of a coming launch.

Snow would not identify which leaders spoke with Bush. He also said US officials have talked directly with North Korean representatives in New York, a reference to a diplomatic channel through the North’s United Nations mission. Snow would not disclose contents of the discussion, but diplomats from numerous countries have been telling the North Koreans to back off any plans for a missile test launch.

North Korea referred to its missile programme for the first time today, but has not said it intends to perform the test.

A North Korean state television broadcast, monitored in Seoul, South Korea, cited a Russian editorial on the missile and said the North “has the due right to have a missile that can immediately halt the US’ reckless aerial espionage activity.”

The North has repeatedly complained in recent weeks about alleged US spy planes watching its activities.

A test would be the North’s first significant missile launch since a 1998 test that send a missile over Japanese territory. Pyongyang began a self-imposed test moratorium in 1999, even while continuing separate development of a nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea says it needed nuclear weapons and a such potential delivery systems as a missile to counter what it claims are US intentions to invade or topple the government. The US has repeatedly denied any plans to invade.
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[Kaiser]

US warns N Korea on missile test

The United States has warned it will respond if North Korea goes ahead with a test launch of a new inter-continental ballistic missile.
South Korea also called on the North to halt preparations for a test, saying it would damage regional security.
North Korea last tested a long-range missile in 1998 but it warned last year that it was calling off a self-imposed moratorium on further tests.
The US and Seoul are expressing growing concern about the North's intentions.
The US ambassador to Seoul, Alexander Vershbow, said Washington would respond to a missile test with what he called "appropriate measures".
He told a local radio station that the North's missile technology was a threat to the international community, as well as to north-east Asia.
Diplomats say North Korea has been preparing a possible launch of its new Taepodong 2 missile, which is estimated to have a range of 6,000km (3,500 miles) and to be capable of hitting parts of the United States.
Deadlock
South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon also called on the North to halt its preparations. He said a test would seriously damage efforts to resolve the confrontation over the North's nuclear weapons programme.
The diplomatic process has been stalled since last year, when North Korea pulled out of the talks citing American financial pressure.
North Korea may be using the missile threat to try to break the deadlock. Its demands have been largely ignored while Washington has focused on the nuclear challenge from Iran.
Analysts say North Korea already has enough plutonium for about eight nuclear bombs. It will be much harder to ignore if it can demonstrate a successful delivery system as well.

 

[Kaiser]

North Korea readies missile launch platform


http://today.reuters.com/News/newsAr...H-PLATFORM.xml

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has moved key components of a long-range missile to a launch pad as well as 10 large liquid-gas tanks to fuel it, a South Korean newspaper reported on Saturday, citing government officials.

In a separate report, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted diplomatic sources in Seoul as saying a missile test could come as early as on Sunday or Monday.

The United States on Friday warned North Korea against conducting a "provocative" intercontinental missile test after U.S. officials said there were signs a launch could take place as early as this weekend.

The South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo cited a South Korean government official as saying North Korea has deployed its long-range Taepodong-2 missile to a launch pad and has been testing components of the launch platform.


The officials said the data came from spy satellite images analyzed by U.S. and South Korean officials.

"North Korea is testing operations of the missile launch pad," the paper cited an official as saying. They could not tell if a possible launch was imminent or not.

Yonhap quoted one diplomatic official as saying, "There is a possibility the North Korea may test missiles on 18 or 19. South Korea, the United States and Japan see the possibility of a test is higher than the other way around."

South Korean government officials were not immediately available for comment. Seoul has warned North Korea not to test, saying a launch would present a grave concern for regional security.

The launch -- expected to involve a Taepodong-2 missile with an estimated range of 3,500 to 4,300 km (2,175 to 2,670 miles) -- could come as early as this weekend, U.S. officials said. Other experts have said the missile can travel as far as 6,000 km.

Separately, Japan's Kyodo news agency said the North may say that it had put a satellite into orbit after it carries out the missile test in a bid to deflect international criticism.

Quoting military intelligence sources in a report out of Beijing, Kyodo said North Korean scientists have been working to determine a satellite orbit since earlier this year.

When North Korea shocked the world in 1998 by firing a Taepodong-1 missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, Pyongyang claimed that it was not a missile firing, but rather a rocket launch that had put a satellite into orbit.

The U.S. officials said it seemed increasingly likely Pyongyang would go through with the launch -- rather than just making preparations to get U.S. and international attention -- but that it could still decide to cancel.

 

[TexasJohn]

I think we should shoot down their test missile when it happens. It would be a direct message. There will be a lot of "noise" but not much else. What do you think Kaiser?

 

[Kaiser]

It would be almost impossible for the US, japan or south korea to shoot down the North korean missile unless they pinpoint where its gonna be tested, its ballistic trajectory, and its landing area (collision) unless all these are done the chances of them shooting down the ballistic missile at random is almost impossible

Also if you dont know in 1999 north korea tested its no-dong missile which went over japan. Japan was enable to do anything this later lead to japan and US making joint anti-ballistic missile defences on there destroyers

 

[sigatoka]

I think we should shoot down their test missile when it happens. It would be a direct message. There will be a lot of "noise" but not much else. What do you think Kaiser?

Do you mean destroy it on the ground with bombers or to shoot it while in flight?

 

[master_fx]

no.... shoot it down while is in the air.......
btw i tot usa and japan developed a missile network which should be able to intercept this missile....

 

[Officer of Engineers]

How about waiting to see if this is really a TD-2.

ArmsControlWonk | an arms control weblog: Chill Out With the Taepo Dong 2

I don’t think the US IC or anyone else has any idea of what a Taepo Dong 2 looks like … because it doesn’t exist, other than as the presumed goal of an alleged North Korean program to develop a larger, follow-on to the Taepo Dong 1

 

[melb4aust]

no.... shoot it down while is in the air.......
btw i tot usa and japan developed a missile network which should be able to intercept this missile....

Thats a hard job to do, but i bet they will try everything and koreans will reconsider this time time to time to go for best option.
"Korea threatens to wipe out US forces in South Korea", i think they are day dreaming.:idiot:

 

[master_fx]

i think china is behind all this....... imagine if US start their 'work' on korea and china start their 'work' on taiwan.... lol

 

[sigatoka]

no.... shoot it down while is in the air.......
btw i tot usa and japan developed a missile network which should be able to intercept this missile....

With What? Patriots will only be able to intercept if the missile is aimed at some target in Japan which is protected by Patriot.

The Star War's missile will only work if the missile is actually lobbed at U.S. west Coast, which I doubt it will be.

 

[Neo]

I'm pretty sure the launch site is under heavy surveilliance of US spysatellites 24/7. Same is expacted from the JDAF and RoKAF.

OoE,

Can US satellites pick up the emission of the rocket right after the launch or when it reenters the atmosphere?

 

[Officer of Engineers]

Launch event

 

[Field Marshal]

Launch event

Is there any importance of US satellites picking the emission of the rocket at launch

I mean would US be able to take advantage out of this?