South Korea warns it might shoot down North Korean rocket

[JAYRAM]

AP | Mar 26, 2012, 09.07AM

SEOUL: Seoul warned Monday that it might shoot down a North Korean rocket if it strays into South Korean territory, as worries about what Washington calls a long-range missile test overshadowed an international nuclear security summit.

Nearly 60 world leaders gathered Monday in Seoul for a conference meant to keep nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists. But North Korea has dominated attention in Northeast Asia since announcing earlier this month that it would send a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket.

North Korea calls the launch part of its peaceful space program and says a new southerly flight path is meant to avoid other countries; previous rockets have been fired over Japan. Washington and Seoul, however, say it's meant to test delivery systems for long-range missiles that could be mounted with nuclear weapons.

"We are studying measures such as tracking and shooting down (parts) of a North Korean missile in case they stray out of their normal trajectory" and violate South Korean territory, said Yoon Won-shik, a vice spokesman at the Defense Ministry.

"We cannot help viewing (the launch) as a very reckless, provocative act" that undermines peace on the Korean peninsula, he said.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries know that North Korea has moved the main body of the rocket into a building at a site near the village of Tongchang-ri in North Phyongan province and that it is making preparations for a launch, Yoon said. He said the two allies' militaries are closely monitoring the situation, but he didn't elaborate on the North's preparations.

The Tongchang-ri launch site is about 35 miles (50 kilometers) from the Chinese border city of Dandong, across the Yalu River from North Korea. Analysts describe it is a new, more sophisticated site that would allow the North to fire the rocket from the west coast to avoid sending it over other countries.

President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak urged North Korea in a joint news conference Sunday to immediately stop its launch plans, warning they would deal sternly with any provocation. Obama said the move would jeopardize a deal in which the U.S. would ship food aid to the North in exchange for a nuclear freeze.

Earlier Sunday, Obama made a symbolic visit to the tense, heavily armed border dividing the Koreas, six decades after the Korean War ended with a cease-fire that leaves the peninsula technically at war.

The launch preparations come as North Koreans and new leader Kim Jong Un mark 100 days since the death of Kim's father, Kim Jong Il.

South Korea warns it might shoot down North Korean rocket - The Times of India

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Mazel Tov

 

[amoy]

Can u see below pic?

 

[Koovie]

wont happen.... anyone ready to bet??

 

[p2prada]

Why this Kolaveri Di?

 

[SPIEZ]

And how are they planning to shoot it down ....?
Are they planning to use the KMSAM which they jointly developed with Russia.

Well whatever they do, I would like to see a launch vehicle intercepted.

 

[indian_sukhoi]

Again the same "My Balls are bigger than yours" tactic!!


Kim Jong-un has to prove something

 

[JAYRAM]

Can u see below pic?

good pic, amoy.....

 

[JAYRAM]

North Korea Refuses to Back Down on Rocket Launch

Mar. 27, 2012 - 09:41AM |
By LIM CHANG WON, Agence France-Presse

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea insisted March 27 it would go ahead with its satellite launch, snubbing a call from U.S. President Barack Obama to drop the plan and accusing him of a "confrontational mindset."

"We will never give up the right to launch a peaceful satellite, a legitimate right of a sovereign state and an essential step for economic development," a foreign ministry spokesman told the official KCNA news agency.

The spokesman was responding to Obama's comments March 25-26 during a visit to South Korea for a nuclear security summit.

The U.S. leader said his country was not hostile to the North's people but denounced the rocket launch scheduled between April 12-16.

The U.S. and other countries say it would in fact be a long-range missile test banned under U.N. resolutions.

"The U.S. head of state said he had no hostile intention towards us," the spokesman said. "But if that remark is genuine, he should abandon the confrontational mindset that tries to block us and should have the courage to admit that we have as much right to launch our satellite as other countries do."

The North said it would judge whether Obama's remarks disavowing hostility were genuine "or just another hypocrisy" depending on whether his country applies a double standard to the satellite launch.

It said it had invited foreign experts including those from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), along with overseas reporters, to witness "a scientific space technology project that has nothing to do with any military purpose."

Obama has said any launch would jeopardize a U.S.-North Korean deal reached only last month, under which the North agreed a partial nuclear freeze and a missile test moratorium in return for U.S. food aid.

The North insists its satellite launch is not a missile test. There was no reason to conduct a missile test at this time "after laboring so much to reach an agreement with the U.S. and when the whole political atmosphere is favorable," it said.

A satellite launch to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding president Kim Il Sung had been ordered by his son and successor Kim Jong Il, it said.

Kim Jong Il died in December and was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Un.

South Korea also fiercely opposes the launch and says it is intended to test technology to deliver a nuclear warhead.

"If North Korea pushes ahead, it will pay for what it has done," said Unification Minister Yu Woo-Ik. The exercise seemed part of North Korea's strategy to be recognized eventually as a nuclear-armed state, he said.

President Lee Myung-Bak called it "a direct challenge to the international community."

Leaders of many nations at the summit, including Russia, the U.S. and China, had pointed out that the North is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the project instead of taking care of its people, Lee said.

Although the North's foreign ministry statement was measured, the country's Uriminzokkiri website took sharper aim at Obama's trip, which began March 25 with a visit to the tense inter-Korean border.

The US leader peered into the North through binoculars and told U.S. troops the contrast between the two Koreas could not be starker.

Uriminzokkori, in a editorial dated March 26 and seen March 27, said Obama made his "provocative and violent remarks" while North Koreans were holding memorial events marking the 100th day since Kim Jong Il's death.

The U.S. leader "viciously defamed our sacred passion to commemorate the leader," it said. "This is another indication of the extreme anti-North aggression dominating Obama's mind and such disrespectful provocation against our 100th day of mourning can never be tolerated," it added.


North Korea Refuses to Back Down on Rocket Launch | Defense News | defensenews.com

 

[JAYRAM]

Japan to Deploy Patriot Missiles in Tokyo


Mar. 26, 2012 - 11:53AM |
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

TOKYO — Japan is set to deploy surface-to-air missiles in central Tokyo in readiness for North Korea's planned rocket launch, its defense minister said March 26.

The siting of an anti-missile battery in the densely packed capital city would be in addition to facilities on the southern island chain of Okinawa, Naoki Tanaka told lawmakers.

"We are working on procedures to deploy the Patriot in the Tokyo metropolitan area, acting on precedent," Tanaka told upper house members, referring to the PAC-3 surface-to-air missile defense system. "We are also preparing to deploy the Patriot in the Nansei (southwestern) islands including Okinawa," as the second stage of North Korea's rocket is expected to fly over Japan's southernmost island chain, Tanaka added.

The nuclear-armed North has announced it will launch a rocket in mid-April to put a satellite into orbit, a move the U.S., South Korea and other nations see as a pretext for a long-range missile test banned by the United Nations.

Tanaka said March 23 that he was readying Japan's missile defense systems to shoot down the rocket if it looked set to fall on the country, a move similar to measures Japan took in 2009 before Pyongyang's last long-range rocket launch.

In 2009, Japan ordered missile-defense preparations, including the siting of one of its PAC-3 systems at Ichigaya, next to the defense ministry building in central Tokyo.

The preparations by Japan, regularly the target of North Korean barbs, come as world leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama are meeting in Seoul for a summit focused on nuclear terrorism.

Obama urged North Korea's leaders March 26 to "have the courage to pursue peace," while South Korea has said it is also preparing to shoot down the North Korean rocket if it strays into the South's territory.

The 2009 rocket launch, which North Korea said was also aimed at putting a satellite into orbit, passed over Japan without incident or any attempt to shoot it down.


Japan to Deploy Patriot Missiles in Tokyo | Defense News | defensenews.com

 

[JAYRAM]

North Korea continues activities for the launching of missile on the Tongch'ang-ni launch pad.

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 08:31 AM

A new satellite image has captured increased activity on North Korea's launch pad as the country prepares for its controversial missile launch in mid-April. The DigitalGlobe image taken on March 28, 2012, shows trucks on the Tongch'ang-ni launch pad. Atop the umbilical tower, which sits beside where the assembled rocket will stand, a crane arm that will be used to lift the rocket stages has been swung wide.

A DigitalGlobe satellite image of North Korea's launch site at Tongch'ang-ri.
The image was taken on March 28, 2012.

While South Korean media are reporting the first stage of the rocket - known as the booster - has been moved to the launch facility, DigitalGlobe Senior Analyst Joseph Bermudez said that is not visible in this image.

"It does confirm a higher level of activity within the overall facility and significant activity at the launch pad specifically," according to Bermudez. "This activity appears consistent with preparations for a satellite launch."

The booster would be placed on top of the mobile launch platform (in the satellite image, the black square on the launch pad) that shows nothing on it when the DigitalGlobe image was taken. There is evidence of some sort of spill near the trucks sitting on the launch pad, Bermudez told CNN. Additional support equipment is visible near the mobile launch pad.

Bermudez said the North Koreans are assembling the long-range missile inside a horizontal assembly facility not far from the launch pad after it was shipped by rail from a factory outside Pyongyang.

Once the missile is assembled and tested, the stages will be moved by specialized vehicles to the launch pad and assembled, lifted by the crane and assembled on the umbilical tower, Bermudez explained.

The buildings visible to the right of the launch pad in the satellite image are storage for fuel and oxidizer, according to Bermudez. A pipeline leading to the umbilical tower is visible in the image.

The launch, expected between April 12 and April 16, is meant to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Song, the founder of communist North Korea and the grandfather of the current North Korean leader.

North Korea continues activities for launching of missile on the Tongch'ang-ni launch pad 2903126 - Army Recognition

 

[arya]

well very shortly we will see some action but what will be our role ..

 

[W.G.Ewald]

North Korea threatens war over rocket | News24

Whoever "intercepts the satellite or collects its debris will meet immediate, resolute and merciless punishment", the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea warned in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency late on Thursday.