Posts Tagged ‘Missile Launch’

North Korea preparing to launch more missiles

Friday, May 29th, 2009

It has been reported that US spy satellites have been witness to increased activity at the North Korean site that is used for long range missile tests and South Korean sources say that a long range missile was seen being transported by train near Pyongyang recently.

Recently, North Korea has tested a long range missile (potentially capable of reaching Alaska and Hawaii), several short range (capable of reaching Japan), and an underground nuclear explosion.

This comes amid extremely high tensions between the international community and North Korea. North Korea has been extremely aggressive with it’s words and, not so long ago, a US army general said the US was ready for a conventional war with North Korea.

North Korea’s Second Nuclear Test Successful

Monday, May 25th, 2009

So it is apparent – North Korea’s second nuclear test was more successful than its 1st which was deemed too weak to be labelled a success.

North Korea hasn’t got much to lose – it is already sanction hit and the nuclear test would give a strong message to President Obama and the world that it means business.

North Korea previously has used situations like this as bargaining games; aid and concessions for negotiations and disarmament. The last time the US compromised with North Korea, the DPRK was left with a security guarantee (nuclear weapons), aid, and removal from the US terror list.

Seismologists recorded ‘artificial’ seismic activity equivilant to a 4.5 earthquake. International responses have been hugely condemning of the North Korean test.

Apparently North Korea also tested a missile around the same time. Perhaps that is symbolic; a nuclear test and a rocket launch, hmm?

No North Korea Rocket Launch on First Day

Saturday, April 4th, 2009
North Korea isn't rushing it's launch

North Korea isn't rushing it's launch

North Korea did not launch the rocket on the first day that it was due to launch, which leaves 3 more days to go.

The rocket is due to be launched 2am-7am GMT between 4-8th of April. The presumed reason according to a South Korean expert is that there were high winds at the area of the launch site which made conditions not ‘ideal’.

This also shows that North Korea is not rushing the launch, amid worldwide pressure to halt it.

Barack Obama said that North Korea will face ‘action’. (Diplomatic action to be precise.)

“Should North Korea decide to take this action, we will work with all interested partners in the international comunity to take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that they cannot threaten the safety and stability of other countries with impunity,”

Though, to be honest, this will probably pass with North Korea getting another round of diplomatic pressure such as sanctions unless someone decides to blast the rocket, which North Korea warned would result in war. If that scenario actually happened, then North Korea would have Japan, South Korea, and the US against it as they are the main nations involved in opposing the launch.

Though China has an old treaty with North Korea which states that as comrades they will come to the aid of each other. It’s difficult to say what China would do in such a situation but would they risk international criticism and isolation over a nation that is economically destroyed, politically unstable and unpredictable?

North Korea threatens Japan with war

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
The North Korean Test Site is prepared for the controversial launch.

The North Korean Test Site is prepared for the controversial launch.

“Should Japan dare recklessly to intercept the DPRK’s satellite, its army will consider this as the start of Japan’s war of reinvasion more than six decades after the Second World War”

These are the strong words posted by the KCNA, Korea’s state owned news agency, that threaten Japan with war if it shoots down the imminent satellite/missile launch that will be pass over Japanese territory.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on March 27 ordered his forces to shoot down any North Korean object entering his country’s airspace and deployed guided-missile units around Tokyo.

This will be interesting to watch unfold, but let’s see if anyone goes through with their overly used strong words. NKL will be eyeing developments on this.

North Korean Missile/Satellite Launch Imminent

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

North Korea is expected to launch a missile between 4th – 8th of April which it claims is to put a satellite in orbit.

The US and Japan are embraced for the imminent launch, which they believe is a cover for a test of the previously unsuccessful North Korean Taepodong-2 missile.

The US has stated that it will not intervene unless it deems it a threat to US territory (such as Hawaii) and Japan has it’s anti-air muscle out for defense purposes. Japan has followed a strict defense-only doctrine since the fall of it’s imperial ideology and shooting it down as an agression would be against the Japanese constitution. The Japanese military will only shoot debris falling towards Japanese territory which is not an unlikely situation as the previous test of the missile failed after a few seconds and the missiles path will actually pass over Japan.

It seems several countries are saying that this is a cover for a missile TEST and not a satellite launch, but what’d be the point of that unless it is using the attention seeking tactic. Can it not test these missiles over it’s own territory and not over other countries territories and possibly their civilian populations?

However, the concept of North Korea launching a harmless satellite is weak seeing as a large portion of its population is suffering from food shortages and the political ideology states that the military comes first. One would assume it’d be a military satellite, but who knows – we can keep guess – this is one of the wonders of the most secretive state in the world.

The likely outcome of this would probably be the usual all-round condemnation of the launch and the international communities grudge over this incident will probably be shrugged off in a short time as they have learned from past experience.

Top Blogs