Free Republic

Excerpt - SEOUL, April 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is preparing for a mass military parade to showcase its weaponry, possibly including its long-range Taepodong-2 missile, a move expected to heighten tension in the region, a South Korean source said Sunday. South Korean intelligence authorities have detected the North covering missiles, army trucks and other military hardware with camouflage blankets, which are to be used in a military parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of its Korean People's Armed Forces, the source said, on condition of anonymity. The anniversary falls on April 25. "We are focusing on...

HONG KONG ¯ North Korea is operating 18 missile bases and 10 research and development facilities, and is increasingly shipping its weapons by air to avoid detection, a military journal and news agency reported yesterday. Nine missile bases have been constructed since 1994, while North Korea has deployed 1,200 Rodong and Scud missiles, which target all of South Korea, Defense International reported yesterday in its September issue. The security journal specializes in defense issues in the Northeast Asian region. The journal, citing intelligence data from Taiwan and the United States, said that prior to 1994 only three missile bases had...

After North Korea's July 5 missile tests, Japan, for the first time since 1945, is asking America to beef up its military presence in Japan. Why? Because Japan's hedging and tardiness in relation to missile defense has left its cities more vulnerable than they need be. That risks encouraging Pyongyang in its dangerous nuclear and missile brinkmanship. Senior U.S. and Japanese officials met in Washington on Aug. 7-8. The Japanese apparently asked the United States to send to Japan an additional U.S. warship equipped with the sophisticated Aegis radar system and the interceptor missile SM-3 (Standard Missile 3). This is...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has disappeared from public eye since right after North Korea fired missiles on July 5, and it shows signs that his concealment will be prolonged for the long term. Ever since his father, former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, died on July 8 of 1994 he did not miss a single occasion to visit Geumsusan Memorial Palace on the same day every year, but this year, Chairman Kim even skipped this ceremony. It is seen that Chairman Kim is taking the current situation seriously. There are reports from inside North Korea that they...

(LEAD) N. Korea building new missile bases, silos along east coast: Report SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has been constructing new underground missile bases and silos along its east coast in recent years to deploy intermediate-range rockets targeting Japan and U.S. military facilities on the archipelago, a report said Thursday. "The new bases clustered along the east coastal line, in particular, are short- and medium-range missile bases aiming at Japan and U.S. military installations in Japan," said a report written by Yun Deok-min, a security expert at the state-funded Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. About 200...

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has been constructing new underground missile bases and silos along its east coast in recent years to deploy intermediate-range rockets targeting Japan and U.S. military facilities on the archipelago, a report said Thursday. "The new bases clustered along the east coastal line, in particular, are short- and medium-range missile bases aiming at Japan and U.S. military installations in Japan," said a report written by Yun Deok-min, a security expert at the state-funded Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. About 200 Rodong missiles with ranges of up to 2,200 kilometers and 50...

Excerpt - SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has been working closely with Iran to develop its long-range ballistic missiles, possibly using Chinese technology, and is building large bases to prepare for their deployment, a South Korean state-run think tank said. Communist North Korea is also building new sites near the Demilitarised Zone border for short-range missiles and is deploying missiles with improved precision that can strike most of Japan, the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) said in a report. "The development of Taepodong-2 is conducted jointly with Iran, and it is possible China's technology is used in...

N. Korean Long-range Missile Aims For U.S.-S. Korea Alliance American Enterprise Institute July 13, 2006 [Edited transcript from audio tapes] 9:00 Panel I: China & North KoreaPanelists: Randall Schriver, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Nicholas Eberstadt, AEIJacqueline Newmyer, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard UniversityModerator: Gary Schmitt, AEI [Start Panel I: China and North Korea] Nicholas Eberstadt: North Korea has a way of keeping itself in the news. Usually, when North Korea is in the news, it is not for very happy reasons, at least for those of us who are not...

N. Korea-Iran Ties Seem to Be Growing Stronger Weapons sales and joint observations of missile test launches have been reported. VIPs visiting Pyongyang celebrate 'cooperative relations.' By Barbara Demick, Times Staff Writer July 27, 2006 SEOUL — North Korea and Iran, two fiercely anti-American regimes, appear to be bolstering their military and diplomatic cooperation, including the possible sale of missiles to the Tehran government, intelligence sources said. An Iranian parliamentary delegation visiting Pyongyang was given a VIP welcome with a reception Monday at the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly to celebrate, as the North Korean news service put it, the...

Intelligence services in Seoul and Washington are analyzing suspicions that the seven missiles North Korea test-fired on July 5 include two new intermediate-range ballistic missiles with a range of 2,500-4,000 km. A government source said spy agencies detected electronic signals different from the North’s Rodong or Scud missiles from two of six medium-range missiles the North test-launched on July 5. Intelligence services considered whether they could be Scud-ERs with a range of up to 1,000 km, but additional analysis produced the suspicion that they could be a whole new type of IRBM, the source said. If so, they are...

Security Council 5490th Meeting (PM) SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA'S MISSILE LAUNCHES, UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTING RESOLUTION 1695 (2006) Demands Suspension of All Related Ballistic Missile Activity;Urges Country to Return Immediately to Six-Party Talks Without Precondition The United Nations Security Council today condemned the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's recent test-firing of a series of missiles, and demanded that the North-East Asian country suspend all ballistic missile related activity and reinstate its moratorium on missile launches. Acting "under its special responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security", the Council unanimously adopted resolution 1695 (2006), by the...

The following is the gist of a draft resolution on North Korea over its recent missile tests, circulated at the U.N. Security Council by China and Russia on Wednesday. The U.N. Security Council: -- expresses serious concern over missile launches on July 5, 2006 local time by North Korea which had a negative effect on the peace and stability in Northeast Asia and beyond. -- expresses its grave concern about North Korea's indication of possible additional launches of ballistic missiles in the near future. -- expresses also its desire for a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the situation and...

Ansaman has been keeping a lil' strip on Kim Jong Il's latest fun shennanigans.... http://www.ansaman.com/kim/kimcomix.html

China, Pak missiles challenge India -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NDTV Correspondent Sunday, July 9, 2006 (New Delhi): India faces a missile threat from Pakistan on the West and China to the North East. The Pakistani missile programme is a fascinating example of blatant missile proliferation from North Korea and China. Pakistan's nuclear capable missiles have the names of Muslim leaders who invaded India but are in fact, little more than direct imports from Beijing and Pyong Yang. The Shaheen Missile sometimes referred to as the Hatf 3 is in fact the Chinese M-11 missile with a range of 300 kilometres. The Shaheen I...

North Korea's Kim says no concessions to US: report 2 hours, 5 minutes ago North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il said his country would not budge in negotiations with the United States, adding the reclusive state was ready to meet any attack with a strong blow of its own, Yonhap reported on Sunday. "Kim declared that even a small concession wouldn't be made to the sworn-enemy U.S. imperialistic aggressors," the North's Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) said in an editorial monitored in Seoul, the South Korean news agency said. After Pyongyang defied world opinion and test-fired seven missiles last week, Japan...

A top North Korean propagandist raised the threat of nuclear war yesterday as the fighting talk triggered by the isolated regime's missile launches got scarier than any disintegrating Taepodong-2. Kim Myong-chol, a freelance propagandist for the Stalinist state, claimed North Korea would treat any country supporting UN sanctions against it - and that would definitely include Australia - as a nuclear missile target. "Now the US is seeking sanctions for us doing nothing in violation of international law - this is outrageous," he said in Tokyo yesterday. "North Korea considers this an act of war and North Korea will...

Excerpt - NORTH Korea has threatened to take "stronger physical actions" after Japan imposed punitive measures in response to this week's barrage of missile tests and pushed for international sanctions at the United Nations. Japan introduced a draft UN Security Council resolution yesterday that would bar missile-related financial and technology transactions with North Korea, but China and Russia, which have veto power, opposed any punitive measures. Ambassadors from Japan, France and the United States said no vote would be held until Monday at the earliest. Japan had pushed for a vote today. Meanwhile Australia is reportedly prepared to offer North...

AUSTRALIA is prepared to offer North Korea a cheap, secure energy deal, probably coal shipments, if the rogue state returns to peace talks, as part of an attempt to solve the missile crisis. An Australian diplomatic mission leaves for China, Japan and South Korea next week as part of a concerted regional effort to avoid conflict on the Korean peninsula. The mission follows discussions between John Howard and US President George W. Bush yesterday about North Korea's launch of seven missiles over the Sea of Japan on Wednesday. The missiles included a long-range Taepodong 2 that is designed to...

The U.S. Navy's two Aegis-equipped destroyers temporarily left the waters in the Sea of Japan and the Pacific side of Japan where they had been deployed to detect and track North Korea's missile launches, U.S. administration sources said Friday. The move stems from North Korea's failed test of a Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile and a U.S. assessment that it will take time for the North to prepare to launch another one. The two destroyers, the Curtis Wilbur and Fitzgerald, had been deployed in those waters since North Korea accelerated its preparation over the past weeks to launch the Taepodong-2,...

The same North Korean ICBM efforts that throw a rock at Alaska can throw a large nuclear warhead at every ally the United States has in Northeast Asia. Japan and South Korea are not only close allies, they are critical trading partners. The risk of a war in this part of the world would inevitably threaten Chinese involvement in some form, and possible bloc trade with much of China for an extended period even if China did not become involved. Our troops and our bases in most of Asia would be at hazard as well. Americans need to stop thinking...

BEIJING, July 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea informed China of its plan to test-fire missiles prior to the North's missile launches this week, a top U.S. diplomatic envoy said Friday. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said at a press conference that he heard from Chinese officials the North informed China of its plan for the test-firing of ballistic missiles earlier Wednesday. Hill, who has visited China as part of his tour of nations involved in the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear arms, made the remarks before he headed to Seoul. On Wednesday, the North shocked the...

A Tokyo-based newspaper reports in its Friday AM edition that North Korea’s failed Taepodong-2 missile was aimed at an area of the ocean close to Hawaii. (Here’s the story in Japanese.) The target should have been no surprise: the islands’ far-Left leadership has rendered Hawaii uniquely vulnerable to attack. Citing multiple sources in the U.S. and Japan, the Sankei Shimbun article indicates that U.S. and Japanese tracking of the missile’s altitude and angle of approach after takeoff indicate it was headed for what Reuters describes as, “waters near Hawaii”. Sankei Shimbun has no English-language edition. The Reuters article reprises the...

When it became clear that the Taepodong 2 missile North Korea test-launched early on July 4 had broken up less than a minute into flight and plunged into the Sea of Japan, many Americans felt a sense of relief. After all, the missile — belonging to a class that is thought capable of reaching the U.S. mainland — had failed, and Kim Jong Il had been embarrassed in the eyes of the world, if not those of the North Koreans who were told nothing of the test’s outcome. But an embarrassed menace is a menace nonetheless. Despite North Korea’s failure...

The latest disinformation from North Korea's propaganda agency - Pyongyang, July 6 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry gave the following answer to a question raised by KCNA Thursday as regards the missile launches in the DPRK: In the wake of the missile launches by the Korean People's Army the U.S. and some other countries following it, including Japan, are making much ado about a serious development. They are terming them "violation" and "provocation" and calling for "sanctions" and "their referral to the UN Security Council." The latest successful missile launches were part of the routine military...

Excerpt - North Korea on Friday demanded that Japan halt sanctions it has imposed on the country in reaction to Pyongyang's test-firing of ballistic missiles, warning that the North would take ''stronger measures'' should Tokyo continue along the current path. ''Japan is translating its criticism against us into action,'' Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador in charge of diplomatic normalization talks with Japan, told reporters in Pyongyang. ''This may force us to take stronger physical actions'' as a response, he said. Asked what the steps may be, he said, ''I leave that to your imagination.'' ~ snip ~

Taepodong-2 pointed at waters near Hawaii: report (Kyodo) _ The Taepodong-2 long-range missile recently test-fired by North Korea was pointed at waters near Hawaii, the Sankei Shimbun reported Friday in its online edition. Citing government sources in Japan and the United States, the report said Japan's Defense Agency and the U.S. military reached the conclusion after analyzing the missile's path from data collected by Aegis-equipped destroyers and RC-135S electronic reconnaissance aircraft. The missile was test-fired from its launching site in Musudanri in northeast North Korea early Wednesday local time before landing into the Sea of Japan about several hundred kilometers...

Asiana Plane in Close Shave as North Launches Missile --North Korea Launches Two Rounds of Missiles --N.Korea’s Missiles Right on Target --Missile Launch to Chill Inter-Korean Ties --Unwelcome Fireworks for U.S. Independence Day --South Koreans Angry at N.Korean Missile Shock --A Bad Misjudgment From North and South --N.Korea May Try Launching Another Long-Range Missile --N.Korea’s Missile Launch ‘Part of Regular Drills’ --Seoul’s Late Response to Missile Launch Draws Flak --An Urgent Problem, a Leisurely Response Some 10 minutes before North Korea test-fired its fist missile early Wednesday, an Asiana Airlines passenger plane crossed the missile’s future trajectory above the East...

(ATTN: CORRECTS missile's flight distance from '390km' to '490km' in para 4) SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's long-range Taepodong-2 missile travelled for about 7 minutes after liftoff before it plunged into the East Sea, a top South Korean military officer said Thursday. The North's multistage missile was initially believed to have gone down 42 seconds after it blasted off from its launching pad in the reclusive country on Wednesday, sparking questions over whether the flight was a technical failure or was aborted.

The following is the gist of a draft text of a resolution circulated by Japan on Wednesday among U.N. Security Council members on North Korea's test-firing of missiles. The U.N. Security Council: -- reaffirms that proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as their means of delivery, constitutes a threat to international peace and security. -- deplores that North Korea is the world's leading proliferators of ballistic missiles and related technology. -- expresses grave concern that North Korea's launch of ballistic missiles, given the potential of such vehicles to be used as a means to deliver nuclear,...

SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Thursday claimed its successfully conducted missile launches were part of routine military drills to raise self-defense capabilities, and will be continued. "The successful launches of missiles this time were part of our normal military exercises that were aimed at reinforcing our self-defense capabilities," a spokesman for the North's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the country's Korean Central News Agency. The statement came one day after the communist state fired seven long- and medium-range missiles, including a Taepodong-2, which is believed to be capable of reaching as far as...

The North Korea threatens to draw from other missiles in "self-defence" SEOUL - the North Korea confirmed Thursday that it had carried out shootings of test of missiles, threatening to renew this "act of self-defence" if the international community made pressure on the mode. "the successful launching of missiles makes this time started from our normal military exercises the purpose of which are to reinforce our capacities of self-defence", according to an official statement of the ministry north-Korean of the Foreign Affairs, quoted by the South Korean agency Yonhap. "Our armed forces will continue their shootings of test of...

The US missile defense system was put to its first real test Tuesday and Wednesday with North Korea's launch of a long-range missile and a half dozen shorter range missiles. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he was on and off the phone with top US commanders almost continuously for days before the missile tests. "I received the notification of the launch of these missiles probably within of a minute of when they occurred," he told reporters before a meeting with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Pentagon officials were circumspect, though, about how the multi-billion dollar missile defense system performed. "What...

More N Korea tests 'expected' July 05, 2006 AUSTRALIA expects the North Korean government to conduct further missile tests in coming days, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today. Mr Downer said the Government believed North Korea had fired six missiles overnight, being five short-range missiles and one longer range missile. The Government condemned the tests, and had spoken to North Korea's ambassador in Australia, Chon Jae Hong, to register its displeasure, Mr Downer said. "I told the North Korean ambassador that we condemn the testing of missiles, that it did very much heighten concerns about security in North Asia," Mr...

TOKYO - A defiant North Korea test-fired a long-range missile Wednesday that may be capable of reaching America, but it failed seconds after launch, U.S. officials said. The North also tested four of shorter range in an exercise the White House termed "a provocation" but not an immediate threat. The audacious military tests by isolated communist nation came despite stern warnings from the United States and Japan — and carried out as the U.S. celebrated the Fourth of July and launched the space shuttle. None of the missiles made it as far as Japan. The Japanese government said all landed...

This just in from our N. Korean Correspondent : N. Korean Taepodong 2 Missile Suffers From " Projectile Misfunction " : Fails 45 seconds into Flight Kim Jong II mutters: " This never happened to me before !" July 4 , Pyongyang : In an early morning gesture of friendship toward the United States , Kim Jong II , Fearless Leader of the Extremely Democratic and Nice People's Republic of North Korea launched no less than three "celebratory fireworks displays" , including one that employed the much-heralded Taepodong 2 multi stage rocket. The display started out rather well. Alerted by...

MIDI - SONG SUNG BLUE Taepodong wasn't quite succeeding...Taepodong, Viagra it's needing Madeleine had done her best to help them advance While her perverted boss just passed his time by dropping down his pants...dropping down his pants Taepodong prematurely falling...Taepodong had Kim Jong-il balling Twice they tried to fake us out when they had fired off two Scuds Then as the whole world was watching what next they'd do...they fired off a dud (short musical interlude) Madeleine had done her best by helping them to advance While her pervert lowlife boss had passed his time by dropping down his...

most things about North Korea, little is known for certain about the Taepodong 2 missile. But there is no doubt North Korea does have a very long standing and pretty sophisticated missile programme. North Korea's intentions are under the global spotlight In 1998, before it began observing a moratorium on tests, North Korea launched a Taepodong 1 missile which passed over northern Japan and surprised Western intelligence agencies by the use of three stages in the missile's propulsion system. What is striking about the Taepodong 2 is that it could well be North Korea's first genuine intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)...

In a move that will affect China's commercial space business and could hamper U.S./Chinese space cooperation, the U.S. Treasury Dept. has frozen the financial assets of the China Great Wall Industry Corp. and another Chinese space exporter for allegedly aiding Iranian missile development. In addition to the Treasury Dept., the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been gathering evidence against the company, federal officials said. The Iranian missile programs involved are also tied directly to development of the third-stage solid rocket motor for the North Korean Taepo-Dong-2C/3 ballistic missile, according to an analysis by GlobalSecurity.org. Iran has specifically aided the North...

TOKYO - The United States plans to deploy Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missiles in southern Japan by the end of the year, a local newspaper reported Monday. The PAC-3 is designed to intercept and destroy incoming missiles and aircraft. The report comes as the U.S. and Japan are deeply concerned about signs North Korea may be preparing for an imminent test-launch of a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile. The U.S. government notified Japan earlier this month that it will deploy PAC-3 missiles at its Kadena Air Base or its ammunition storage area on the southern island of Okinawa, Japan's largest newspaper, Yomiuri...

North Korean technicians are reportedly in the final stages of fueling a long-range ballistic missile that some experts estimate can deliver a deadly payload to the United States. The last time North Korea tested such a missile, in 1998, it sent a shock wave around the world, but especially to the United States and Japan, both of which North Korea regards as archenemies. They recognized immediately that a missile of this type makes no sense as a weapon unless it is intended for delivery of a nuclear warhead. A year later North Korea agreed to a moratorium on further launches,...

Japan has dispatched ships and planes to monitor North Korea amid regional jitters about a possible long-range missile launch, but it played down the communist nation's capacity to load a nuclear warhead atop its rockets. Fukushiro Nukaga, the head of Japan's Defense Agency, told a parliamentary committee that Japan had deployed naval ships and patrol planes to monitor developments in North Korea as the country apparently prepares to test a long-range missile believed capable of reaching the United States. Senior Vice Foreign Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki said, however, that Japan had "encountered no information" indicating North Korea had the technology to...

A US warship prepared to shoot down a mock warhead of a medium-range missile over the Pacific Wednesday in the latest of a series of tests of a sea-based missile defense system, a spokesman said. It comes amid tensions over North Korean preparations to launch a long-range missile, but a spokesman for the US Missile Defense Agency said the missile defense test had been planned for months. "It has nothing to do with North Korea or anything else," said Rick Lehner, the agency's spokesman. It was the second test intercept of a separating warhead, but the first with an operationally...

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea hinted Wednesday that it would halt any plans to test a long-range missile if the U.S. agreed to direct talks, as a former South Korean president scrapped plans to visit the North because of its apparent moves toward a launch. Tensions in the region have soared following intelligence reports that the North has fueled a ballistic missile believed capable of reaching U.S. territory. The U.S. and Japan have said they could consider sanctions against the impoverished country if it goes ahead. On Wednesday, a spokesman for former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung cited the...

SEOUL : A top North Korean official has offered talks with the United States on Pyongyang's plans for a missile test, indicating that a launch could be put off, Yonhap news agency reported here on Wednesday. "The United States says it is concerned about our missile test launch. Our position is, 'Okay then, let's talk about it,'" Han Song-Ryol, the deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the United Nations, told Yonhap.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is weighing responses to a possible North Korean missile test that include attempting to shoot it down in flight over the Pacific, defense officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Because North Korea has made it a practice not to announce its missile tests in advance, U.S. officials say they cannot be sure of the government's intentions. Under that circumstance, the Pentagon is considering the possibility that it might need to attempt an interception, two defense officials said. The officials agreed to discuss the matter only on condition of anonymity because of its political sensitivity....

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is weighing responses to a possible North Korean missile test that include attempting to shoot it down in flight over the Pacific, defence officials said Tuesday. Because North Korea has made it a practice not to announce its missile tests in advance, U.S. officials say they cannot be sure of the government's intentions. Under that circumstance, the Pentagon is considering the possibility that it might need to attempt an interception, two defence officials told the Associated Press. The officials agreed to discuss the matter only on condition of anonymity because of its political sensitivity....

The long reach of North Korea's missiles By Bertil Lintner BANGKOK - North Korea may be a poor country, but it has some of the most developed missile systems in the world. Not even years of near-economic collapse, famine and hunger have hampered the country's missile-development programs, which are meant both as a preemptive defense - to scare off potential attackers - and for export.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned North Korea on Monday it will face consequences if it test-fires a missile thought to be powerful enough to reach the West Coast of the United States. "It would be a very serious matter and, indeed, a provocative act should North Korea decide to launch that missile," Rice said amid indications that the North Koreans could launch an intercontinental ballistic missile at any moment. The senior U.S. diplomat said the United States would talk to other nations about action should the North go ahead, and "I can assure everyone that it would...

TOKYO: North Korea has directed its people to hoist the national flag and watch a state message on television on Sunday afternoon, a move possibly linked to Pyongyang's missile test, a Japanese newspaper said. The Sankei Shimbun, citing unnamed Japanese government sources, said that the country's national flag should be raised at 1030 IST (2:00 pm local time) and that people should watch the message Sunday evening. Immediate confirmation of the report was not available. The report follows a series of other reports on Pyongyang's preparations for a long-range missile test this weekend. On Sunday Japan warned North Korea it...

/begin my excerptN. Koreans Ordered To Raise Their Flag At 2PM, and Listen to BroadcastN. Korean leadership ordered its citizen to raise their flag and listen to their (government) communique from TV in the evening, according to Sankei Shimbun (of Japan), quoting Japanese government sources. The paper said it is paying attention this development because it could be related to the launch of Taepodong-2. /end my excerpt