North Korea positions missile on launch pad: report

North Korea positions missile on launch pad: report

www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has positioned what is believed to be a Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile on its launch pad at a facility in Musudanri, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday, citing "sources close to Japan-U.S. relations."

(visit the link for the full news article)

Here we go guys! (I was gonna tag this on to the end of the existing discussion - but I thought it warrents it's own thread in the breaking news board)

So they say 7-10 days from when they put the thing on the pad, that fits with the early April date they have always said.

I don't really think it matters now weather it is a missile or a satellite - they dogs are straining at the leashes... We are definatly gonna see some interesting news reports in about a week.

I doubt they would take it out while it's on the pad - the US and the Japanese want to demonstrate their technical abilities to the world.

Thoughts?

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I have heard from reliable source that Godzilla will come the rescue. He plans to attack the launch pad and will subsequently break the missile in half with his massive arms.

This should be good. N. Korea is certainly testing the mettle of its neighbors. Japan will not hesitate to respond if that missile does in fact launch.

Ah you beat me to it.

Yes, this is incredibly important news. I too doubt they are going to remove the thing now that its ready to go.
So the U.N Security Council told North Korea no missiles, but they signed a spirit of the disarmament-for-aid pact with U.S and South Korea, Russia,China, and Japan. So thats why they say its a missile....

So, this Taepodong-2 missile...what is it really? Is it used for satellite launches anyway?

reply to post by awake_awoke


They could pretty much strap an i-Pod to it and say it's launching a satellite. It's not about that really, they (NK) want to flaunt the capability to launch such a thing that could carry a war head - and every one else wants a bit of target practice for their countermeasures.

Remember this is an identical ruse to the last time they wanted to test a missile - they told the world it was a sat... Lo and behold an ICBM flew over Japan and headed in the direction of the US (crashing in the sea of course)

Bomb the launch pad. What are they gonna do? Attack South Korea and face nuclear retaliation? Yeah like they're gonna do that.

Call their bluff.

And maybe when they launch it, The "missle-satellite" will blow up on the launch pad. That seems acceptable to me.

The outcome of this matters little. If there will be war, there will be war regardless of this launch occuring or not. Lets face it , when theres no reason to go to war, some bugger usualy invents one !

Technical failure would be ideal, a sort of international "saved by the bell".
Sabotage, however, is extremely difficult in North Korea. This is not just due to the security around such sites, but also because of the fanaticism and fear with compels such personnel to absoulte devotion. Personally, I fully expect North Korea to launch the missile and to watch it sail over Japan and into orbit.

Self induced implosion looms. The world is on its knees, USA owes trillions
UK owes billions, Russia is in dire financial straights, China holds loan notes which are worthless. Add N Korea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan into the mix, and you can be assured its gonna kick off real big sometime soon.

People this might just be the trigger that sets it all off. Lil Kim doesnt care about anything he has nothing to lose. I think China deep down wants this also. I think they feel its time to go in for the kill. If they launch this and we shoot it down its over WW3 will come and come swiftly for war declarations will come shortly there after. Interesting.

Let's hope this doesn't explode.

I agree that this is very important news and merits it's own thread.

I am thinking that even though Kim Jong-il is a bastard dictator, he does not want to give his power to TPTB, hence making this move which if he decides to launch will porvoke a response from Japan, if not the U.S.

I'm actually worried..

I feel bad for the Troops in the DMZ, cause in about 1 week they are going to need to charge into the North.

No time to get into a chopper or hop in a tank..

They will need to charge with what weapons they have on them.

reply to post by mybigunit

Its all down to how the us & japan react imo. They have every right to test a rocket or sattalite etc, if the us & japan dont shoot it down which is a blatant act of war then no worries. Its not like they are planning to send it armed with a nuke over to the us & besides the koreans dont shoot out anyone elses do they? Nor do you see the usa or japs threatening chinas space program or missile tests.
No as per usual its just the weaker ones that get the grief.
Well if this turns out to be the start of something bigger then cheers in advance Japan or usa

north korea has something, like 10,000 155mm artilery tubes within range of Seoul - who needs a nuke when you have that much incoming.

Yes very alarming news indeed, BBC News 24 carried it as Breaking News from the Kyodo News Agency a couple of hours ago.

It could indeed all escalate very quickly in the next week or two, I personally hope not though, my gut feeling is its more about posturing than anything else, and NK seeing how far they can push things and what they can get away with.

Originally posted by Now_Then


Here we go guys!

Here we go..what? Should we all go scrambling to the bomb shelters or become afraid of some miniscule missile put on a launch pad that most likely wont get launched anyway?

I love how people sensationalize stuff...make it sound bigger than it is just to grab attention.

If people are this gullable then a flea fouling the air 3 miles away will have them running for cover.

One good shot by one of our anti-missile missiles (yes we do have them), and end of story. The N. Korean's know this.

Relax and calm down. Stop making it worse than what it really is. Sometimes I think people WANT to see distruction, death and missiles flying through the air. Go see a movie or something!




Cheers!!!!

Originally posted by Harlequin
north korea has something, like 10,000 155mm artilery tubes within range of Seoul - who needs a nuke when you have that much incoming.

And there is probably no better non-nuclear trigger to regime change than perhaps 10,000 155mm artillery shells hitting a city. In this case a city with millions of civilians. But the fanatics in North Korea might actually find it difficult to perceive regime change by foreign powers. They have been so deluded with authority for so long that even video of Saddam being checked for lice might not really impact Kim.

Well NK usually does it what it says it's going to be doing. Atleast they're somewhat of an honest nation .

Either way, missile, satelite, they are going to blow that thing out of the air the minute it's high or far enough that NK thinks it's succeeded.

Japan nor the US want NK with a potential surveillance satellite high up in orbit, it's counter productive in their eyes.

I figure they make a big stint about, close the boarder for a few days, maybe take some journalists hostage, and then everything will be back to normal until the next missile test.

No worries here, besides if the US or Japan made any sort of large scale military advance, NK would simply not have the resources to put up an effective fight for very long.

~Keeper

[edit on 3/25/2009 by tothetenthpower]

This will get REAL interesting if the missile suffers a technical failure more than 90 seconds after launch.

The North Koreans will assume a shoot-down, and their paranoia will have them running for the arms locker.

Watch vewy, vewy closely.

Nice find BTW