South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin has confirmed that North Korea has moved a missile with “considerable range” to the east coast, just one day after the North Korean government warned nuclear war could begin “today or tomorrow.”
As with all of the other hysterical rhetoric from both sides, there doesn’t seem to be anything imminent, with Kim saying the missile appears to be a mid-range variety, and is likely meant for a test firing or a drill, not an actual war.
This marks the first actual move by North Korea since the last couple weeks of disputes began, as while the US has committed billions of dollars in new Korea-related spending and moved massive amounts of hardware to the region, North Korea had until today stuck with threats in the state media.
Despite those threats, North Korea doesn’t even have missiles capable of hitting the US coast, and its best functional missiles would make any US territory, even Guam, a long-shot.
The more that Western media reports the ravings of this serial masturbator the more he is empowered. All of this bullshit is intended to empower the Kim Jon Hamburgler to his impoverished domestic audience and we are giving him a spotlight he does not deserve. He knows, we know and the entire world knows that if he sends out 1 missile he will receive a thousand in return. This is just propaganda to raise the morale of the starving and ensure the credibility of a fatman.
Really? What's the difference at this point between a test and a real attack launch? Any launch should be considered an opportunity to 'test' our intercept capabilities.
According to yesterday’s Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. is putting a pause to what several officials described as a step-by-step plan the Obama administration approved earlier this year, dubbed "the playbook," that laid out the sequence and publicity plans for U.S. shows of force during annual war games with South Korea. The playbook included well-publicized flights in recent weeks near North Korea by nuclear-capable B-52 and stealth B-2 bombers, as well as advanced F-22 warplanes. The U.S. stepped back from the plans this week, as U.S. officials began to worry that the North, which has a small nuclear arsenal and an unpredictable new leader, may be more provoked than the U.S. had intended, the officials said.”
oops.
"…and is likely meant for a test firing or a drill, not an actual war…" Right. And what are the odds that if the young-Un decides to fire this "test" missile that some gung-ho cowboy in the Pacific Fleet decides that he can't be sure it's a test so he takes unilateral action to either shoot it down or takes a shot at a North Korean coastal village…how long would it take for the North to fire a salvo into downtown Seoul? The point being that the gamesmanship has gotten completely out of hand. Chest-thumping by those who should know better is usually counterproductive in all cases.
Everyone assumes North Korea, like Sadaam (replaced by torturer Maliki) is crazy, irrational, insane.
But what is really going on in North Korea? Could it be that the US has so isolated, intimidated, harrassed economically North Korea to the point of provoking N Korea as an excuse to destroy their nation as America has done to so well to so many other Arab nations and since Obama follows Bush's PNAC playbook, N. Korea and Iran are the last to fall in the axis of evil.
I wonder if they are stupidly planning a dual strike against Iran and North Korea using North Korea as an excuse to attack "rogue nations" with, or on the verge of nuclear weapons. If they attack N. Korea, I'm sure they will attack Iran too.