North Korea missile test 'brings US within range'

[LiviaOlivia]

North Korea missile test 'brings US within range'
By Richard Spencer in Beijing
(Filed: 11/06/2004)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml

North Korea has tested an intercontinental ballistic missile engine capable of hitting the United States, according to a South Korean report.

The potential range of the missile was established by American intelligence from scorch marks and other traces of the engine test, the newspaper Joongang Ilbo said, citing diplomatic sources.

It could reach up to 3,700 miles, enough to hit Alaska.

North Korea is developing a family of long-range missiles called the Taepodong. Taepodong 1 was test-fired over Japan in 1998. It caused consternation, not least because of the determination of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, to pursue a nuclear weapons programme.

The engine test for Taepodong 2 was carried out last month, Joongang Ilbo said. A full missile test - which would cause a diplomatic crisis - would be the next step.
<snip>

[LittleApple81]

1. Naughty, naughty. Don't do that now. We are busy making money

with a country that did not have nukes and now you come to disturb our labor of money.

[shraby]

2. Whoops! What are we

doing in Iraq then???

[shraby]

3. I just remembered...

torturing Iraqis.

[benburch]

4. Ummm....

They found the nose cone from last year's test IN Alaska, If I Recall Correctly.

[nodehopper]

7. yes, "News" about NK nukes. Like clockwork.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. I bet the delivery system was a...

...vehicle checked out from the Pentagon motor pool.

Oh, wait...they don't need to deliver anything...they just make stuff up.

[daleo]

5. A report of "scorch marks" from the Telegraph

The Telegraph is a noted source of "scorch marks" itself, when it comes to b.s. about WMD. I wouldn't get too alarmed.

[LiviaOlivia]

15. Here's the Reuter's link

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5387860

[daleo]

18. Thanks, I wish I knew how credible the various sources were

Reuters credits JoongAng Ilbo newspaper with the story, which itself credits the usual bunch of unnamed officials:

"North Korea appears to have successfully tested in early May an engine for a long-range missile that could be capable of hitting Alaska, South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said on Thursday."


I don't know the political orientation of this newspaper, but here is a reference to a different story, from 2002 (granted I found this reference on the Pravda site):

"The South Korean newspaper ?Joongang Ilbo� reports that the company Clonaid Korea has implanted a cloned embryo into the womb of a woman, who will deliver the human clone early next year.

The human clone was implanted by scientists from the USA and South Korea in April, according to the company Guak Kyong Tae. Human cloning is not legal in South Korea and if the parliament votes to ban the practice, the 20-year-old woman will have to deliver the baby in another country.

Clonaid, the first company to deal in human cloning, belongs to the Raelian sect, which believed that extra-terrestrials began life on Earth and that the human species is a clone from alien life-forms."

I don't think this clone story ever proved true. But lots of newspapers may have been taken in by it.

Other than that, I guess I have some doubts about being able to pinpoint a missile's accuracy from scorch marks (couldn't they just test the engine in a hole, and hide the scorch marks?), especially given how the world was lied to in the buildup to the Iraq invasion.

[Art_from_Ark]

16. Neither would I. Here's what the Union of Concerned Scientists

has to say:

"Assessments of North Korea�fs military capability often portray North Korea as possessing a long-range nuclear missile capability, or as able to rapidly acquire one. This is not true."

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/missile_defense/page.cfm?pageID=603

[necso]

6. This has been the case for some time.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200303/kt2003030417272311970.htm

It is thought that the newer generation Korean ICBM (Taep�o-dong 2) with a third stage would be capable of even farther flight.

http://www.missilethreat.com/missiles/taep-o-dong-2_north_korea.html

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. Right. And Iraq was capable of reaching the U. S. in 45 minutes, right?

[necso]

13. Ah... no.

What do the two things have in common?

Moreover, rather than being over-hyped, this has been rather downplayed. The North Koreans would be a tough nut to crack and despite some crazies' desire to nuke them, it ain't happening --- South Korean casualties would be enormous --- as would ours in any land battle.

Besides, bullies shy away from tough fights.

[tabasco]

8. I guess a Star Wars appropriation is coming up.

This is usually the type of crap that precedes it.

[Gloria]

10. The scary thing is reading all this, then listening to their

Voice of Korea broadcast. It sounds like something out of China in the 60's. I mean, nonstop praise of their leader, it's pretty wild.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Ooooh!!! I'm a shakin' in my boots!!

[LiviaOlivia]

14. From channelnewsasia.com

North Korea tests new missile engine
Date : 10 June 2004 1639 hrs (SST)
URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/89349/1/.html

SEOUL : North Korea, denounced by the United States as a leading global proliferator of weapons of mass destruction, tested an engine for a ballistic missile last month, a South Korean newspaper reported.

Engine testing was conducted successfully in early May at North Korea's Musudan missile complex in North Hamgyong province, the JoongAng newspaper said, citing diplomatic sources.

The engine is being developed to power North Korea's multi-stage Taepodong-2 missile with a range of up to 6,000 kilometers (3,600 miles), it said. Engine testing is often the last step before an actual flight test of a missile.

<snip>

Late last year, North Korea restored facilities for missile engine testing destroyed by an explosion in December 2002.

The Taepodong-2 missiles use Chinese liquid fuel engines as a first stage rocket and a Rodong missile as a second stage. US intelligence measure the flame of North Korean rockets during engine combustion testing to determine the capability and range.

<snip>

Japanese news reports have said Tokyo and Washington would from next year begin joint exercises simulating their response to a missile attack on Japan.

From September, the US navy plans to deploy an Aegis warship with anti-missile capabilities in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.

<snip>

[Hobarticus]

17. Feasible or not, this is a serious issue

While we're installing democracy in Southwest Asia, real-deal crises are popping up in the Far East, and there's little we can do about it, since diplomacy's too danged hard for these clowns.