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SDI: If you missed the news, which isn't hard given how poorly these things are covered, our "unproven" missile defense proved itself again last week, when a U.S. warship downed a simulated North Korean missile in flight.The test, conducted in Hawaiian waters by the Navy and the Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency (MDA), was the 23rd firing by ships equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense system. It was the 19th success, including the shoot-down of a dead U.S. spy satellite last year. A short-range ballistic missile simulating a missile like North Korea's Nodongs or Scuds was fired from...

/begin my translation N. Korean Rocket Went Up 485km from Ground [JoongAng Ilbo] (S. Korean Aegis ship) King Sejong tracked it ... fell short of orbit due to lack of speed. It is confirmed now that the long-range rocket(Taepodong-2) N. Korea launched on Apr. 5 reached the maximum altitude of 485 km flying above Pacific. Intelligence sources said, "It is our understanding that, due to lack of propulsion, it fell short of reaching earth orbit, and failed." The sources added that Aegis ship King Sejong was also able to track it and determine its maximum altitude." Altitude of 485km above...

On Saturday, April 5, North Korea launched its Taepo-Dong-2 ballistic missile in what was described as an attempt to put a satellite into low earth orbit. The missile launched successfully, and as the missile traveled over the Sea of Japan, its first stage was jettisoned, falling within the area previously designated by North Korea. The missile's flight path then continued over Japan before its remaining stages and payload fell into Pacific Ocean, approximately 800 miles off Japan's eastern coast. The distance the Taepo-Dong-2 traveled is being reported as 2,000 miles (3,200 km). The missile and its payload seem to have...

Announced by Government of Japan, and press story out within the last hour. Link to Japanese HERE.This is probably pretty standard, more or less expected, and of course prudent. Japan National Security Council told to be ready from tomorrow morning for the provocation and to stay ready in Tokyo.Prime Minister Aso gave the word to Chief Cabinet Secretariat Kawamura on returning from UK/G-20 earlier today. Stated to the Prefectures of Akita and Iwate--in Northern Japan--to be particularly alert but calm and ready for anything. Final quote was "chances of missile coming down toward Japanese soil are small, but if it...

A Japanese rebroadcast tonight of North Korea TV. HERE is a link to Japanese site from Japanese TV which has short streaming video.Go there first, then hit the arrow in the little orange box, just below the screen shot photo of the rabid North Korean TV female announcer spitting forth the threat.

(U.S.) Conservatives Attack Obama over N.Korea American conservatives are closing ranks to attack President Barack Obama over its handling of North Korea's impending rocket launch. A video clip on the website of the conservative Heritage Foundation warns it will take just 33 minutes for a North Korean or Iranian long-range missile to reach the continental United States. The clip, titled "33 Minutes," features a statement by Heritage Foundation President Edwin Feulne attacking the Obama administration for failing to protect its people from "the enemy." Rep. Darrell Issa, a ranking member of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,...

North Korea already has the capacity to launch a nuclear missile strike against Seoul and Tokyo, even before the long-range rocket test that it is promising in the next few days, an international think-tank has reported.

As expected (and they do tend to shoot off their mouths a lot with threats and big talk), North Korea delivered "the threat" tonight in an official statement out of their Korean Central News Agency (link to the original Japanese language report). North Korea is threatening Japan with military action if Japan takes down their Taepodong-2 (which they refer to as a "satellite") from the skies this week.Conservative Japanese daily Sankei (online) reports from Japan (in Japanese) a little while ago:HERE If above link does not work.

Appearing on Fox News on Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States "was not prepared to do anything about" North Korea's rocket launch, which is expected to take place in the coming days. Gates' latest comments differ from what he said on Feb. 10, that the U.S. could intercept North Korea's missile "if necessary." On Mar. 19, Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said the U.S. is "fully prepared" to shoot down the missile and added that the U.S. military has the capability to do it. Judging from the situation so far, the...

From earlier today, our time:And, if you keep your eyes peeled, you may spot one of a number of Japan Self Defense manned PAC-3 Patriot missile batteries out in the open in downtown Tokyo these days.

This isn't the kind of change our leader promised. They were supposed to like us and behave themselves after he "reached out" to them..

North Korea has threatened dire consequences if the international community sanctions it over a rocket launch it has announced for between Apr. 4 and 8. The official Rodong Shinmun newspaper on Sunday said once the rocket issue is "raised at the UN Security Council for discussion, the six-party nuclear talks will come to a complete rupture." It warned the North will "take a stronger measure." Prof. Nam Joo-hong of Kyonggi University speculated that means North Korea "could reverse its nuclear disablement process, while hinting it could conduct a second nuclear test." Arthur Brown, a former CIA officer for East Asia,...

TOKYO -- Japan's move Friday to deploy missile interceptors is the boldest challenge North Korea faces so far to its plan to launch a rocket in the next few days. Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said he ordered the deployment of missile interceptors to Japan's northern coast to prepare to shoot down the rocket and any debris that could fall on Japanese territory. It was the first such order Japan had issued, a ministry spokesman said.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea moved a long-range missile to a launchpad this week and plans to send it into space in early April in defiance of repeated international warnings. While North Korea has been making missiles to intimidate its neighbors for nearly half a century, what makes this launch particularly worrying is the increasing possibility -- as assessed by U.S. intelligence and some independent experts -- that it has built or is attempting to build nuclear warheads small enough to fit atop its growing number of missiles. North Korea "may be able to successfully mate a nuclear warhead...

Japan Warns It Will Intercept N.Korean ProjectileThe Japanese government could deploy two arsenal ships equipped with the latest Aegis radar system and interceptor Standard Missile in the East Sea if North Korea continues to prepare for a missile test, the Kyodo news agency reported Tuesday citing a senior official at the Japanese Ministry of Defense. But Kyodo added if a North Korean missile targets the United States, it will be difficult for Japan's SM-3 to intercept it. Tokyo warned North Korea it would intercept not only missiles but also a satellite launched by the communist country. The Sankei Shimbun quoted...

Russian Expert Foresees Missile Launch 2009-02-23 In an interview with Dan Southerland, Russian historian Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea, advises the U.S. to ignore the war talk from Pyongyang but to keep the country engaged in dialogue. He says a missile launch by North Korea is "very likely." Q. Dr. Lankov, welcome to RFA. The big story in recent months has been the speculation surrounding the apparent stroke suffered by Kim Jong Il. I know that as an historian you don’t like to speculate about succession crises, but I would like you to tell us whether you think...

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...