NKorea threatens US; world anticipates missile

[Gawdzilla Sama]

NKorea threatens US; world anticipates missile

By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 54 mins ago

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea threatened Wednesday to wipe the United States off the map as Washington and its allies watched for signs the regime will launch a series of missiles in the coming days.

Off China's coast, a U.S. destroyer was tailing a North Korean ship suspected of transporting illicit weapons to Myanmar in what could be the first test of U.N. sanctions passed to punish the nation for an underground nuclear test last month.

The Kang Nam left the North Korean port of Nampo a week ago with the USS John S. McCain close behind. The ship, accused of transporting banned goods in the past, is believed bound for Myanmar, according to South Korean and U.S. officials.

The new U.N. Security Council resolution requires member states to seek permission to inspect suspicious cargo. North Korea has said it would consider interception a declaration of war and on Wednesday accused the U.S. of seeking to provoke another Korean War.

"If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will ... wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all," the official Korean Central News Agency said.

The warning came on the eve of the 59th anniversary of the start of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in state of war.

The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect against an outbreak of hostilities.

Tensions have been high since North Korea launched a long-range rocket in April and then conducted its second underground atomic test on May 25.

Reacting to U.N. condemnation of that test, North Korea walked away from nuclear disarmament talks and warned it would fire a long-range missile.

North Korea has banned ships from the waters off its east coast starting Thursday through July 10 for military exercises, Japan's Coast Guard said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday that the North may fire a Scud missile with a range of up to 310 miles (500 kilometers) or a short-range ground-to-ship missile with a range of 100 miles (160 kilometers) during the no-sail period.

A senior South Korean government official said the no-sail ban is believed connected to North Korean plans to fire short- or mid-range missiles. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

U.S. defense and counterproliferation officials in Washington said they also expected the North to launch short- to medium-range missiles. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

South Korea will expedite the introduction of high-tech unmanned aerial surveillance systems and "bunker-buster" bombs in response to North Korea's provocations, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said, citing unidentified ruling party members.

Meanwhile, a flurry of diplomatic efforts were under way to try getting North Korea to return to disarmament talks.

Russia's top nuclear envoy, Alexei Borodavkin, said after meeting with his South Korean counterpart that Moscow is open to other formats for discussion since Pyongyang has pulled out of formal six-nation negotiations.

In Beijing, top U.S. and Chinese defense officials also discussed North Korea. U.S. Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy was heading next to Tokyo and Seoul for talks.

South Korea has proposed high-level "consultations" to discuss North Korea with the U.S., Russia, China and Japan.

___

Associated Press writers Jae-soon Chang in Seoul; Pauline Jelinek, Pamela Hess and Lolita Baldor in Washington and Min Lee in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

North Korea's Biochemical Threat
While its nuclear test spurs outrage, North Korea has grown a vast biochemical weapons arsenal in secrecy. We investigate Kim Jong Il's deception, plus his rogue nation's human trials and its deadly harvest's terror potential.
By Simon Cooper
Published in the February 2007 issue.

[Kristie]

That's kinda scarey. And, it's definitely one of the reasons I hate watching the news.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Kim Jong Il Close to Ceding Power, South Korea Says (Update2)
By Sangim Han

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is close to transferring power to his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, a senior South Korean government official said.

Circumstances suggest the elder Kim, 68, is grooming Jong Un to take control of the communist nation, said the official, who briefed reporters in Seoul on condition of anonymity. There’s no concrete evidence the son has support from the country’s elite, which could cause a power struggle, he said.

Such a situation could have a negative impact on South Korea, said the official, who briefed reporters on President Lee Myung Bak’s June 28 visit to Japan. He didn’t elaborate.

Kim Jong Il, who suffered a stroke in August, gave his youngest son control of the communist nation’s secret police, Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported today, adding to several reports that he’ll take over from his father. South Korea hasn’t been able to confirm the report, the official said.

Little is known about Jong Un. He is either 25 or 26 years old, and attended an international school in Switzerland. He and older brother Kim Jong Chol were born to Kim Jong Il’s companion Ko Young Hee. The eldest son, Jong Nam, has a different mother. He was caught trying to enter Japan in 2001 on a fake passport, saying he wanted to visit Disneyland.

Kim Jong Il succeeded his father, North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung, as leader in 1994, making the impoverished country the world’s only hereditary Stalinist state.

Nuclear Test

North Korea’s May 25 nuclear test and subsequent missile launches are likely linked to the succession issue and may show Kim is trying to shore up support for his son, the South Korean official said. Kim Jong Il had broad support to take over from his father, the official said.

North Korea’s official news agency today published a report alleging that U.S. “imperialists” are trying to provoke a second Korean war, more than 50 years after the first one.

If war breaks out again, North Korea will “wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all and achieve the cause of national reunification without fail,” according to the report.

Lee and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will discuss the possibility of a five-way consultation with the U.S., China and Russia on North Korea, the official said. The meeting would serve as a follow-up to the United Nations Security Council’s sanctions on North Korea on June 12, he said.

Kim’s government vowed to never return to international talks on dismantling its nuclear program last month and kicked UN inspectors out of the country. The Security Council’s Resolution 1874 punishes North Korea by restricting financial transactions and attempting to curb its ability to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.

A U.S. navy ship is tracking a North Korean vessel suspected of carrying illicit weapons.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sangim Han in Seoul at sihan@bloomberg.net

[Existentialist1844]

Well, that's definitely not good.

Let's be honest, but wouldn't North Korea OWN us in war?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well, that's definitely not good.

Let's be honest, but wouldn't North Korea OWN us in war?

Not a chance in hell. They could do damage, but the whole place would be glass if they got too frisky.

[Existentialist1844]

Well, that's definitely not good.

Let's be honest, but wouldn't North Korea OWN us in war?

Not a chance in hell. They could do damage, but the whole place would be glass if they got too frisky.

Hm, perhaps not N. Korea, but what about China? I hear they have a HUGE military.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well, that's definitely not good.

Let's be honest, but wouldn't North Korea OWN us in war?

Not a chance in hell. They could do damage, but the whole place would be glass if they got too frisky.

Hm, perhaps not N. Korea, but what about China? I hear they have a HUGE military.

We've been working to defeat numbers with technology since 1919. We have it cold now.

[Existentialist1844]

Well, that's definitely not good.

Let's be honest, but wouldn't North Korea OWN us in war?

Not a chance in hell. They could do damage, but the whole place would be glass if they got too frisky.

Hm, perhaps not N. Korea, but what about China? I hear they have a HUGE military.

We've been working to defeat numbers with technology since 1919. We have it cold now.

Yeah, but isn't China just as technologically advanced as us? Actually, aren't they more advanced than us?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yeah, but isn't China just as technologically advanced as us? Actually, aren't they more advanced than us?

No where near the US level of technowar.

[Don't Panic]

Well, that's definitely not good.

Let's be honest, but wouldn't North Korea OWN us in war?

Not a chance in hell. They could do damage, but the whole place would be glass if they got too frisky.

Hm, perhaps not N. Korea, but what about China? I hear they have a HUGE military.

We've been working to defeat numbers with technology since 1919. We have it cold now.

Yeah, but isn't China just as technologically advanced as us? Actually, aren't they more advanced than us?

That one made me giggle, the U.S. philosophy to warfare has long been that it's better to expend resources, equipment and money than it is to expend lives. As a consequence they have the most advanced military in the World, bar none. The recent decrease in spending with regards to deploying equipment based on new research is due to the fact that no one else is even close to the technology they currently have so deploying anything more advanced isn't necessary for another few years.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That one made me giggle, the U.S. philosophy to warfare has long been that it's better to expend resources, equipment and money than it is to expend lives. As a consequence they have the most advanced military in the World, bar none. The recent decrease in spending with regards to deploying equipment based on new research is due to the fact that no one else is even close to the technology they currently have so deploying anything more advanced isn't necessary for another few years.

The only thing the Sinos have that we don't is that fancy Russian fighter. And we can kill it long before it gets into ACM range.

[AshtonBlack]

The US does indeed know the meaning of the phrase "Force Multiplier."

[Don't Panic]

That one made me giggle, the U.S. philosophy to warfare has long been that it's better to expend resources, equipment and money than it is to expend lives. As a consequence they have the most advanced military in the World, bar none. The recent decrease in spending with regards to deploying equipment based on new research is due to the fact that no one else is even close to the technology they currently have so deploying anything more advanced isn't necessary for another few years.

The only thing the Sinos have that we don't is that fancy Russian fighter. And we can kill it long before it gets into ACM range.

AIM-54's kinda take the sport out of ACM, of course, as long as his plane doesn't come home and yours does, who really gives a fuck.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The US does indeed know the meaning of the phrase "Force Multiplier."

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