23 replies to this topic

[Hostile]

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea is preparing to test fire a long range missile capable of striking the United States, according to media reports in South Korea and Japan this morning.

The Yonhap News Agency in Seoul quoted South Korean officials who described satellite image showing a long cylindrical object being transported on a train through the North Korean countryside. The sinister object has been identified as a Taepodong-2, an intercontinental missile with a range of more than 4000 miles, capable of crossing the Pacific and striking targets in Hawaii or Alaska.

It is impossible to confirm independently reports from North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and hardline dictatorships, where government of information is almost total. But the country is known to have an active missile programme, as well as nuclear warheads – although crucially it probably does not have the technology to mount a nuclear device on a long range missile.

The unnamed sources quoted by Yonhap said that any test launch was unlikely for at least a month or two. The train appeared to be heading from a missile factory in North Pyongan province in the country’s north-west to a newly constructed launch site on the west coast.

Pyongyang’s last long range missile launches in 2006 and 1998, from a base in the east, caused shock across the region, particularly in Japan, where there is a deep sense of vulnerability to North Korean attack. The apparent preparations for a launch, which are easily discernible by spy satellites, may be intended by the government as a way of asserting itself as it prepares to resume nuclear disarmament negotiations with the new U.S. government of Barack Obama.

The news comes just before the 67th birthday of the country’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il -– a day which is sometimes celebrated with gestures regarded as proud national or military achievements.

North Korea bought its first Scud missiles during the 1960s from the Soviet Union and China. Over the years, scientists in North Korea enhanced the original Soviet technology, but all were inaccurate, mechanically unreliable, and had ranges of only a few hundred miles.

A breakthrough came with the development of the Nodong missile, with a range of up to 800 miles. It is still an inaccurate weapon, but it could potentially be used to carry nuclear or chemical warheads. This was the weapons said to have been purchased in blueprint form by Benazir Bhutto, then the Prime Minister of Pakistan, in 1993.

North Korea’s most shocking ballistic gesture came in 1998 when it test-fired a new three-stage long-range missile into the Pacific Ocean. The course of the so called Taepodong took it over the north coast of Japan; even more alarmingly, its range approached that of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

North Korea's Scuds are able to reach all of South Korea, its Nodongs could attack Japan, and the Taepodong 2, which is believed to be in development, has the potential to threaten even Australia.

[CIL]

Well.. All I can say is that appeasement never got us anywhere. This is one such incident.

[some_weirdGuy]

nooo, not Australia! *squeals*

so, why do they even need missiles anyway? thats what you have to ask...

[partyzanPaulZy]

"to scare those imperialistic warlike Americans"
It's stalinistic regime, so there is nothing weird...

[Caspa]

Well we already knew that the North Koreans had nukes capable of hitting Alaska, but who's really gonna nuke the Eskimos?

[some_weirdGuy]

*what? sorry? cant hear you, too busy nuking Eskimos*

Seriously though, you wouldn't want to attack anyone as then everyone else would gang up and you and stomp you into the ground big time.
So why bother having those nukes and stuff? its not like its a big(or desirable to attack) country either, its tiny.

[Ash]

Nobody moaned when Israel got hold of such weapons. And right now, they're more ready to do damage than Kim Jong-Il is.

He's not stupid enough to use them. Or if he is, God help his people.

[Romanul]

God help ALL the people that can suffer from this.

Heh,this is just a plan to make the US give them what they want.Untill a war or a revolution won't be started,there will be no peace in NK.

[partyzanPaulZy]

... or evolution, look on China: Communistic party at power, but economy is sometimes so capitalistic that it fulfills economical (Marxistic) definition of imperialism (society strongly (negatively) ruled by company empires).
North Korea is an "open-air museum of Stalinism", they are more communistic than Cuba or Belarus ... + fully centristic (NK's) economy doesn't work well...
Also from economical reasons there will be no merging with South Korea, not untill North Korea will have modern advanced economy (so not untill 2050) ...
North Korean leaders are capable of Nuke order on South Korea, if there will be war, it will be nuclear war...

[Ash]

If NK make any moves, conventional or otherwise, the US will nuke them flat. End of story. This would have been the case at any point before NK had any access to long-range ballistic capability.

This ability to create those missiles is simply a way to keep the people oppressed by propagandising them into thinking that there is nowhere to escape to, nowhere powerful enough to liberate them.

And also to strike the fear of God into the South who, despite the fact that the US will nuke the North flat if they try anything silly, would be the victim of any strikes the North made, and so would suffer every bit as much. In short, it's a bargaining chip; a bluff. While the South will be inclined to fold more readily to anything big Kim wants, the US will call the bluff every time, and raise it with the second-biggest nuclear stockpile on the planet (after Russia, of course), and first-most powerful military (even though technically NK's is bigger, it's practically medieval by Western standards).

I'm not saying things wouldn't be messy if they kicked off, I'm simply saying they'd be very...one-sided. And even Kim has to realise that enough that he wouldn't kick anything off.

[duke_Qa]

it would have been fascinating to see which side people would side with if NK actually did attack someone. China has no interest in messing up its trade with the west, and i doubt they are getting alot of handy goods from NK.


i somehow doubt that the US would dare to counter with nukes even if NK used nukes. China might have something against that. and if the situation should arise that NK actually tried to attack someone now, it wouldnt take many weeks before that collapsed. at the cost of many civillian lives on Korea no doubt, but at least the situation would most likely be forever changed.

[Hostile]

Nobody moaned when Israel got hold of such weapons. And right now, they're more ready to do damage than Kim Jong-Il is.

He's not stupid enough to use them. Or if he is, God help his people.

I dont recall Israel threatening to use something it won't even admit to having.

[Ash]

I grant you that, but right now Israel is an aggrssor, North Korea is not. And pretty soon Israel, oh irony of ironies, will be run by a Nazi, whose slogans include "Kill all arabs", "destroy all arabs", "burn arab lands and "all citizens should have a test of loyalty to Israel or else have their citizenship revoked".

I believe the ingredients are more right for Israel to use them than NK. I'm not saying all the ingredients are there, but more of them.

And Duke, any strike against the US with nuclear weapons (and even probably anything non-conventional and high-yield) will result in a response in kind. I think it's in their defence charter. Probably Hanoi would be wiped off the map, along with a tactical bombardment of any significant military concentrations. After that, america and the south would fully mobilise and take over the North almost unmolested as there'd be nothing left to fight with except sticks and stones.

[Sûlherokhh]

Little (off-topic) note: nazi = german fascist

So nazi can be only white while fascist can be even black, fascist = the most agressive nationalist.

Wrong. Nazi: National Socialist. Read it up.

[duke_Qa]

Personally i think there might have been more ruckus about Israel getting the nuke than there was around NK getting it. i remember the news said that they've made some explosion underground, and i think a few weeks of NK-this and NK that and it went silent. Israel never gets a moments peace for the nukes they claim they don't have.

[Vortigern]

That's because the world believes Kim Jong-Il would only want nuclear weaponry so he could flash it about and claim to be on an even footing with the West, whereas Israel would quite possibly resort to using them for threats against any of their numerous enemies. If you think about it, North Korea, while a brutal and censorial dictatorship, is not actually in a state of unrest. They're just bastards. Israel, though, is at war. Giving superpowered weapons to a nation at war is a lot more dangerous than one that is not at war with anyone.

[True Lord of Chaos]

And Duke, any strike against the US with nuclear weapons (and even probably anything non-conventional and high-yield) will result in a response in kind. I think it's in their defence charter. Probably Hanoi would be wiped off the map, along with a tactical bombardment of any significant military concentrations. After that, america and the south would fully mobilise and take over the North almost unmolested as there'd be nothing left to fight with except sticks and stones.

NK would disappear within 14 days.

[Ash]

Little (off-topic) note: nazi = german fascist

So nazi can be only white while fascist can be even black, fascist = the most agressive nationalist.

Jeez, for the sake of the guy so anal-retentive he's still shitting baby food, I'll clarify that I was referring to the genocidal policy of killing all Arabs as being rather reminiscent of Nazi's persecution of the Jews, the irony being that Israel is a Jewish state and so would, you'd imagine, steer as far away from such a course as possible. The irony would be lost if I simply referred to the likely premirship candidate as being a racist far-right genocidal fuckhead, yet the meaning is still the same. Capiche?

[Spectre]

What's up with North Korea and missiles lately? I'm afraid the only thing that Fascist Nut of a leader is going to get is a Modern Day Fallout.

EDIT: That is, if he fires his arsenal at anyone who dared stand in his way, most notably America.

Edited by Durandel, 14 February 2009 - 02:58 PM.