North Korean nuclear crisis

prakashbioc

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Just a psychological warfare organized by DRPK chief - could be a thud soon
 

tramp

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Just a psychological warfare organized by DRPK chief - could be a thud soon
Countries in the region, including South Korea, are not worried about being hit by a missile targeting them. But they are hugely worried about being hit by a stray one from North aimed at somebody else.
 

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Russia warns against military activity near North Korea

Russia warns against military activity near North Korea
Published March 29, 2013 | By admin

SOURCE: REUTERS


Russia said on Friday that heightened military activity near North Korea was slipping into a "vicious cycle" that could get out of control, implicitly criticizing US bomber flights that followed threats from Pyongyang.

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that North Korea should also cool down, calling on "all sides not to flex their military muscle" and avoid the danger of a belligerent response.



"We are concerned that alongside the adequate, collective reaction of the UN Security Council, unilateral action is being taken around North Korea that is increasing military activity," foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"The situation could simply get out of control, it is slipping toward the spiral of a vicious cycle," he said when asked about tensions on the Korean Peninsula at a joint news conference after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.

North Korea put its missile units on standby to attack US military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula following a barrage of threats from the North.

Russia supported new UN Security Council sanctions against its neighbour and former Soviet-era client state North Korea in early March, but Moscow has criticized actions taken outside the council, including US and South Korean military drills.

North Korea readies missiles after US bombers fly over South; Russia warns against military activity


Seoul/Washington: North Korea put its missile units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and "judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation", the official KCNA news agency said.

KCNA said North Korea and the United States could only settle their differences by "physical means". The North has an arsenal of Soviet-era short-range Scud missiles that can hit South Korea but its longer-range Nodong and Musudan missiles, which could in theory hit U.S. Pacific bases, are untested.

China, the North's sole major ally, repeated its calls for restraint on the Korean peninsula at a regular Foreign Ministry briefing and made no criticism of the U.S flights.

"We hope that relevant parties will work together in pushing for a turnaround of the tense situation," ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

Tension has been high since North Korea conducted a third nuclear weapons test in February in breach of U.N. sanctions and despite warnings from China for it not to do so.

Russia's foreign minister implicitly criticised the U.S. bomber flights.



"We are concerned that alongside the adequate, collective reaction of the U.N. Security Council, unilateral action is being taken around North Korea that is increasing military activity," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"The situation could simply get out of control, it is slipping toward the spiral of a vicious cycle," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow when asked about the situation.

He called for efforts to get stalled six-party talks on North Korea going again. The talks have involved the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan.

THREATS

On Thursday, the United States flew two radar-evading B-2 Spirit bombers on practice runs over South Korea, responding to a series of North Korean threats. They flew from the United States and back in what appeared to be the first exercise of its kind, designed to show America's ability to conduct long-range, precision strikes "quickly and at will", the U.S. military said.



The news of Kim's response was unusually swift.

"He finally signed the plan on technical preparations of strategic rockets of the KPA (Korean People's Army), ordering them to be on standby for fire so that they may strike any time the U.S. mainland, its military bases in the operational theatres in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea," KCNA said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported there had been additional troop and vehicle movements at the North's mid- and long-range missile sites, indicating they may be ready to fire.

It was impossible to verify the report which did not specify a time frame. South Korea's Defense Ministry said it was watching shorter-range Scud missile sites closely as well as Nodong and Musudan missile batteries.

The North has launched a daily barrage of threats since early this month when the United States and the South, allies in the 1950-53 Korean War, began regular military drills.

The South and the United States have said the drills are purely defensive and that no incident has taken place in the decades they have been conducted in various forms.

The United States also flew B-52 bombers over South Korea earlier this week.

The North has put its military on highest readiness to fight what it says are hostile forces conducting war drills. Its young leader has previously given "final orders" for its military to wage revolutionary war with the South.

Despite the hostile rhetoric from the North, it has kept open a joint economic zone with the South which generates $2 billion a year in trade - money the impoverished state can ill-afford to lose.

"VERY DANGEROUS"

North Korea has cancelled an armistice agreement with the United States that ended the Korean War and cut all communications hotlines with U.S. forces, the United Nations and South Korea.

"The North Koreans have to understand that what they're doing is very dangerous," U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday.



"We must make clear that these provocations by the North are taken by us very seriously and we'll respond to that."

The U.S. military said that its B-2 bombers had flown more than 6,500 miles (10,461 km) to stage a trial bombing raid from their bases in Missouri as part of the Foal Eagle war drills being held with South Korea.

The bombers dropped inert munitions on the Jik Do Range, in South Korea, and then returned to the continental United States in a single, continuous mission, the military said.

It was the first time B-2s flew round-trip from the mainland United States over South Korea and dropped inert munitions, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

Victor Cha, a North Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the drill fitted within the context of ramped-up efforts by the Pentagon to deter the North from acting upon any of its threats.

Asked whether he thought the latest moves could further aggravate tension, Cha, a former White House official, said: "I don't think the situation can get any more aggravated than it already is."

South Korea denied suggestions that the bomber drills contained an implicit threat of attack on the North.

"There is no entity on the earth who will strike an attack on North Korea or expressed their wishes to do so," said a spokesman for the South's Unification Ministry, which deals with North Korea.

Few believe North Korea will risk starting a full-out war.

Still, Hagel, who on March 15 announced he was bolstering missile defenses over the growing North Korea threat, said all of the actions by the North had to be taken seriously.

"Their very provocative actions and belligerent tone, it has ratcheted up the danger and we have to understand that reality," Hagel said, renewing a warning that the U.S. military was ready for "any eventuality" on the peninsula.



Russia warns of military activity near N Korea

Russia said on Friday that heightened military activity near North Korea was slipping into a "vicious cycle" that could get out of control, implicitly criticising U.S. bomber flights that followed threats from Pyongyang.

Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov suggested that North Korea should also cool down, calling on "all sides not to flex their military muscle" and avoid the danger of a belligerent response.

"We are concerned that alongside the adequate, collective reaction of the U.N. Security Council, unilateral action is being taken around North Korea that is increasing military activity," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"The situation could simply get out of control, it is slipping toward the spiral of a vicious cycle," he said when asked about tensions on the Korean Peninsula at a joint news conference after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.

North Korea put its missile units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula following a barrage of threats from the North.

Russia supported new U.N. Security Council sanctions against its neighbour and former Soviet-era client state North Korea in early March, but Moscow has criticised actions taken outside the council, including U.S. and South Korean military drills.
 

Mariner HK

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Re: Russia warns against military activity near North Korea

Why You Should Be More Concerned About War With North Korea This Time

Tensions on the Korean peninsula are nothing new — historically, North Korea frequently rattles its saber for one reason for another. But the recent escalation in tensions between the North and South have experts worried that this time might be different, that the threat of the United States being drawn into a devastating war with the nuclear-armed North is real in a way that it might not normally be. At the very least, it's worth paying special attention this time around.

The escalation of tensions began in mid-February, when North Korea conducted its third-ever nuclear test. While the North's ability to strike the United States is limited at best, the Obama administration interpreted the test as a violation of international law, and pushed through stricter, though still porous, sanctions on North Korean elites.

North Korea responded in turn by threatening to nullify the armistice that ended the original Korean War, reverting the North and South to a legal state of war. Two days ago, it shut off the last remaining line of communication between the two Korean militaries, warning that "Not words but only arms will work on the U.S. and the South Korean puppet forces."

Thursday night, the United States responded in kind, conducting a bombing drill with two B-2 bombers over South Korea. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel described the thinking behind the move: "The North Koreans have to understand that what they're doing is very dangerous."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un got the message Friday morning. He ordered his country's missile arsenal be readied to strike South Korea and the United States if necessary. While North Korean Unha-3 missiles could theoretically reach the West Coast, it's not clear the missiles actually work. Moreover, North Korea lacks the technology to arm the missiles with nuclear warheads and to deliver them accurately even if they can get them in proper working order. (One expert has noted that "there is little to no chance that [North Korea] could successfully land a missile on Guam, Hawaii or anywhere else outside the Korean Peninsula that U.S. forces may be stationed.")

So how is this different from the last 60-odd years of North Korean provocations? Many think it isn't. Writing in the National Interest, Rajon Menon says the current Northern provocations are an example of the Hermit Kingdom's "measured madness," an attempt to wring more concessions out of an overcompensating international community.

But North Korea experts Victor Cha and David Kang disagree. They argue that Kim Jong Un's inexperience (he's only been running the country since December 2011), together with the South's new President and more aggressive military stance, means there's a greater risk (not certainty by any stretch, but risk) of escalation this time around:

So why worry? Two reasons. First, North Korea has a penchant for testing new South Korean presidents. A new one was just inaugurated in February, and since 1992, the North has welcomed these five new leaders by disturbing the peace. Whether in the form of missile launches, submarine incursions, or naval clashes, these North Korean provocations were met by each newly elected South Korean president with patience rather than pique. The difference today is that South Korea is no longer turning the other cheek"¦for half a century, neither side believed that the benefits of starting a major war outweighed the costs. The worry is that the new North Korean leader might not hold to the same logic, given his youth and inexperience.


So how do we know where this is going? The Washington Post's Max Fisher suggests that you watch the joint North-South Kaesong Industrial Plant, which he believes the North would shut down in advance of any war. Of course, states have gone to war with far less economic foresight, though there are other reasons to believe the North won't go as far as war. It's likely we'll just have to wait and nervously see.
 

Balthazar

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North Korea's full of crap. Can't wait for us to mount a first strike using F22As and B2s loaded with enough stealthy GBU-39s to Kim's fat parading ass into pink mist.
 

Razor

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North Korea enters 'state of war' with South

North Korea has entered a "state of war" against its Southern neighbor, stating that from now on any issues between the two countries will be resolved in a "wartime manner."

"From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering the state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly," a special statement by the country's top military command reads, according to the KCNA state news agency.

"The situation in the Korean Peninsula, which is neither peace nor war, has come to an end," the statement says.
Source: RT

Kim has gone crazy.
 

Yusuf

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Re: North Korea Confirms It Conducted 3rd Nuclear Test

A KCNA report in English revealed that Kim Jong-un has signed off on an order for the military to prepare rockets on standby for a strike on the U.S. mainland and U.S. military bases in the Pacific, including South Korea. Visible on the photos published by the Korea Worker's Party paper, the Rodong are the words, "U.S. Mainland Strike Plan [미본토타격계획]" showing San Diego, Washington D.C., Hawaii and possibly Austin, Texas as possible targets. These were the official lines from the KCNA report: "He finally signed the plan on technical preparations of strategic rockets, ordering them to be on standby to fire so that they may strike any time the U.S. mainland, its military bases in the operational theaters in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea."
Q1: Why is North Korea releasing photos depicting Kim Jong-un studying an apparent missile attack plan against the United States?
A1: The most proximate explanation is that the North is responding to the ongoing and routine U.S.-ROK military exercises this month, and specifically the portion of the exercise reported yesterday in which the U.S. military sent two nuclear-capable B-2s stealth strategic bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri on a "a long-duration, round-trip training mission"—practice sortie—over South Korea. In addition, the young leader presumably needs to prove his bona fides, and therefore is making as much of the current situation as he can.
Q2: Can the DPRK reach the United States with missiles?
A2: Not yet. The DPRK does not currently possess a deployed missile system that can reach the United States. The primary deployed system today, the No-Dong missile system, can reach U.S. troops in Korea and Japan, but the accuracy of these missiles is not known. The missile test last December successfully demonstrated ballistic missile technology of a longer range, possibly as far as Hawaii and maybe Alaska. There are still several technical hurdles to deploy a finished system, but this test undeniably crossed a technological threshold that puts them within years—rather than decades—of deploying a longer range system.
Q3: What was the purpose of the U.S. B-2 bomber exercise? Does it aggravate the situation?
A3: This exercise is part of the ongoing Foal Eagle training exercise between the United States and the ROK which began on March 1st and will last until April 30. This was the first time the United States publicly reported flying B-2 bombers to the Korean Peninsula as part of a military exercise on a nonstop, round-trip mission from the United States. The B-2s dropped inert munitions at Jik Islet bombing range off the coast of Gunsan, about 274 kilometers (170 mi) south of Seoul, and then returned to base in Missouri in a continuous flight of over 6,500 miles.
Like all exercises, this was meant, first and foremost, to test U.S. capabilities to carry out a particular military mission. The mission clearly signaled a U.S. commitment to support extended nuclear deterrence of its allies, South Korea and Japan, in the face of North Korea's nuclear development. At a Pentagon news conference held on Thursday, General Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized the purpose of the mission was to reassure our allies (South Korea and Japan) that they can count on us to help them. While the operation was an exercise, the North undeniably must have been unsettled by this demonstration of long-range force projection by the United States.
Q4: Is the United States taking the threat seriously?
A4: Yes. While many analysts and media pass over Pyongyang's rhetoric as harmless blather, actions by the U.S. government over the past couple of weeks demonstrate the seriousness with which it takes the threat. These actions each constitute a direct response to North Korean provocations.
On March 15, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that the U.S. military will spend $1 billion to increase the number of ground-based interceptors in California and Alaska from 30 to 44 by 2017. The 14 new interceptors will be placed at Fort Greely, Alaska, where there are already 26 interceptors deployed, while 4 are deployed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This is clearly intended to signal U.S. readiness to neutralize any new possible long-range ballistic missile threats prompted by North Korea's December 2012 missile test.
The United States also put forth a direct response to North Korean threats of more conventional military provocations. On Monday, March 25, the United States and South Korea signed a new agreement detailing counter-provocation plans against North Korea. The Combined Counter-Provocation Plan, signed on March 22 by Gen. James D. Thurman, the head of USFK and Gen. Jung Seung-jo, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the ROKA, is a ROK-led, U.S.-supported contingency plan that respond to local clashes and skirmishes—such as the Yeonpyeong shelling—that does not meet the threshold of full-scale war.
The B-2 bomber mission was a clear statement of U.S. extended nuclear deterrence guarantees to South Korea and Japan. Taken together, this appears to be an unprecedented package of measures tailored to address the range of potential North Korean threats.
Q5: Does the counter-provocation plan drag us into a war on the Korean Peninsula?
A5: No. The new agreement does two things that enhance peace on the peninsula rather than hurt it. First, it enhances deterrence. The incorporation of the U.S. military at lower levels of conflict sends a clear message to Pyongyang that Washington is standing side-by-side with its ally not just in politicians' words but in an integrated operational manner. This bolsters deterrence and will cause the North to think twice before its next provocation. Second, the new agreement prevents inadvertent escalation. Having the United States involved in the early stages of a South Korean response to a DPRK provocation helps to control the escalation ladder. It minimizes the chances for things spinning out of control if the ROK and DPRK get locked into a head-to-head confrontation

https://csis.org/publication/critical-questions-north-korea-threatens-strike-united-states
 

nrupatunga

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Re: Russia warns against military activity near North Korea

So how do we know where this is going? The Washington Post's Max Fisher suggests that you watch the joint North-South Kaesong Industrial Plant, which he believes the North would shut down in advance of any war. Of course, states have gone to war with far less economic foresight, though there are other reasons to believe the North won't go as far as war. It's likely we'll just have to wait and nervously see.

Folks: What is it with this joint plant issue/concern?? How is it connected with war??
 

nrupatunga

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^^^Found this article on industrial plant.
North Korea Threatens to Close Factories It Runs With South
The industrial park, the eight-year-old Kaesong complex in the North Korean border town of the same name, is a crucial source of badly needed cash for the heavily sanctioned North. It funnels more than $92 million a year in wages for 53,400 North Koreans employed there

Over 300 South Koreans remained in the complex, where 123 South Korean textile and other labor-intensive factories employ the North Korean workers, at an average monthly wage of $144.

In another development, some of the North's main government-run Web sites were disabled on Saturday in what news media reports said were cyberattacks.
But still how does closing of this industrial plant signal war when ready missiles seconds away from launch is not??
 

Neeraj Mathur

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North Korea ups the ante, says nukes are its 'life'


SEOUL: A top North Korean decision-making body issued a pointed warning on Sunday, saying that nuclear weapons were "the nation's life" and would not be traded even for "billions of dollars."

The comments came in a statement released after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over the plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party.

The meeting, which set a "new strategic line" calling for building both a stronger economy and nuclear arsenal, comes amid a series of near-daily threats from Pyongyang in recent weeks, including a vow to launch nuclear strikes on the United States and a warning on Saturday that the Korean Peninsula was in a "state of war."

Pyongyang is angry over annual US-South Korean military drills and a new round of UN sanctions that followed its February 12 nuclear test, the country's third. Analysts see a fullscale North Korean attack as unlikely.
 

tramp

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U.S. F-22 stealth jets join South Korea drills amid sabre-rattling | Reuters
U.S. F-22 stealth jets join South Korea drills amid sabre-rattling
(Reuters) - The United States sent F-22 stealth fighter jets to South Korea on Sunday to join military drills aimed at underscoring the U.S. commitment to defend Seoul in the face of an intensifying campaign of threats from North Korea.

The advanced, radar-evading F-22 Raptors were deployed to Osan Air Base, the main U.S. Air Force base in South Korea, from Japan to support ongoing bilateral exercises, the U.S. military command in South Korea said in a statement that urged North Korea to restrain itself.

"(North Korea) will achieve nothing by threats or provocations, which will only further isolate North Korea and undermine international efforts to ensure peace and stability in Northeast Asia," the statement said.

Sabre-rattling on the Korean peninsula drew a plea for peace from Pope Francis, who in his first Easter Sunday address called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis on the Korean peninsula.

"Peace in Asia, above all on the Korean peninsula: may disagreements be overcome and a renewed spirit of reconciliation grow," he said, speaking in Italian.

Tensions have been high since the North's young new leader, Kim Jong-un, ordered a nuclear weapons test in February, breaching U.N. sanctions and ignoring warnings from North Korea's closest ally, China, not to do so.

That test, North Korea's third since 2006, drew further U.N. and bilateral sanctions designed to pressure the impoverished North to stop its nuclear weapons program. Pyongyang responded to the new steps by ratcheting up warnings and threats of war.

North Korea said on Saturday it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, but Seoul and its ally the United States played down the statement from the official KCNA news agency as the latest in a stream of tough talk from Pyongyang.

In a rare U.S. show of force aimed at North Korea, the United States on Thursday flew two radar-evading B-2 Spirit bombers on practice runs over South Korea.

On Friday, Kim signed an order putting the North's missile units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the stealth bomber flights.

The F-22 jets will take part in the annual U.S.-South Korea Foal Eagle military drills, which are designed to sharpen the allies' readiness to defend the South from an attack by North Korea, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. military did not say how many of the planes were flown to South Korea from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. The statement described Sunday's deployment as part of routine shifts of air power among bases in the Western Pacific that U.S. forces have been conducting since 2004.

Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted the top Japanese government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, as condemning Pyongyang for "aggressive provocation" after Kim's ruling party newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, identified U.S. military bases in Japan as targets for attack.

The two Koreas have been technically in a state of war since a truce that ended their 1950-53 conflict. Despite its threats, few people see any indication Pyongyang will risk a near-certain defeat by re-starting full-scale war. (Reporting by Paul Eckert; Editing by Eric Beech)
 

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[video=youtube_share;cb0ZyGOi2ME]http://youtu.be/cb0ZyGOi2ME[/video]

With Subs
 

sesha_maruthi27

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Now then, the F-22 Raptors have entered the Arena. Does this mean that a war is going to start and the Americans have realized that the threat from DPRK is real.
 

Neeraj Mathur

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Now then, the F-22 Raptors have entered the Arena. Does this mean that a war is going to start and the Americans have realized that the threat from DPRK is real.
Maybe they are feeling pressure or want to show that they are serious about the war.
 

tramp

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Does any of you think US might this time give a rap on the knuckles for this loudmouth with a limited strike on one of the missile sites? Considering the lad is new and if they backdown now, he could become more strident in future?
 

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