S. Korea: North Has New Ballistic Missile

North Korea's Medium-Range Missile Said To Be Capable Of Reaching Australia, U.S. Territory

(AP)  North Korea recently deployed a new type of medium-range ballistic missile capable of reaching northern Australia and the U.S. territory of Guam, South Korea's Defense Ministry said Monday.

The report comes amid speculation that the isolated regime also is preparing to test-fire another, longer-range missile capable of hitting Alaska.

The new medium-range ballistic missile can travel at least 1,800 miles, which would put the Pacific island of Guam, the northern tip of Australia and much of Russia and India within striking distance, the ministry said in a defense assessment of North Korea issued every two years.

It did not offer any other details on the new missile, including exactly when or how many missiles have been deployed and where their launching grounds are located.

The new missile is believed to be the same type displayed at a military parade in North Korea in 2007. The communist nation has been developing the missile since the late 1990s, the report said.

North Korea is also believed to be preparing to test-fire a version of its longest-range ballistic missile, the Taepodong-2, amid heightened tension with Seoul.

Relations have been tense since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office a year ago, calling on the impoverished North to honor its commitment to disable its nuclear program and refusing to give it unconditional aid.

North Korea's state media have been churning out near-daily criticism of Lee, calling him a "traitor" and "human scum." On Monday, the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper accused Lee of driving the Koreas "to the brink of a war."

Media reports say the missile being readied for launch could be an advanced version of the Taepodong-2 that could reach even farther than Alaska to the U.S. west coast.

North Korea's missile program is a major security concern for the region, along with its nuclear weapons development.

The country test-launched a Taepodong-2 missile in 2006, but it plunged into the ocean shortly after liftoff.

That test alarmed the world and gave new energy to the stop-and-go diplomacy over North Korea's nuclear program, though the North is not yet believed to have mastered the miniaturization technology required to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.

North Korea also has shorter-range Scud and Nodong missiles capable of hitting neighboring South Korea or Japan.

South Korea would be the most likely target of the Scuds, which have a range of up to 310 miles, while Japan would be the likely focus for Nodongs. The North is believed to have more than 1,000 Nodong and Scud missiles in its arsenal.

The defense report called North Korea a "direct and serious threat" and noted an increase in its troops. About 180,000 of the North's 1.19 million troops are special warfare forces trained for nighttime, mountain and street fighting - up from 120,000 reported two years ago, it said.

The move shows the North is prepared for various types of attacks on the South in case of war, the report said.

It also said North Korea has been beefing up its navy, bolstering submarines and developing new ground-to-ship and ship-to-ship missiles and torpedoes amid concerns it may provoke an armed clash in waters near its disputed sea border with South Korea.

The report said North Korea is believed to have secured about 88 pounds of plutonium - thought to be enough to make six or seven nuclear bombs - and conducted an atomic test in 2006.

It did not give an estimate of the number of atomic bombs North Korea has, dropping a reference in a previous report that said the North is believed to have built one or two nuclear weapons.

Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry told a forum in Seoul on Monday that he supported a dialogue to reduce tension on the Korean peninsula but was opposed to giving in to the North's saber rattling.

"I believe that we should continue to talk, but under no conditions should we show any signs of weakness under North Korean provocations," said Perry, who headed the Pentagon during a 1994 nuclear standoff with North Korea.

[worstever2]

To: South Korea: deal with it. We are not your hired gun, unless you have lots and lots of oil, or $$$ to buy our military toys---why are your designated protector in the world.

All we can do is inflame N. Korea and accellerate their nuclear program by naming them as 1 of 3 axis of evil, then invading one of the three. Opps .... did we have a hand in creating this?

Sorry about that.

At least we cleaned out WMDs from Iraq ...........
missed again.

Can you just feel the love for us growing and growing.

[toolmangler-2009]

NK has to be sure they can take out those evil, bloodthirsty Austrlians.
Posted by sabre1111 at 10:59 AM : Feb 23, 2009




Right now all they can do is make us and the Aussies angry, if we keep letting them get away with their current agenda they might be able to hurt us worse .

[lochlan-2009]

i have never posted about clinton or carter



Posted by jamesm12341


HA!!! You lie about everything else, I gues I shouldn't be surprised.

Hey, I didn't fix the mistyped "guess" for you so you'd have something to talk about to make you feel good.

[notblue]

pythoncharlie, you and your Islamic brothers in Jihad are the modern worlds TRUE FASCISTS! Your lame talking points used by Americas left to get the sheep to elect Obama is no longer relevant, the election is over. Get it? Doubt it!

[neoconrcrazy]

Netanyahu's Unity Appeals Rejected :

i shall comment here about above article as CBS must be getting nervous with the AmericaN outpour of anti-israeli sentiment -

nethanyahooo says he wants a "national unity" government - are we kidding? he has no national unity basis with a meagre percentage of the votes -

and besides - he is openly against the 2 state solution, unlike the majority of normal thinking israelis.

peres appointed him! not the only mistake he has done recently.....

shalom

[matrixrx2003]

Who named the Missile Taepodong-2.

Can I have a Taepodong-2 with a side of chicken fried rice and a five pot stickers with some hot mustard please !

OH and 2 fortune cookies with luck numbers on the back and some Green Tea.

[jamesm12341]

so you are saying that you obsess over palin because people talk about clinton and carter?


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Posted by jamesm12341

And of course, the point of my post is completely missed by you. Or you got it and are just ignoring it.

Let me make it clearer so that even you can understand it. You criticized us for obsessing about Bush and Palin and I merely pointed out that you do it too over Clinton and Carter.




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Posted by sabre1111 at 10:30 AM : Feb 23, 2009
i have never posted about clinton or carter

[matrixrx2003]

Who named the Missile Taepodong-2.

Can I have a Taepodong-2 with a side of chicken fried rice and a five pot stickers with some hot mustard please ! on and 2 fortune cookies with luck numbers on the back.

[downtowner97]

North Korea needs to do some market research on the names of their missiles to develop something that sounds scary instead of comical.

[jamster31]

OFFENSIVE, HATEFUL, ABUSIVE COMMENTS

Often, there are outrageous, insulting, offensive, hateful, violence-advocating, and even murder-inciting comments written within this site - especially over political, racial, ethnic, and social topics.

What is CBS doing as a responsible newscaster, to eliminate and prevent such trash from being published, and for CBS to avoid legal repercussions as a result?

Should free speech and protection thereof by CBS license messages of racial or ethnic hatred, as well as messages which are intended to incite violence and murder by unscrupulous individuals ?


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Posted by mrjustice1 at 10:38 AM : Feb 23, 2009

I actually prefer this site because it gauges the sentiment of the bloggers. Most people are aware enough to sort out most of the rubbish that's posted, but when the station starts dictating and censoring everything the site will lose its openess and fairness.

[sabre1111]

"North Korea''s Medium-Range Missile Said To Be Capable Of Reaching Australia, U.S. Territory"

NK has to be sure they can take out those evil, bloodthirsty Austrlians.

[mistigated]

North Korea exists only because of the backing of China. I would give China the option of either continued support for North Korea or continued trade with the United States. They cannot have both.

Posted by afmca at 09:29 AM : Feb 23, 2009

Kinda hard to dictate trade policies with China now, considering they own half of Kansas.

[lochlan-2009]

"North Korea's Medium-Range Missile Said To Be Capable Of Reaching Australia, U.S. Territory"

BOOGY BOOGY!!!!

Yeah, and I'm sure we'll have a hard time shooting them down as the missiles make their 3,000+ mile journey (never mind that we would blast them out of the air before they even left their airspace). But be afraid, sheeple, be very afraid.

[mistigated]

North korea must keep making those nuclear weapons for defense purposes and if needed it must use them in a way that will change the USA evil foreign policy forever.


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Posted by Hot4real at 08:32 AM : Feb 23, 2009

Spoken like a true N. Korean.

[mrjustice1]

OFFENSIVE, HATEFUL, ABUSIVE COMMENTS

Often, there are outrageous, insulting, offensive, hateful, violence-advocating, and even murder-inciting comments written within this site - especially over political, racial, ethnic, and social topics.

What is CBS doing as a responsible newscaster, to eliminate and prevent such trash from being published, and for CBS to avoid legal repercussions as a result?

Should free speech and protection thereof by CBS license messages of racial or ethnic hatred, as well as messages which are intended to incite violence and murder by unscrupulous individuals ?

[sabre1111]

sabre, what you libs have lost sight of is the fact we Americans are on one side, it''s you libs who have gone to some other side.


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Posted by notblue

Was that before or after Republicans in Congress in 2004 were bragging about their "permanent majority"? Oh, but now suddenly, we are "one people".

I see.

[sabre1111]

so you are saying that you obsess over palin because people talk about clinton and carter?


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Posted by jamesm12341

And of course, the point of my post is completely missed by you. Or you got it and are just ignoring it.

Let me make it clearer so that even you can understand it. You criticized us for obsessing about Bush and Palin and I merely pointed out that you do it too over Clinton and Carter.

[notblue]

sabre, what you libs have lost sight of is the fact we Americans are on one side, it's you libs who have gone to some other side.

[ici2i]

I still wonder in disdain the favored nation trading status given to China with all it's human rights issues, child labor, political persecution, pollution to the extreme, AND supporting the repressive regime of North Korea.

Oh, and by the way Hot4real, South Korea and Japan are freinds of the USA. Why don't you ask them if they consider us evil like you do?

[notblue]

hot4real, you sound like a typical leftwing American, it's always Americas fault, never the dictators, or the terrorists, or the despots and radicals, they justify every evil and unrest in the greater world that is truly created by the evil barbarians and just blame America.