On Thursday morning, North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japan. This is the second such missile launch in just over two weeks, and as with the previous one, it flew over the island of Hokkaido and landed in the Pacific.
These IRBM test launches have lead to public warnings to seek shelter in parts of Japan, and have fueled fear about the possibility of a war. Today’s launch went an estimated 800km further than the previous one, showing increasing range in their arsenal.
The IRBMs have a shorter range than North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), the kind that could hit the US mainland. The ICBMs have been less reliable, however, and there are considerable doubts about North Korea’s ability to direct those missiles accurately.
The IRBM test launches speak volumes on North Korea’s confidence in those successfully flying over Japan, as it would be incredibly risky if there was a chance of failure that led a missile to crash onto Japanese soil. In both cases, the IRBMs went far beyond Japanese territory.
This is likely to prompt some more retaliation on the international scene, of course. South Korea attempted a “show of force” launch of their own missiles, only to have one fail. The US is demanding “direct action” from both China and Russia over the launch.
But with the US having just pushed new sanctions through at the UN days ago, there’s likely not much appetite to tack any more on for either China or Russia, both of whom are increasingly vocal in warning the sanctions and threats strategy the US is taking is not working, and are urging a new diplomatic tack.
What does it mean anymore to say sanctions are not working ?
It means nothing when the goal is denuclearization and suspension
of their missile program. The regime is hell-bent on proceeding undeterred
with both regardless of sanctions OR diplomacy.
Penultimate sanctions and a full merchant blockade are soon to
be enforced because what hurts them is advantageous to regime collapse.
If they have a problem with that, they can start the war and let’s see how
big their mouths are when the bombs start dropping.
I’m sure you’ll volunteer to go serve on the front line.
The US constantly threatens North Korea. Has always refused to even sign a peace treaty with them, and every President in the last 30 years or so has threatened to wipe out the country and kill its leadership. Since the US has already carpet-bombed the country flat once before, I’d imagine those threats are taken seriously in North Korea.
So, surprise, surprise, surprise, North Korea is working on weapons to try to defend and deter that threat. What would anyone expect. Only the bone-heads in the US military would expect them to just drop to their knees in abject surrender.
And the way Trump and his Generals are treating Iran right now, why on earth would North Korea even negotiate with the US. Trump makes it obvious every day that an agreement with the US isn’t worth the toilet paper its written on. North Korea has to see Trump breaking the Iran deal, so what’s to be gained in negotiating with a US who always takes diplomacy off the table and plainly can not be trusted to keep a deal it agrees to in the rare case when the US is actually willing to sit down and talk.
The idiots in charge of the US have created this situation. Its a very predictable outcome from US actions.
The only chance DPRK has of regime survival and peace is to de-nuclearize and start behaving like normal adults. US troops have been in South Korea all these years because it was the DPRK that invaded ROK in 1950. The regime you defend rolled in the tanks and slaughtered a million of their fellow Koreans.
Do you mean so they could get a deal like the one Iran got? The one Nikki the C keeps saying they are violating, although they aren’t, while the Donald vows not to certify Iran’s compliance? Do you think the calls for regime change would end? Again, like they have with Iran after their nuke deal? Maybe Kim’s nukes are his demise but not having them doesn’t change his odds much, if at all.
After denuclearization China and India with their machine guns would be the most powerful military forces .
Key word here is ‘over’.
So, someone might fire a missile 500 miles over my head. Big Deal. I’m so scared. I routinely watch jet planes fly only 5 or 6 miles over my head (aka, 30,000 ft), and I don’t run to a bomb shelter and cower in fear because they are so close and they might crash into me.
Anyone with a radar knew the trajectory of this missile seconds after launch. Everyone thus knew it would land far, far away from Japan. What this is then is the Jap military and a Jap right-wing government that wants to re-arm and re-establish the peak-WW2 Japanese empire using this to stoke panic and fear amongst their own people to achieve their aims. Although, I’m guessing many Japanese are smart enough to know that a missile they couldn’t see without a decent telescope wasn’t really a threat.
I suppose civilian aircraft and seafaring vessels don’t matter to you,
let alone the conception of sovereign air space.
The Chinese are orbiting stuff over us all the time .. Why don’t we get upset and invade China ?
Hello…does anyone here remember a few weeks ago China telling NK if they attacked the US or it territories they would not defend NK…and then added but if the US attacks NK that China and her allies (Russia) would defend NK…So I know Adolph Trump is not a politician any more than I am…but I get what little Kim is doing…and sooner or later Tangerine Trump will get juvenile and little Kim will get what he wants…the US to do a first strike while he has done nothing except throw rocks in the ocean…meantime our president and ass clown in chief will have gotten us into WWIII getting us all killed…again I am not a politician but even a simple citizen like me can see that one coming…