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North Korea Building Mysterious 'Artificial Islands' Perfect for Missile Launches
LA Times ^ | May 3 2017 10:25 am | Jonathan Kaiman

Posted on 05/04/2017 12:37:54 PM PDT by drewh

orth Korea is building artificial islands in the Yellow Sea and topping them with what appear to be military installations, satellite images reveal.

The development suggests that North Korea has taken a cue from China, which has been stoking regional tensions by building and militarizing several artificial islands in the South China Sea in recent years. The images show that North Korea has been working for at least five years on the islands near Sohae, about 70 miles northwest of Pyongyang, the capital. Sohae is known as a testing site for intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

As late as 2012, three of the islands, which are scattered around a small peninsula jutting into the Yellow Sea, were rocky, tree-studded specks; two were patches of sand. In Google Earth images from December 2016, all appear to contain features consistent with military installations, such as wide roads and paved, rectangular lots. All are in North Korea’s waters, close to the country’s shoreline.

"We can’t make definitive statements as to what these islands are being used for,” said Ryan Barenklau, chief executive of Strategic Sentinel, a Washington-based intelligence firm that has analyzed the images and wrote about them in the Diplomat, an online magazine.

Military use is likely, he continued. Roads on the islands feature wide turns, indicating that they could be used for transporter erector launchers: massive, missile-bearing trucks. Light patches on the rectangular lots could be heat-resistant cement, a sign that they may have been designed as launch pads.

“And they have observation areas, for someone like [the country’s leader] Kim Jong Un to observe a missile launch,” he continued. “Every time we see VIP buildings, that tells us there’s most likely a military application, because Kim Jong Un likes to view the operations of whatever they’re building.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: obamasfault
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1 posted on 05/04/2017 12:37:54 PM PDT by drewh
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To: drewh

Perfect for target practice, you mean?


2 posted on 05/04/2017 12:44:19 PM PDT by RedStateRocker (Nuke Mecca, deport all illegal aliens, abolish the IRS, DEA and ATF.)
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To: drewh

Are they man-made islands or man-made targets? Guess it doesn’t matter, the bombs our military drops certainly will not care.


3 posted on 05/04/2017 12:44:31 PM PDT by Made In The USA (Next thing you know, 'ol Jed's a millionaire)
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To: drewh

Wrong Link?


4 posted on 05/04/2017 1:01:00 PM PDT by Repeal The 17th (I was conceived in liberty, how about you?)
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To: drewh
The North Vietnamese tried something like this and we used a BB to shell.it sinking literally the entire South Half of the " -" ilamd. If I Recall correctly. Re using the WWII called back to service the BB New Jersey using 16" Shells.
5 posted on 05/04/2017 1:04:00 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country.)
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To: drewh

if north korea was such a threat why won’t the South Koreans buy a anti-missile system from us ?

south korea is rich


6 posted on 05/04/2017 1:08:33 PM PDT by vooch (America First)
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To: vooch

It already has them.

There are literally thousands of North Korean missiles pointed in their direction as I understand it.


7 posted on 05/04/2017 1:16:56 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Happy days are here again!)
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To: drewh

8 posted on 05/04/2017 1:46:19 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: gaijin

Satellite location, Google Earth:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sohae+Satellite+Launching+Station/@39.6654926,124.6668945,9257m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x5e2ab4937a9a4e03:0x4cb3cf0e58a24112!8m2!3d39.6654926!4d124.7019134


9 posted on 05/04/2017 2:00:13 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: drewh

The DPRK has a surplus of sand; they need to do something with it.

The short of it... they built a tide control system (West Sea Barrage) on the Taedong (the river that goes through Pyongyang), but as a result, sand is no longer effectively transported out of the river. Meanwhile their policies, and the famine that led to agricultural lands being abandoned, increased erosion upstream. So they have to constantly dredge the Taedong. South Korea used to buy the sand from them for use in concrete (it’s a good sand for concrete), but they stopped doing so.


10 posted on 05/04/2017 2:14:15 PM PDT by OldGuard1
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To: SandRat

NYT, 4-11-82:

[Because of her remarkable ability to absorb punishment, and to dish it out, the battleship is widely believed to be ideally suited for supporting amphibious landings. The New Jersey showed what her nine 16-inch guns could do in 1969 when she nosed up to a small, heavily fortified island off North Vietnam. The enemy soldiers were allowed to escape unharmed. Then the dreadnought opened fire. A newspaper headline later told the result: ‘’The New Jersey Sinks an Island.’’]

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/11/magazine/return-of-the-battleship.html?pagewanted=all


11 posted on 05/04/2017 2:15:14 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: gaijin

thanks for the pics!


12 posted on 05/04/2017 2:19:34 PM PDT by drewh
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To: RedStateRocker

My thoughts as well.....I tend to think those little islands will not survive for long.....although the soldiers are apparently given a 15 minute warning to run into their caves to sit out any bombing.....they are given just a limited amount of ammo for their rifles...and trained once that’s gone to do hand to hand combat with any invader.

They know they cannot wain against any invader but are taught to fight to that of sacrificing their life....thus their “front line” of defense is marked for death from the get go.


13 posted on 05/04/2017 2:21:32 PM PDT by caww
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To: DoughtyOne

South Korea doesn’t own a anti-missile system. They refuse to pay us


14 posted on 05/04/2017 2:25:38 PM PDT by vooch (America First)
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To: caww

hell, just make announcements of $100 McDonalds gift certificates and a bed in South Korea to any who defect. It would be funny to take them over without a shot being fired.


15 posted on 05/04/2017 2:28:43 PM PDT by RedStateRocker (Nuke Mecca, deport all illegal aliens, abolish the IRS, DEA and ATF.)
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To: vooch

Read an article on the “Thad” system or some such on scene there now.

I’m not sure what good it would do.

At best one of these systems could only prevent a few missiles each, if that.

South Korea may have accepted the futility of trying to prevent thousands of strikes.

I understand your point, but I’m not convinced South Korea would be a whole lot better off if they did buy systems.


16 posted on 05/04/2017 2:32:14 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Happy days are here again!)
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To: RedStateRocker
My understanding is the N.Korean people are pretty much ready to be taken over....the fears are by whom. Even then I would think they're simply tired of the nonsense they've believed for decades without any improvement in their country or among the people.

Heck Ol FAt Boy builds them an amusement park but nobody can afford to go there....so he mandates they all show up for his photo op to make it look like people are having a great time.
Same thing with all his parades etc.....you smile and wave or else!

17 posted on 05/04/2017 2:43:02 PM PDT by caww
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To: caww

Exactly.

I’m not really a person for pity, but if we, or any country were to EVER take out a bad guy for the sake of ‘human rights’ or general decency, it should be Kim Fat un.

There must be some sort of concensus that can be built between us, the Chicoms, the South Koreans and the Japanese to decapitate the Nork leadership and do something for the poor folks unfortunate to live there. I thought (and think) that ‘nation building_ or ‘making the world safe for democracy is utter B.S., but if there is any Bad Guy anywhere who should be vaporized along with his inner circle....


18 posted on 05/04/2017 3:10:12 PM PDT by RedStateRocker (Nuke Mecca, deport all illegal aliens, abolish the IRS, DEA and ATF.)
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To: drewh

Sounds like the norms have zero confidence in launch capabilitieso


19 posted on 05/04/2017 3:27:38 PM PDT by Steven Tyler
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To: DoughtyOne

just arguing if the Norks were such a real threat, The South Koreans would be buying. Since they refuse to pay, it signals the threat isn’t scary


20 posted on 05/04/2017 3:34:09 PM PDT by vooch (America First)
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