The Briefing Room
General Category => World News => Topic started by: TomSea on September 04, 2017, 07:37:12 am
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North Korea preparing more missile launches, says South
South Korea says it has seen indications that the North is preparing more missile launches, possibly an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Defence officials have been briefing parliament in Seoul after the North's test of a nuclear bomb at the weekend.
The South has responded to the test with live-fire exercises, with both ground- and air-launched rockets.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41144356 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41144356)
It appears a whole live thread is needed for the ongoing situation. The situation is a bit unreal.
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I don't buy a lot of the claims NK has made about their missile capabilities and progress with manufacturing a compact warhead. However, you've had three big developments in the past week:
1 - NK missile launch over Japan
2 - NK test of a claimed missile ready thermonuclear device
3 - NK threat to use weapon as direct strike or EMP weapon
While there's some debate about the true effectiveness of EMP, why take the risk? Any test missile launched by NK at this point, with a trajectory projected to pass over US or allied territory must be deemed hostile, engaged, and shot down by ABM systems.
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I hope "time is not of the essence" here, yes, it is to a degree but I saw some article this morning indicating we may not have time to waste on this matter.
On a different note.
John BoltonVerified account @AmbJohnBolton 21h21 hours ago
For 25 years North Korea has repeatedly promised to give up its nuclear weapons program and repeatedly lied through its teeth.
https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton
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John Bolton: "Only Diplomatic Option Left Is To End The Regime In North Korea"
Posted By Tim Hains
On Date September 3, 2017
....
JOHN BOLTON: The only diplomatic option left is to end the North Korean regime by effectively having the South take it over. You've got to argue with China--
TRISH REGAN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL: That's not really diplomatic!
BOLTON: That is their problem, not ours. Anybody who thinks more diplomacy with North Korea, more sanctions, whether against North Korea, or an effort to apply sanctions against China, is just giving North Korea more time to increase its nuclear arsenal... and put us, South Korea, and Japan in more jeopardy.
We have fooled around with North Korea for 25 years, and fooling around some more is just going to make matters worse.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/09/03/john_bolton_only_diplomatic_option_left_is_to_end_north_korean_regime.html
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Teddy Roosevelt + Yosemite Sam = John Bolton
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He wrote an editorial once on bombing Iran, to go publicizing such an idea is why many frown on him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/opinion/to-stop-irans-bomb-bomb-iran.html
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He's not wrong, but his abrasive style doesn't allow his substance to get through with a lot of folks. My feeling is the Iranians were willing to sign the nuclear deal because they'd outsourced their weapons program to North Korea, anyway. The attempt to build a copy of Yongbyong in Syria should be (literal) concrete proof of their unholy alliance - Syria being an Iranian proxy state.
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South Korea simulates attack on North’s nuke site after test
Associated Press, Sep 4, 2017
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Following U.S. warnings to North Korea of a “massive military response,” South Korea fired missiles into the sea to simulate an attack on the North’s main nuclear test site on Monday, a day after North Korea detonated its largest-ever nuclear test explosion.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry also said Monday that North Korea appeared to be planning a future missile launch, possibly of an ICBM, to show off its claimed ability to target the United States with nuclear weapons, though it was unclear when this might happen.
The heated words from the United States and the military maneuvers in South Korea are becoming familiar responses to North Korea’s rapid, as-yet unchecked pursuit of a viable arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles that can strike the United States. The most recent, and perhaps most dramatic, advance came Sunday in an underground test of what leader Kim Jong Un’s government claimed was a hydrogen bomb, the North’s sixth nuclear test since 2006.
The United Nations Security Council planned to hold its second emergency meeting about North Korea in a week on Monday to discuss responses to the test.
In Seoul, Chang Kyung-soo, an official with South Korea’s Defense Ministry, told lawmakers on Monday that it was seeing preparations in the North for an ICBM test but didn’t provide details about how officials had reached that assessment. Chang also said the yield from the latest nuclear detonation appeared to be about 50 kilotons, which would mark a “significant increase” from North Korea’s past nuclear tests.
In a series of tweets, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to halt all trade with countries doing business with North Korea, a warning to China, and faulted South Korea for what he called “talk of appeasement.”
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, told reporters in Beijing on Monday that China regarded as “unacceptable a situation in which on the one hand we work to resolve this issue peacefully but on the other hand our own interests are subject to sanctions and jeopardized. This is neither objective nor fair.”
More with video: https://apnews.com/027b0b4f3e924f03a17b7d48c836c27e/South-Korea-simulates-attack-on-North's-nuke-site-after-test
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Haley: Kim Jong Un 'begging for war'
CNN, Sep 4, 2017, 10:41 AM ET
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was "begging for war" as she urged the UN Security Council to adopt the strongest sanctions measures possible to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Speaking at a Security Council emergency meeting on Monday morning, Haley said North Korea's sixth nuclear test was a clear sign that "the time for half measures" from the UN had to end.
"Enough is enough," Haley said. "We have taken an incremental approach, and despite the best of intentions, it has not worked."
Haley said talks with North Korea have clearly not worked.
She added that while the United States did not want war, US patience is not unlimited when Pyongyang is threatening with missiles pointed at US territories.
More with video: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/04/politics/haley-north-korea-united-nations/
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'Enough is enough!' UN ambassador Nikki Haley warns Security Council that Kim Jong-Un is 'begging for war' with 'abusive use of missiles'
Daily Mail/UK, Sep 4, 2017
Ambassador Nikki Haley warned North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-Un on Monday that he is 'begging for war' with 'abusive use of missiles.'
'Enough is enough!' America's representative at the UN said during an emergency Security Council meeting.
'We have kicked the can down the road long enough,' she said of the North Korea nuclear threat. 'There is no more road left.'
'The time for half measures in the security council is over. The time has come to exhaust all of our diplomatic means before it is too late. We must now adopt the strongest possible measures. Kim Jong-Un’s action cannot be seen as defensive.'
'War is never something the United States wants. We don't want it now,' Haley said.
'But our country's patience is not unlimited,' she warned Kim's regime. 'We will defend our allies and our territory.'
Haley asked the United Nations to adopt the strongest possible sanctions against the rogue communist nation.
The hastily assembled panel was called in response to North Korea's most powerful nuclear test – as the Trump administration warned any threat to the US or its allies would trigger a 'massive military response.'
The meeting on Monday, at the request of the UK, U.S., Japan, France and South Korea, came after Kim Jong-Un's totalitarian regime carried out its sixth test of a nuclear device.
Defense Secretary James Mattis briefed President Donald Trump about the military options available if the crisis escalated, adding that Washington was capable of launching an 'effective and overwhelming' response.
While the US was 'not looking to the total annihilation' of North Korea there were 'many options to do so', he said Sunday.
But in the UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson cautioned against a military strike, because North Korea already had the ability to 'vaporize' large parts of the population of South Korea even without nuclear weapons.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4848362/Boris-Johnson-condemns-reckless-North-Korean-nuclear-test.html#ixzz4riplpsBS
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In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, told reporters in Beijing on Monday that China regarded as “unacceptable a situation in which on the one hand we work to resolve this issue peacefully but on the other hand our own interests are subject to sanctions and jeopardized. This is neither objective nor fair."
Decades of paying lip service to condemnation of North Korea's nuclear ambitions while cozying up to them is neither just nor honest, either. It's obvious an economic and strategic relationship with a nuclear extortionist/terrorist regime is more important to China than doing the right thing. Thanks for boldly stating where you stand on this issue.
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North Korea defies predictions — again — with early grasp of weapons milestone
Washington Post, Sep 3, 2017, 8:15 pm ET; Joby Warrick
The device that shook the mountains over the Punggye-ri test site on Sunday represented a quantum leap for North Korea’s nuclear capability, producing an explosion at least five times greater than the country’s previous tests and easily powerful enough to devastate a large city.
And if studies confirm that the bomb was a thermonuclear weapon — as North Korea claims — it would be a triumph of a different scale: a major technical milestone reached well ahead of predictions, putting the world’s most destructive force in the hands of the country’s 33-year-old autocrat.
The feat instantly erased lingering skepticism about Pyongyang’s technical capabilities and brought the prospect of nuclear-tipped North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles a step closer to reality, U.S. analysts and weapons experts said. Many predicted that a miniaturized version of the presumed thermonuclear bomb would soon be in North Korea’s grasp, and that it probably already exists.
“North Korea has achieved a capability to wipe out a big chunk of any major city,” said Sue Mi Terry, a former senior analyst on North Korea at the CIA and now managing director for Korea at the Bower Group Asia. “If the North didn’t test a hydrogen bomb, as they said they did this time around, they will get there very soon.”
The blast, at exactly noon local time in the country’s northeastern mountains, produced seismic waves equivalent to a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, or 10 times as strong as the country’s last nuclear test, which occurred a year ago this week. A conclusive analysis will take days or weeks, but weapons experts said the sheer force of the explosion is highly suggestive of a thermonuclear bomb. Sometimes called hydrogen bombs or H-bombs, these second-generation nuclear devices entered U.S. and Soviet arsenals in the 1950s, threatening adversaries with a vastly greater destructive force compared with atomic bombs dropped on Japan in the final days of World War II.
Because of the H-bomb’s relatively complex two-stage design, many experts thought it would be months, or perhaps years, before North Korea’s scientists could master the necessary technology. When Pyongyang boasted last year that it had tested a thermonuclear device, many U.S. experts dismissed the claim as propaganda.
By early Sunday, Washington time, the skepticism had mostly evaporated.
More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/north-korea-defies-predictions--again--with-early-grasp-of-weapons-milestone/2017/09/03/068ac20c-90db-11e7-89fa-bb822a46da5b_story.html?utm_term=.85ca5be647b6
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Who the hell is helping NK?
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Who the hell is helping NK?
Iran.. I also think China is helping NK by ignoring the threat.
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Iran.. I also think China is helping NK by ignoring the threat.
China Russia Iran Pakistan are most likely.
I think it was UAE who just bought 300m dollars in weapons from NK.
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China Russia Iran Pakistan are most likely.
I think it was UAE who just bought 300m dollars in weapons from NK.
That could be to. There is a reason why I can't trust Russia and never will trust Russia.
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Chinese Ambassador: China ‘will never allow chaos and war’ on the Korean Peninsula
By Rebecca Savransky - 09/04/17 11:20 AM EDT
The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations on Monday encouraged dialogue to deal with the North Korean threat.
During an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Liu Jieyi said the situation on the Korean peninsula is "deteriorating constantly" and the issue needs to be resolved "peacefully."
"China will never allow chaos and war on the peninsula," he said.
<..snip..>
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/349119-chinese-ambassador-to-the-un-china-will-never-allow-chaos-and-war-on-the (http://thehill.com/policy/defense/349119-chinese-ambassador-to-the-un-china-will-never-allow-chaos-and-war-on-the)
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Iran.. I also think China is helping NK by ignoring the threat.
I thought NK was helping Iran, not the other way around. Someone's actively helping NK develop these weapons.
Pakistan? Russia?
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I thought NK was helping Iran, not the other way around. Someone's actively helping NK develop these weapons.
Pakistan? Russia?
I think both.. Pakistan and Russia
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Who the hell is helping NK?
They received some tech from A. Q. Khan. Funding is probably coming from China and Iran. The fissile material is thanks to the Clinton admin with the Agreed Framework. The weapon design is also courtesy the Clinton admin when they worked with a former Soviet scientist to give Iran fake plans. The scientist feared Iranian agents more than the CIA, so he corrected the errors and gave them the real deal under Operation Merlin. We know this because Jeffrey Alexander told James Risen of the NYT. Alexander is currently in jail, prosecuted during the Obama administration. It is a real mucking fess, to use a Spoonerism.
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South Korea, U.S. to scrap warhead weight limit on South Korean missiles: Blue House
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump agreed on Monday to scrap a warhead weight limit on South Korea’s missiles in the wake of North Korea’s sixth nuclear test, South Korea’s presidential office said.
In a separate phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin also on Monday, Moon said the U.N. Security Council should seek ways to sever North Korea’s foreign currency income, including from its workers employed abroad and oil shipments.
Under the existing missile pact between the United States and South Korea, Seoul’s warheads currently face a cap of 500 kg (1100 lb).
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-southkorea-usa/south-korea-u-s-to-scrap-warhead-weight-limit-on-south-korean-missiles-blue-house-idUSKCN1BF1VE
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Ambassador to UN, Haley says NK begging for war.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nikki-haley-north-korea-kim-jong-un-begging-for-war-nuclear-test-south-korea-icbm/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-04/south-korea-paves-way-for-missile-shield-after-nuclear-explosion
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Good Summary
KOREA UPDATE: New Missile Launches Imminent, the Trolling of China, Nikki Haley, and the Importance of Being Mattis
Posted at 1:00 pm on September 4, 2017 by streiff
Lots of things are happening with North Korea right now and the next month or so could determine how this movie ends. These are the big items.
New ICBM launches by North Korea are thought to be imminent.
Via CBS:
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that North Korea appeared to be planning another missile launch, possibly of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to show off its claimed ability to target the United States with nuclear weapons.
<..snip..>
https://www.redstate.com/streiff/2017/09/04/korea-update-new-missile-launches-imminent-trolling-china-nikki-haley-importance-mattis/ (https://www.redstate.com/streiff/2017/09/04/korea-update-new-missile-launches-imminent-trolling-china-nikki-haley-importance-mattis/)
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If they launch toward the pacific I hope se shoot it down repeatedly With the later shots hitting pyong yang.
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He's not wrong, but his abrasive style doesn't allow his substance to get through with a lot of folks. My feeling is the Iranians were willing to sign the nuclear deal because they'd outsourced their weapons program to North Korea, anyway. The attempt to build a copy of Yongbyong in Syria should be (literal) concrete proof of their unholy alliance - Syria being an Iranian proxy state.
I wouldn't use the word "abrasive", and would even go so far as to say that those who find him abrasive do so because they are not familiar with honesty and forthrightness. Bolton has big boy pants and wears them, unlike many of his detractors.
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Who the hell is helping NK?
NK = China.
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Report: North Korea hired KGB agents to protect Kim.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/08/25/Report-North-Korea-hired-KGB-spies-to-protect-Kim-Jong-Un/6641503666432/
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un 'killed relatives over China coup plot'
http://news.sky.com/story/north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-killed-relatives-over-china-coup-plot-11002869
These stories are probably hearsay, unproven but all the same, a lot of people look upon China with suspicion. One thing I know that was said, when the half-brother got killed in Malaysia was that people were saying that was China's man.
Syria, Iran, to a lesser extent Russia, there are a few countries that can be looked at with suspicion.
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If they launch toward the pacific I hope se shoot it down repeatedly With the later shots hitting pyong yang.
The trick is to get the intel on the launch and have SK bombard the launch sites, preferably with missile and payload on the pad. Even a wrecked physics package will have the effect of a dirty bomb on the site.
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NK = China.
My dad's outfit killed a lot of Chinese over there in the 50s, after they'd killed a lot of No. Koreans. If MacArthur or LeMay had had their way, we wouldn't have this problem...
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I wouldn't use the word "abrasive", and would even go so far as to say that those who find him abrasive do so because they are not familiar with honesty and forthrightness. Bolton has big boy pants and wears them, unlike many of his detractors.
(https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/rand-paul.jpg)
You're not going to take that lying down Rand?
000hehehehe
For the record, Bolton had little to nothing to do with the invasion of Iraq if people ever mention that. I believe it was the latter. So, I don't know his record well, he is a good speaker and appears to be a nice guy; I don't know of his having had to do with any of the conflicts that the US has been involved with. Desert Storm of course, is generally seen as a success during Bush 41's term.
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Critical article of Bolton here from the enemy press, perhaps worth contemplating:
John Bolton Urges Trump To Foment Sectarian Civil War In Iran
... His advice? Secretly conspire with “allied” nations to fund terrorist organizations in an ethnic civil war inside Iran. Then, control all of Iran’s territories through terrorist proxies and failed states, deny all Iranians visas, and ultimately make the Iranian government “pay for 9/11.”
The memo encourages U.S. backed ethno-sectarian bloodshed, similar to that of Syria today. Specifically, it proposes the backing of Balochi and Kurdish insurgents. Baloch terrorist and criminal networks have already claimed the lives of approximately 3,000 Iranian border guards and soldiers.
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-bolton-urges-trump-to-foment-sectarian-civil-war-in-iran_us_59a9ce11e4b0354e440a6f58?section=us_politics
I hope the US did not aid any "sectarianism" in the present war in Syria, people do accuse us of that, I usually dismiss such suggestions.
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Chronology of North Korean missile development
Seoul (AFP) - North Korea appeared to carry out a sixth nuclear test Sunday, with seismic monitors measuring an "explosion" of 6.3 magnitude near its main test site.
Japan's government said it confirmed a nuclear test had been carried out.
Hours earlier, Pyongyang's state media claimed that the country had developed a thermonuclear warhead that could be fitted onto its new intercontinental ballistic missile, another brazen assertion of its weapons capabilities.
The official Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong-Un had inspected a miniaturised H-bomb that could be loaded onto a missile -- although doubts remain over the veracity of Pyongyang's claims.
Here are key dates in the North's quest to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/chronology-north-korean-missile-development-011251742.html
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(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ss7NhdFyMlQ/USzoQ2qXdBI/AAAAAAAANmQ/4fGfJSnsvWA/s1600/President+of+Red+Eye+small.jpg)
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Japan plans for possible mass evacuation of its citizens in South Korea amid threats from North Korea, report says
Japan is reportedly planning for a possible mass evacuation of its citizens in South Korea as tensions with North Korea continue to rise amid threats of nuclear war.
"There is a possibility of further provocations," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday, according to Japanese magazine Nikkei Asian Review. "We need to remain extremely vigilant and do everything we can to ensure the safety of our people."
More: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/04/japan-plans-to-evacuate-its-citizens-from-south-korea-amid-nuclear-threats-from-north-report-says.html
Still, a lot of stories coming out.
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North Korea sanctions are finally getting serious
Anthony Ruggiero
By Anthony Ruggiero
Published August 25, 2017
Fox News
The Treasury Department sanctioned 10 firms and six individuals this week for facilitating North Korea’s proliferation activities, illicit financial transactions, and sanctions evasion. The list included five Chinese firms and one Chinese individual as well as a Russian firm and four Russian nationals. These new sanctions send a strong message to Beijing and Moscow that there will be consequences for their failure to enforce the sanctions they claim to support.
The new U.S. designations complement the UN sanctions adopted two weeks ago with support from China and Russia.
Continued: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/08/25/north-korea-sanctions-are-finally-getting-serious.html
On Fox or Newsmax last week, one of the experts said, as much as NK has been sanctioned, there were still countries out there with more sanctions on them. I found that hard to believe but maybe so.
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MacLean's, the image below shows how they could try to fire missiles at us over the Arctic Circle and Canada:
What would nuclear war with North Korea look like?
(https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAqX25o.img?h=372&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f)
The defence
How do you stop a warhead? It is, in fact, rocket science.
“Right now, there’s one system designed for that defence called the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system,” Grego says. “These are big powerful interceptors, meaning a big rocket launches a kill vehicle very quickly.”
The bulk of these GMDs are housed in underground silos in Alaska, and are designed to launch the interceptors—with sensors and adjustment thrusters—at the incoming missile before releasing what’s called a kill vehicle designed to ram directly into the target and destroy it from the high-speed impact. The kill vehicle is about the size of a standard refrigerator. But it’s not easy hitting a target about 1,000 km above the earth. “These objects are going so fast—it’s described as hitting a bullet with a bullet,” Grego says.
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Who... or which bleep decide this thread needed to be stickied? Totally uncalled for. Please PM me with your reasoning.
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The Mods are getting a well deserved rest here.
(https://exp.cdn-hotels.com/hotels/2000000/1400000/1398500/1398405/1398405_171_z.jpg)
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Who... or which bleep decide this thread needed to be stickied? Totally uncalled for. Please PM me with your reasoning.
Being that I'm a relative newcomer, what does that mean exactly?
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South Korea’s defense minister suggests bringing back tactical U.S. nuclear weapons
SEOUL — South Korea’s defense minister on Monday said it was worth reviewing the redeployment of American tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula to guard against the North, a step that analysts warn would sharply increase the risk of an accidental conflict.
As concern over Korea deepened following North Korea’s huge nuclear test Sunday, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “begging for war.”
Here in Seoul, the Defense Ministry warned that Pyongyang might be preparing to launch another missile into the Pacific Ocean, perhaps an intercontinental ballistic missile theoretically capable of reaching the mainland United States.
President Trump and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, spoke on the phone for 40 minutes Monday night, Korean time — some 34 hours after the nuclear test and more than 24 hours after Trump took to Twitter to criticize Moon’s “talk of appeasement.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/south-koreas-defense-minister-raises-the-idea-of-bringing-back-tactical-us-nuclear-weapons/2017/09/04/7a468314-9155-11e7-b9bc-b2f7903bab0d_story.html?utm_term=.f1070f2c385e
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The Mods are getting a well deserved rest here.
(https://exp.cdn-hotels.com/hotels/2000000/1400000/1398500/1398405/1398405_171_z.jpg)
I hope it has a pool and margaritas!
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Being that I'm a relative newcomer, what does that mean exactly?
Wingnut is dumb ass is usually the correct response.
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The Mods are getting a well deserved rest here.
(https://exp.cdn-hotels.com/hotels/2000000/1400000/1398500/1398405/1398405_171_z.jpg)
Do Not PM me tonight. Please.
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Pay no attention, just someone being disruptive. If one wants to post their own threads, have at it.
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@Wingnut
What's my cutoff time?
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Being that I'm a relative newcomer, what does that mean exactly?
Bleep: I'll just leave that to your fertile imagination, but please, for the sake of your sanity, consider the Author.
Stickied: means it stays at the top of the category.
Hope I helped @edpc
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@Wingnut
What's my cutoff time?
I need to know how much have you had to drink tonight?
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Other than my customary half pint of vodka in the morning, to wash down my cholesterol and blood pressure medicine I'm on my third one of these
(http://www.guadalupebrew.com/uploads/5/6/7/6/56761413/8995418_orig.jpg)
I'm ready to Rumble.
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Other than my customary half pint of vodka in the morning, to wash down my cholesterol and blood pressure medicine I'm on my third one of these
(http://www.guadalupebrew.com/uploads/5/6/7/6/56761413/8995418_orig.jpg)
I'm ready to Rumble.
If you like a beer that is smooth and on the slightly sweet side, I'd recommend the Boulevard 6th Glass Quad. Smooth and easy to drink, despite being 10.5% ABV.
(https://s.yimg.com/lo/api/res/1.2/Bh.7FSODDF1Yk31b.tvIcQ--/YXBwaWQ9eWlzZWFyY2g7Zmk9Zml0O2dlPTAwNjYwMDtncz0wMEEzMDA7aD01MzM7dz00MDA-/http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dJDyQUHFB3k/T6nvUWKmgwI/AAAAAAAAAO0/Y2ScH7VmTSc/s1600/BoulevardSixthGlass.jpg.cf.jpg)
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Who the hell is helping NK?
The usual suspects I imagine...and hope. That's the wild card that scares me, that some jihadi nutburger or other radical idealist is enabling these guys. Even worse, a bigger player with a crazy agenda of their own.
Which swerves into another issue. I hope our intelligence is good enough that we have their true capabilities nailed down. What we know doesn't bother me so much, it's what we don't know about that they may have, that is possibly due to the enablers giving it to them.
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The usual suspects I imagine...and hope.
That's the wild card that scares me, that some jihadi nutburger or other radical idealist is enabling these guys.
Which swerves into another issue. I hope our intelligence is good enough that we have their true capabilities nailed down. What we know doesn't bother me so much, it's what we don't know about that they may have, that is possibly due to the enablers giving it to them.
It is going to be a cosmic freaking joke if we end up in a hot war over this. In the end, their possession of nukes will be due to mistakes we made - namely electing Clinton twice. We had an idea how incompetent this man was, but we're just starting to realize the catastrophic damage he's done to national security between the Chinese Loral deal, Agreed Framework, and Operation Merlin.
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It is going to be a cosmic freaking joke if we end up in a hot war over this. In the end, their possession of nukes will be due to mistakes we made - namely electing Clinton twice.
In the end, the mistake was not to just let MacArthur and Le May bomb the sh*t out of the Communists on the other side of the Yalu and leave a hot zone that would be left alone for a while. There would have one Korea, not two and we wouldn't be where we are.
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In the end, the mistake was not to just let MacArthur and Le May bomb the sh*t out of the Communists on the other side of the Yalu and leave a hot zone that would be left alone for a while. There would have one Korea, not two and we wouldn't be where we are.
Yes, but MacArthur lost credit credibility when he met Truman on Oct 15, 1950 at Wake Island and assured him the Chinese would not intervene. Ten days later, they were pushing us South.
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It goes back further to when they kicked out the Buddhist in 1392 and adopted Confucian theology. Japan stopped their little experiment in becoming something other than the hermit kingdom in 1910.
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Yes, but MacArthur lost credit credibility when he met Truman on Oct 15, 1950 at Wake Island and assured him the Chinese would not intervene. Ten days later, they were pushing us South.
True enough. Had the US helped Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists defeat Mao, the problem would not have been the same, either. At the very least, materiel support might have let Chiang keep the Communists busy elsewhere while the North Koreans were defeated. It was allegedly fear of an invasion of China (that had not been done) that led to the Chinese buildup in the first place, and perhaps motivated the attack. Failure to clean up 'little' messes has made for bigger ones later. (Not saying Chiang was a saint, either).
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Yes, but MacArthur lost credit credibility when he met Truman on Oct 15, 1950 at Wake Island and assured him the Chinese would not intervene. Ten days later, they were pushing us South.
From what I understand, other nations warned us that China was going to help NK. I think had we stopped at the 38th, China would not have intervened in the war and NK would have been gone sooner.
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It was really too bad, because the Inchon landing was one of the ballsiest operations in warfare. The world had only been five years removed from the second world war and did not have the stomach to do what was necessary - taking on the Chicoms and Soviets.
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Reuters:
North Korea seen moving ICBM-grade rocket towards (NK's) west coast - media
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has been observed moving what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) towards its west coast, South Korea’s Asia Business Daily reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified intelligence source.
The rocket started moving on Monday, a day after North Korea’s sixth nuclear test, and was spotted moving at night to avoid surveillance, the report said. North Korea has launch facilities for its missile programme on its west coast.
Continued: http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-northkorea-missiles-icbm/north-korea-seen-moving-icbm-grade-rocket-towards-west-coast-media-idUKKCN1BG07N?il=0
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I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the reason why they're having problems with launch failures and in flight break ups is because they are damaging the missiles in transit to the launch sites.
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I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the reason why they're having problems with launch failures and in flight break ups is because they are damaging the missiles in transit to the launch sites.
Well there is that. Or the real reason.
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Well there is that. Or the real reason.
Which would be what?
None of the long range NK missiles are solid fueled. Liquid fueled missiles can't be toted around full. It's too heavy and the fuel is caustic. Carting a large, multi-stage ICBM around makes them prone to damage, as we and the Soviets found out long ago.
History suggests that building a true liquid-fueled ICBM that can be transported on a truck presents huge, if not insurmountable problems, to designers.
"The US and the Soviets tried very hard and never managed to reach a level of miniaturization and ruggedness that would support a road-mobile ICBM," said Kiessling, referring to the minaturization of nuclear warheads needed to fit them onto missiles.
ICBMs that use liquid fuel, as North Korea's do, are "very likely to crumple or damage the tankage" while being carted around on a bumpy truck.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/north-koreas-icbm-tests-may-212238812.html
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A game of nuclear chicken, a lot of good points:
Why is North Korea ‘begging for war’?
By Emma Richards | 5th September 2017 | @EmmaRichards85
1. Regime (and self) preservation
Probably the most common explanation. Kim has spent his first years in power consolidating his position by eliminating potential rivals – often in colourful ways, such as with the use of anti-aircraft gun.
...
2. The regime is fundamentally weak and this is all bravado
Despite the bombastic rhetoric and fierce patriotism abounds in North Korea – both from its leaders and the media – the regime has essentially lost the battle for the Korean peninsula. When compared with bitter rival Seoul, which controls twice the population of North Korea and an economy 30 times larger, it is easy to understand why Pyongyang fears “absorption” by the South.
3. Reunification of Korea
This has been a dream of the Kim regime since the signing of an armistice in 1953. If Kim can convince US to withdraw some of its 28,000 troops from the South, as former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon suggested could happen, analysts fear Kim would use his nuclear arsenal and the ability to strike the US as a shield to take back the South with force.
Read more at https://asiancorrespondent.com/2017/09/north-korea-begging-war/#wSP551c95W0cAGMZ.99
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Some very good points
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A game of nuclear chicken, a lot of good points:
Very good points, however I think #2 is the main reason.
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KIM'S NUCLEAR FAMILYHow dodgy Kim Jong-un used the black market to swerve UN sanctions and build a massive nuclear arsenal which has pushed the world to the brink of war
The rogue state's 'backdoor deal' trade deals are a slap in the face to those looking to topple the despot
By Jon Lockett
5th September 2017, 3:57 pm
Updated: 5th September 2017, 3:57 pm
NORTH Korea's missile arsenal has rapidly progressed from makeshift rockets based on Second World War designs to launching ICBMs it brags can hit "anywhere in the world."
Since Kim Jong-un came to power, the rogue state's military has spent BILLIONS focusing it's efforts on producing the huge nuclear stockpile which is now spreading fear throughout the world.
(https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dd-composite-hwasong-kn-14-2.jpg?strip=all&w=750)
Continued: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4385623/how-dodgy-kim-jong-un-used-the-black-market-to-swerve-un-sanctions-and-build-a-massive-nuclear-arsenal-which-has-pushed-the-world-to-the-brink-of-war/
I've heard people talk about Pakistan in this whole thing, they may well have contributed something per the graphic above, some science and technology.
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Very good points, however I think #2 is the main reason.
I think it's D, all the above.
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Very good points, however I think #2 is the main reason.
Maybe a 2.25. Kim has attempted to mold himself as his grandfather with similar goals. This time, however, he doesn't have a massive modern armed forces with a dependable supply line from Russia. The appearance of the MiG-15, flown by Soviet pilots also helped keep our B-29s and close air support aircraft off them for awhile.
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Maybe a 2.25. Kim has attempted to mold himself as his grandfather with similar goals. This time, however, he doesn't have a massive modern armed forces with a dependable supply line from Russia. The appearance of the MiG-15, flown by Soviet pilots also helped keep our B-29s and close air support aircraft off them for awhile.
Correct. The main reason was NK is still around cause of China and Russia (Let's get real Russia was really in charge of USSR). If NK fires the first shot, I can't see Russia and China supporting NK. Hopefully.
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Correct. The main reason was NK is still around cause of China and Russia (Let's get real Russia was really in charge of USSR). If NK fires the first show, I can't see Russia and China supporting NK. Hopefully.
I can see Russia staying on the sidelines, but I don't trust the Chinese in any circumstances. If things got really hot and China intervened, I could see Russia taking advantage and making moves elsewhere. They may expand their push into Ukraine. I'm not sure they'd attempt anything in the Baltics, but it's not out of the question.
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I can see Russia staying on the sidelines, but I don't trust the Chinese in any circumstances. If things got really hot and China intervened, I could see Russia taking advantage and making moves elsewhere. They may expand their push into Ukraine. I'm not sure they'd attempt anything in the Baltics, but it's not out of the question.
I can't trust those two countries with a ten foot pole.
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I can't trust those two countries with a ten foot pole.
Don't worry, they use the metric system, anyway.
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Don't worry, they use the metric system, anyway.
:laugh:
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I just don't understand why he doesn't give up his nuclear ambitions. Gaddafi trusted us and did so, and look at how well it worked out for him!
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UN Chief: N. Korea Nuclear Threat is World's Most Serious
WHITE HOUSE —
North Korea's nuclear weapons program is the most serious threat the world currently faces, the U.N. secretary-general said Tuesday, warning that "confrontational rhetoric may lead to unintended consequences."
At U.N. headquarters, Antonio Guterres said that "the solution must be political. The potential consequences of military action are too horrific."
https://www.voanews.com/a/united-nations-chief-north-korea-nuclear-threat-world-most-serious/4016286.html
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Meanwhile Iran is going down the same road. It is only a matter of time before they do their first test. I think it will be a lot sooner than the "experts" claim.
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Meanwhile Iran is going down the same road. It is only a matter of time before they do their first test. I think it will be a lot sooner than the "experts" claim.
I think Iran won't test. THey've goofed around with missiles already. All they need is the payload. I'd bet they and the DPRK are working together at some level. I think Iran will simply attack when they get the number of devices they want.
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Meanwhile Iran is going down the same road. It is only a matter of time before they do their first test. I think it will be a lot sooner than the "experts" claim.
You've already seen it. The cooperation between Iran and North Korea has been going on for years. They were trying to build a Yeongbyong style reactor in Syria before Israel bombed it.
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WW3 fears: North Korea could drop nuclear bomb on US from SATELLITE
NORTH Korea could drop a nuclear bomb on the United States using Kim Jong-un's satellites, it has been claimed amid increasing tensions threatening the outbreak of World War 3.
By Belinda Robinson
PUBLISHED: 16:19, Wed, Sep 6, 2017 | UPDATED: 17:13, Wed, Sep 6, 2017
Experts have called for North Korea' satellites to be inspected before take-off as fears grow Kim Jong-un could be ready to use one to drop a hydrogen bomb on mainland America.
Kim Jong-un was spotted in a H-bomb factory with his generals last week following North Korea's sixth nuclear test.
Homeland Security expert Peter Pry suggests a powerful H-bomb could be dropped from one of the rogue state’s satellites onto the US, sparking mayhem.
The blast could cause a gigantic electromagnetic pulse (EMP) which would interfere with America’s electrical grid leading to death and destruction.
Continued: http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/850778/World-war-3-North-Korea-vs-USA-Kim-Jong-Un-H-bomb-on-US-Donald-Trump
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Russia's Putin: No need to be 'swept up' by North Korea provocations
By Elizabeth Shim Contact the Author | Sept. 6, 2017 at 9:42 AM
Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin would never recognize North Korea as a nuclear weapons state, he said during a joint press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
But Putin also called for calm and urged avoiding being "swept up" by emotions that could only heighten tensions on the peninsula.
Putin, who is the second world leader to hold a summit with Moon, said "special attention" was placed on the "situation on the Korean peninsula" during talks, South Korean news service Newsis reported.
Continued: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/09/06/Russias-Putin-No-need-to-be-swept-up-by-North-Korea-provocations/8311504704562/
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Putin: North Korea crisis may be 'impossible' to solve
By Hilary Whiteman, CNN
Updated 11:01 AM ET, Wed September 6, 2017
Military players in North Asia
(CNN)A day after predicting "global catastrophe" if North Korea's nuclear tests lead to anything other than talks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the situation may be "impossible" to resolve.
Putin made the comments after meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia.
Putin repeated his assertion that sanctions and pressure won't be enough to rein in North Korea.
"Do not succumb to emotions and drive North Korea into a corner. Now more than ever, everyone needs to be calm and avoid steps that lead to an escalation of tension," Putin said.
More: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/06/asia/north-korea-russia-vladivostok/index.html
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Good article by NPR, I'll just post the link mainly.
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/09/06/548755431/how-north-koreas-nuclear-tests-could-get-even-more-terrifying
How North Korea's Nuclear Tests Could Get Even More Terrifying
At 2:17 p.m. on May 6, 1962, a nuclear-tipped missile shot out of the waters of the Pacific Ocean and quickly disappeared into the sky. Roughly 12 minutes later and over 1,000 miles to the southwest, it detonated in a blinding flash — creating a mushroom cloud over an empty stretch of water.
The test was of a submarine-launched Polaris A-2 missile. It was code-named "Frigate Bird," and it was America's first, and only, end-to-end test of a nuclear missile.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5orHjD5FWc8
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Whatever they end up creating, they will never be able to top this.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8b8LLcdBaQc
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Trump aministration seeks UN authorization to use military force against North Korean smuggling vessels
The United States is seeking United Nations authorization to use military force to board and seize North Korean smuggling vessels on the high seas, dramatically escalating the Trump administration’s nuclear standoff with the Hermit Kingdom, according to a draft resolution obtained by Foreign Policy.
The push for a green light for military action was included in a sweeping U.S. draft Security Council resolution that would ban Pyongyang’s export of oil, liquid gas, and textiles, and forbid the employment of North Korean laborers, who are required to send home a big chunk of their earnings. The draft would also hit North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, his government, and the ruling Worker’s Party, with sanctions.
The United State’s latest diplomatic gambit comes just days after North Korea on September 3 detonated its sixth, and by far its most powerful, nuclear explosion, triggering widespread expressions of condemnation from Beijing to Moscow and Washington, D.C. In response, the Trump administration is looking to target key economic sectors that contribute to pouring up to $3 billion-a-year in revenue into the North Korean economy — money that U.S. policy-makers believe is funding its nuclear weapons program.
The initiative is likely to face tough pushback from Russia and China, who have both been pressing the administration to resolve its difference with Pyongyang through negotiations. In a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Vladivostok, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that his government firmly opposes the imposition of an oil embargo on North Korea. “We should not act out of emotions and push North Korea into a dead end,” Putin said, according South Korean reporters cited by the New York Times. “We must act with calm and avoid steps that could raise tensions.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-administration-seeks-un-authorization-193332707.html
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Screw Putin. We've already gone down the road of paying for appeasement through Clinton, Bush and Obama. NK took the money, lied and built nuclear weapons anyway.
China and Russia own whatever NK does. They gave birth to that hellhole that has destroyed millions of lives over the decades. A place of pure evil.
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Excellent points, @DB : All NK has gotten has been appeasement.
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This was posted in the military forum and seems to be a good article. This on NK seems to ebb and flo, at a point, it appears urgent and then it slows down.
Excerpt:
Has the U.S. actually succeeded with North Korea? A top admiral says so.
.... “I say it has worked because we are not at war.”
Swift reiterated recent pronouncements from the secretaries of defense and state that “all options are on the table” but that diplomacy and pressure were preferred to military action against North Korea.
The international community is in a “much better place” to deal with Pyongyang “than if we had foreclosed on the diplomatic options,” Swift said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/south-korea-calls-for-cutting-north-koreas-oil-supplies-but-russia-is-reluctant/2017/09/06/7f33221c-92de-11e7-8754-d478688d23b4_story.html?utm_term=.cafcf449eb1d
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,280105.0.html
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North Korea May Fire Another ICBM This Weekend, South Warns
SEOUL, South Korea — Less than one week after North Korea appeared to carry out its sixth nuclear test, South Korea warned Thursday that its neighbor may fire an intercontinental ballistic missile this weekend.
South Korea's prime minister, Lee Nak-yon, suggested that Kim Jong Un, the North's leader, could order a launch on Saturday, the 64th anniversary of the totalitarian regime's founding.
"There is speculation that there could be an additional provocation of firing an ICBM at a normal angle on [Sept.] 9," Lee said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korea-may-fire-another-icbm-weekend-south-warns-n799426
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North Korea May Fire Another ICBM This Weekend, South Warns
SEOUL, South Korea — Less than one week after North Korea appeared to carry out its sixth nuclear test, South Korea warned Thursday that its neighbor may fire an intercontinental ballistic missile this weekend.
South Korea's prime minister, Lee Nak-yon, suggested that Kim Jong Un, the North's leader, could order a launch on Saturday, the 64th anniversary of the totalitarian regime's founding.
"There is speculation that there could be an additional provocation of firing an ICBM at a normal angle on [Sept.] 9," Lee said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korea-may-fire-another-icbm-weekend-south-warns-n799426
I hope Norks do something. I mean seriously. I'm getting so tired of all the 24/7 Hurricane and wild fire coverage. I need something entertainment to watch.
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I think Iran won't test. THey've goofed around with missiles already. All they need is the payload. I'd bet they and the DPRK are working together at some level. I think Iran will simply attack when they get the number of devices they want.
Iran will test a nuclear device alright. Right over Tel Aviv....
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Iran will test a nuclear device alright. Right over Tel Aviv....
Israel has the Arrow ABM.
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Traces of Xenon in South Korea:
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2017/09/08/87/0401000000AEN20170908009900315F.html
The Risk of Nuclear War with North Korea
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/09/18/the-risk-of-nuclear-war-with-north-korea
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I hope Norks do something. I mean seriously. I'm getting so tired of all the 24/7 Hurricane and wild fire coverage. I need something entertainment to watch.
:bigsilly:
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North Korea Will Make 'Blood-Thirsty U.S. Pay Price' If New Sanctions Approved
North Korea has once again threatened repercussions against U.S. if it attempts to impose more United Nations-wide sanctions on Pyongyang.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on a resolution imposing new restrictions on North Korea on Monday afternoon, in response to Pyongyang’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date on September 3.
A statement from North Korea’s foreign ministry published on the state-controlled KCNA news agency threatened the U.S. should the sanctions be approved.
“In case the U.S. eventually does rig up the illegal and unlawful "resolution" on harsher sanctions, the DPRK shall make absolutely sure that the U.S. pays due price,” the statement read, using the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-korea-apos-blood-thirsty-122342680.html
If nothing else, they're challenging Trump in bombast.
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Key GOP lawmaker: Go after North Korea with sanctions and short-wave radio
Olivier Knox
Chief Washington Correspondent
Yahoo NewsSeptember 14, 2017
(Photos: Wong Maye-E/AP; Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R.-Calif., called Wednesday for tough new sanctions on Chinese banks that do business with North Korea. Royce also said the Stalinist regime in Pyongyang has been losing its totalitarian grip on a population increasingly getting information from short-wave radio and contraband South Korean movies.
Royce said in an interview with Yahoo News on Sirius XM POTUS Channel 124 that he had met with a top North Korean defector who played up the impact of communications from the outside world as a way to pressure the government of Kim Jong Un.
Continued: https://www.yahoo.com/news/key-gop-lawmaker-go-north-korea-sanctions-short-wave-radio-112240529.html
Other articles highlight the fact that he wants to sanction 5 different Chinese banks who do business with NK.
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North Korea fires missile from Pyongyang, media reports say, as Japan warns residents to take shelter
https://mobile.twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/908454136282263553
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South Korea 'fires ballistic missile' in response to North Korea's strike towards Japan
South Korea has reportedly fired a ballistic missile towards North Korea in response to the hermit state's earlier strike.
North Korea fired a missile in an eastern direction, over the island of Hokkaido, from its capital Pyongyang.
South Korea has responded by firing a ballistic missile into waters off its eastern coast, it has been reported.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/south-korea-fires-ballistic-missile-11174721
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US flies bombers over Korean peninsula for drill: Seoul
AFP | Published — Monday 18 September 2017
SEOUL: The US flew four stealth fighter jets and two bombers over the Korean peninsula on Monday in a show of force after North Korea’s latest nuclear and missile tests, South Korea’s defense ministry said.
Four F-35B stealth fighters and two B-1B bombers flew over the peninsula to “demonstrate the deterrence capability of the US-South Korea alliance against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” the ministry said in a statement.
More: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1163236/world
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Excerpted:
What would happen if a North Korean missile hit Japan?
By Aisyah Llewellyn | 18th September 2017 | @BRITgrlINDOfood
...
Even if a strike happened by accident, meaning that North Korea did not intend for a test missile to score a direct hit on Japanese soil, it would still be deemed an act of war.
This would then set off a global chain of events, as the United States would almost certainly launch a counter-attack on North Korea. According to analysts speaking to The Independent, this would be triggered as Japan is a partner of Nato and any strike on Japan would be considered an attack on all the member countries of the Nato alliance.
In the interview with The Independent, Professor Anthony Glees, a security expert with the University of Buckingham, referenced the previous missile test over Japan on the 29th of August and elaborated on the dire implications of a missile either breaking up over Japan or misfiring and hitting the country directly.
“It’s extremely serious. Most wars happen by accident, not by design, and if these missiles had landed on Japan there would have undoubtedly been war this morning,” he said.
The most chilling part of any declaration of all-out war however, is that it would probably only come after serious loss of life around the impact zone of a North Korean missile.
Read more at https://asiancorrespondent.com/2017/09/happen-north-korean-missile-hit-japan/#XxWbtgxmZEUxZvEx.99
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Pray for the Archduke's safety. It's that intertwined again.
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All the fly bys seem to be doing is aggravating the situation. Kim either thinks we won't do anything or he doesn't care.
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All the fly bys seem to be doing is aggravating the situation. Kim either thinks we won't do anything or he doesn't care.
There are entangling alliances on both sides. South Korea/US/Japan/NATO on one side, China North Korea, Russia, Iran on the other. That's why the Archduke Ferdinand remark. The potential is there for this to escalate rapidly. That's why little Kim is so smug.
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All the fly bys seem to be doing is aggravating the situation. Kim either thinks we won't do anything or he doesn't care.
Or maybe nobody around him will tell it has happened?
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Or maybe nobody around him will tell it has happened?
@thackney
Very Possible
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This may explain why we have not shot down the past two launch is over Japan. The headline is a little misleading. It's not that we can't at all, we just can't fire at the missile when its apogee is beyond the defense system.
No, We Cannot Shoot Down North Korea’s Missiles
The number one reason we don’t shoot down North Korea’s missiles is that we cannot.
Officials like to reassure their publics about our defense to these missiles. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told his nation after last week’s test, “We didn’t intercept it because no damage to Japanese territory was expected.”
That is half true. The missile did not pose a serious threat. It flew over the Japanese island of Hokkaido, landing 3700 km (2300 miles) from its launch point near North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang.
The key word here is “over.” Like way over. Like 770 kilometers (475 miles) over Japan at the apogee of its flight path. Neither Japan nor the United States could have intercepted the missile. None of the theater ballistic missile defense weapons in existence can reach that high. It is hundreds of kilometers too high for the Aegis interceptors deployed on Navy ships off Japan. Even higher for the THAAD systems in South Korea and Guam. Way too high for the Patriot systems in Japan, which engage largely within the atmosphere.
http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2017/09/no-we-cannot-shoot-down-north-koreas-missiles/141070/
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Great....
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Great....
Well, the target area of the missile was so far out to sea and over Japan, the system could not engage it. It's a completely different story, if the trajectory had fallen within the system radius, which is large enough to protect the territory. A ship a few hundred miles off the Japanese East Coast could do it, but what is the point?
Questions keep popping up as to why we don't intercept these launches. This may answer why. It would be like asking the pitcher to catch a shallow fly ball when the outfielder is in a much better position.
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I've heard in a few places, we just don't want to display our technology, we do not care to show them (China, Russia, etc.) what we have. I don't know if that is so, I read quite a bit on this subject.
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I've heard in a few places, we just don't want to display our technology, we do not care to show them (China, Russia, etc.) what we have. I don't know if that is so, I read quite a bit on this subject.
That makes a lot of sense. And NK may be partly trying to goad the US of Japan into shooting one down as a way of forcing us to show what we have.
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And what were both of those navy ships involved in those collisions?
Ageis missile systems.
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That makes a lot of sense. And NK may be partly trying to goad the US of Japan into shooting one down as a way of forcing us to show what we have.
They have no way of gathering data on our ABM capabilities. The Russians and Chinese, however, can and would love to get their hands on the information. I'm confident the missiles can be intercepted, because we have worked with the Israelis to develop their Arrow and Iron Dome systems. Arrow has successfully intercepted Syrian SAMs, which are smaller and more maneuverable than ballistic missiles.
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They have no way of gathering data on our ABM capabilities. The Russians and Chinese, however, can and would love to get their hands on the information. I'm confident the missiles can be intercepted, because we have worked with the Israelis to develop their Arrow and Iron Dome systems. Arrow has successfully intercepted Syrian SAMs, which are smaller and more maneuverable than ballistic missiles.
Once it flies, data becomes available; maybe not the full telemetry, but something that lets our foes know what our systems are capable of (and, perhaps more importantly, what they're not capable of).
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They have no way of gathering data on our ABM capabilities. The Russians and Chinese, however, can and would love to get their hands on the information. I'm confident the missiles can be intercepted, because we have worked with the Israelis to develop their Arrow and Iron Dome systems. Arrow has successfully intercepted Syrian SAMs, which are smaller and more maneuverable than ballistic missiles.
I'd wager the Chinese already know. They had an engineer on the b2 program.
He'll when I was going thru air force school they had a Chinese spy. They've been at it a long time.
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Mattis: No Need to Shoot Down North Korean Missiles Yet
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the U.S. has not yet shot down any North Korean missiles because they have not posed a threat to the United States or its allies.
In remarks to reporters at the Pentagon, Mattis said Monday that if the missiles were perceived as a threat, "that would elicit a different response from us.''
Asked what that response is likely to be, Mattis refused to elaborate.
More: https://www.voanews.com/a/us-south-korea-japan-aerial-military-exercises/4033470.html
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Former CIA Chief Warns of N. Korea’s Other Nuclear Weapon
...
Why is the North continuing its launches? Jenny Lee of VOA Korean spoke with former CIA Director James Woolsey to discuss the latest developments.
...
Q: How likely is it that the Kim regime has developed a functional ICBM and a miniaturized warhead?
A: Probably not fully yet. But it doesn’t matter because they don’t need an intercontinental ballistic missile in order to attack directly the United States. They can do so with a satellite launch and [they] have nuclear weapons contained in the satellite that continues to circle the Earth a couple of times a day. ... So it does not take an intercontinental ballistic missile to reach the United States. You can do it fine with a weapon on a satellite.
Q: You seem to be describing a nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. Could you describe how it works, and do you think the North Koreans currently have the capacity to carry out such an attack?
A: I think it’s likely that they do. The destructive mechanism would be, it would not go directly against people, but would destroy the electric grid. It uses a detonation up above the Earth. It would not be targeted at a specific location, a specific building or an ICBM silo or something. It would knock out the grid generally. That means there would be no food, no water, no telecommunications and no hospitals. It would be a hideous situation. So that could be even more devastating than a nuclear attack that was targeted on individual locations.
More: https://www.voanews.com/a/james-woolsey-warns-of-north-koreas-other-nuclear-weapon/4031550.html
More discussion and more talk about EMP attacks, understandable for the layman. Not sure if this was already posted, I know I've read this already.
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Once it flies, data becomes available; maybe not the full telemetry, but something that lets our foes know what our systems are capable of (and, perhaps more importantly, what they're not capable of).
North Korea has antiquated Soviet radar equipment. They're not capable of seeing very far out beyond their economic exclusion zone. The only way they would know if a missile got intercepted is if they heard about it on CNN.
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North Korea has antiquated Soviet radar equipment. They're not capable of seeing very far out beyond their economic exclusion zone. The only way they would know if a missile got intercepted is if they heard about it on CNN.
The Russians and the Chinese each have spy ships The Chinese have six known Type 815 ships that are active (dedicated spy ships) and several dozen other active surface combatants which may or may not be able to track the missile along its entire flight path. The Russians have two spy ships active with their Pacific fleet, and two with their northern fleet.
Someone somewhere would be able to get enough data to get a fair idea of the capability if demonstrated. While there may be some distrust or friction among them, "former Communist" powers share data with the DPRK, and the Iranians have a fair idea of Israeli capabilities.
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The Russians and the Chinese each have spy ships The Chinese have six known Type 815 ships that are active (dedicated spy ships) and several dozen other active surface combatants which may or may not be able to track the missile along its entire flight path. The Russians have two spy ships active with their Pacific fleet, and two with their northern fleet.
Someone somewhere would be able to get enough data to get a fair idea of the capability if demonstrated. While there may be some distrust or friction among them, "former Communist" powers share data with the DPRK, and the Iranians have a fair idea of Israeli capabilities.
Based on what we can interpret from the Defense One article, the missile would only be engaged if the telemetry data shows it to be a threat. That would lead to a response and there'd be no ranking NK personnel left to make use of the data.
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Based on what we can interpret from the Defense One article, the missile would only be engaged if the telemetry data shows it to be a threat. That would lead to a response and there'd be no ranking NK personnel left to make use of the data.
That makes sense to me. Why engage a spent round if it isn't a threat? That missile won't hurt anything if it won't hurt anything, so let it go.
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That makes sense to me. Why engage a spent round if it isn't a threat? That missile won't hurt anything if it won't hurt anything, so let it go.
You're also guaranteeing a failure if the apogee is outside your protection envelope. In that instance, you're giving away data on response time and interceptor performance, plus giving the population a false sense of INsecurity.
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North Korea may consider H-bomb test in Pacific, Kim calls Trump 'deranged'
SEOUL/NEW YORK (Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday it might test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to destroy the reclusive country, with leader Kim Jong Un promising to make a "mentally deranged" Trump pay dearly for his threats.
Kim did not specify what action he would take against the United States or Trump, with whom he has traded insults in recent weeks. South Korea said it was the first direct statement of its kind by a North Korean leader.
However, Kim's foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, said in televised remarks North Korea could consider a hydrogen bomb test of an unprecedented scale over the Pacific Ocean.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-koreas-kim-says-deranged-trump-pay-dearly-011025885.html
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My family in SK expect this to end in war.
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RUSSIA: U.S. WAR WITH NORTH KOREA 'IS NOT AN OPTION'
One of Russia's highest-ranking diplomats warned Thursday that a U.S. attack on North Korea would have serious repercussions across the globe and stressed his country's opposition to such a move. He wasn't alone.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and officials from multiple countries around the world are rejecting President Donald Trump's promise Wednesday to "totally destroy" North Korea. Trump's fiery U.N. speech came after months of mounting tensions between his administration and an increasingly bellicose, nuclear-capable North Korea, led by Kim Jong Un. While Russia has also criticized Kim's nuclear ambitions and routine ballistic missile tests, Gatilov emphasized that Moscow would not stand for a direct U.S. assault on North Korea—something Trump's administration has repeatedly touted as a possibility.
http://www.newsweek.com/russia-us-war-north-korea-not-option-669127?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=yahoo_news&utm_campaign=rss&utm_content=/rss/yahoous/news&yptr=yahoo
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RUSSIA: U.S. WAR WITH NORTH KOREA 'IS NOT AN OPTION'
One of Russia's highest-ranking diplomats warned Thursday that a U.S. attack on North Korea would have serious repercussions across the globe and stressed his country's opposition to such a move. He wasn't alone.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and officials from multiple countries around the world are rejecting President Donald Trump's promise Wednesday to "totally destroy" North Korea. Trump's fiery U.N. speech came after months of mounting tensions between his administration and an increasingly bellicose, nuclear-capable North Korea, led by Kim Jong Un. While Russia has also criticized Kim's nuclear ambitions and routine ballistic missile tests, Gatilov emphasized that Moscow would not stand for a direct U.S. assault on North Korea—something Trump's administration has repeatedly touted as a possibility.
http://www.newsweek.com/russia-us-war-north-korea-not-option-669127?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=yahoo_news&utm_campaign=rss&utm_content=/rss/yahoous/news&yptr=yahoo
Russia helped start the first Korean war.
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Russia helped start the first Korean war.
Most definitely. They're directly responsible for installing Kim Il Sung. Their pilots flew MiG-15s against our B-29s and F-86s.
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Most definitely. They're directly responsible for installing Kim Il Sung. Their pilots flew MiG-15s against our B-29s and F-86s.
They are probably providing significant technical and material support for his nuke program. I'm guessing its for the money since Russia has been hurt by the fall in oil prices. NKs rapid advancement in their nuclear and rocket programs is simply too fast for it to be done internally. You couldn't manufacture the rockets this fast let alone do the design and testing which would be required.
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There's been cooperation between NK and Iran on nuclear research and missile development. I don't think it's a coincidence that Iran has started up with the bellicose language toward Israel after the latest missile and nuclear tests conducted by NK. Iran has outsourced their program to appear compliant with the deal.
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There's been cooperation between NK and Iran on nuclear research and missile development. I don't think it's a coincidence that Iran has started up with the bellicose language toward Israel after the latest missile and nuclear tests conducted by NK. Iran has outsourced their program to appear compliant with the deal.
It's why Iran doesn't have to do nuclear weapon research, they can trade techs and have a two-front war the US will end up sucked into or backing away from. I don't see Iran launching on Israel without also launching on any US carrier battle group in range.
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Excellent commentary, @Smokin Joe @edpc
Thanks.
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North Korea has shot down a US plane in the past - and they could do it again
North Korea has warned it has the right to shoot down US jets in response to Donald Trump's bellicose threats - yet it would not be the first time Pyongyang has carried out such an act.
Ri Yong-ho, the North Korean foreign minister, announced Pyongyang's aggressive new stance in New York, saying the US president had "declared war" by tweeting that Kim Jong-un and his regime "won't be around much longer".
Two US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flew off the coast of North Korea in a show of force at the weekend and Mr Ri said the country reserved the right to defend itself even against US aircraft that do not enter its airspace.
The threat, which followed a North Korean propaganda video that showed US aircraft being blown up, recalled an incident in 1969 when North Korean fighters shot down a US surveillance aircraft in international airspace in 1969, killing the 31 crew aboard.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-korea-shot-down-us-042719671.html
They could try it, but great HARM would come to them in the AGM-88 form.
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North Korea 'aggressively' jamming new BBC radio service: report
Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY Published 9:10 a.m. ET Sept. 27, 2017 | Updated 9:38 a.m. ET Sept. 27, 2017
AFP IA01 JDKOREA 11 CRISIS REPUBLIC OF KOREA
North Korea started “aggressively” jamming the BBC’s new Korean language service on the same day it began, according to a report.
The service began broadcasting Tuesday to provide “news, sport, business and culture” to audiences “in the Korean peninsula and Korean speakers around the world” online and on radio, the British broadcaster said when announcing the launch.
“A key focus of the service is North Korea, where government censorship restricts access to independent news,” it added.
Continued at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/09/27/north-korea-jamming-bbc-radio-service-report/707342001/
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Trump on N. Korea: My attitude is the one that matters
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his attitude is "the one that matters" when it comes to resolving the impasse over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Trump made the remark in response to a question about whether he and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are on the same page on how to deal with the communist regime.
"I think I have a little bit different attitude on North Korea than other people might have," he told reporters at the start of talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House. "And I listen to everybody but ultimately my attitude is the one that matters, isn't it? That's the way it works. That's the way the system is."
http://m.yna.co.kr/mob2/en/contents_en.jsp?cid=AEN20171012000300315&site=0400000000&mobile
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Trump on N. Korea: My attitude is the one that matters
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his attitude is "the one that matters" when it comes to resolving the impasse over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Trump made the remark in response to a question about whether he and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are on the same page on how to deal with the communist regime.
"I think I have a little bit different attitude on North Korea than other people might have," he told reporters at the start of talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House. "And I listen to everybody but ultimately my attitude is the one that matters, isn't it? That's the way it works. That's the way the system is."
http://m.yna.co.kr/mob2/en/contents_en.jsp?cid=AEN20171012000300315&site=0400000000&mobile
Poorly worded as usual but he's right.
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Poorly worded as usual but he's right.
No question he has the last call, but it sounds - the way it's presented - like he's picking a fight.
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Mysterious absence of North Korea's 'rocket men' raises new nuke, missile fears
Two key officials involved in North Korea’s nuclear and missile program were reportedly nowhere to be seen during public events this week, fueling speculation that another missile launch or nuke test could be imminent.
Ri Man-gon, supervisor of the department for the nuclear and missile development, and Kim Rak-gyom, the head of the strategic rocket forces, were noticeably missing at a Saturday mass rally in Pyongyang and a Tuesday celebration for the anniversary of the Worker’s Party of Korea, according to South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/12/top-north-korean-officials-in-missile-program-missing-from-recent-celebrations-report-says.html
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North Korea Renews Guam Threat Ahead of Joint Naval Exercise
SEOUL, South Korea — As the United States and South Korea prepared for next week’s joint naval exercise, North Korean officials on Friday renewed their threat to launch ballistic missiles near Guam, an American territory in the western Pacific.
The drill, which involves the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, is scheduled to begin on Monday in waters east and west of South Korea. The 10-day exercise will check the allies’ “communications, interoperability and partnership,” the United States Navy’s 7th Fleet said in a statement.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/world/asia/north-korea-renews-guam-threat-ahead-of-joint-naval-exercise.html?referer=http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index
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N.K. warns U.S. could face 'unimaginable' strike
SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean agency made a threat Thursday that Pyongyang could stage an "unimaginable" strike on the United States at an unexpected time amid tensions over the North's nuclear and missile programs.
The North's intimidation came as the South Korean and U.S. navies are staging massive joint drills in waters off the Korean Peninsula with the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan being involved.
http://m.yna.co.kr/mob2/en/contents_en.jsp?cid=AEN20171019001200315&site=0200000000&mobile
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Fatboy always going thru the thesaurus to come up with new words to describe his latest threat.
Now it's "unimaginable". I guess he's down to the U's. LOL
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Fatboy always going thru the thesaurus to come up with new words to describe his latest threat.
Now it's "unimaginable". I guess he's down to the U's. LOL
Well, if he could stage it, then someone imagined it....so I guess it isn't unimaginable after all. :shrug:
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Well, if he could stage it, then someone imagined it....so I guess it isn't unimaginable after all. :shrug:
Then let him stage it...let him shoot a missile at Guam, Trump will attack with full force, Fatboy will be dead possibly within an hour if not shortly thereafter.
My guess is Fatboy won't be taken alive. He will windup doing the Adolph Hitler suicide routine.
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North Korea is ‘mass producing biological weapons’ and could unleash smallpox, cholera, plague and anthrax on US troops
KIM Jong-un is feared to be secretly mass producing biological weapons to unleash nightmarish plagues on US troops, a report has found.
Under the cover of a farm lab, it is claimed North Korean chemists could be weaponising some the world’s deadliest diseases such as smallpox, Black Death and cholera which could lay waste to millions of people if an epidemic was sparked.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4741354/north-korea-biological-weapons-smallpox-cholera-plague-anthrax-us-troops/
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https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-korea-threat-critical-imminent-japan-tells-u-103227389.html
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Korea War Seen Killing Up to 300,000 in Days Even Without Nukes
@ACapaccio More stories by Anthony Capaccio
By
October 27, 2017, 2:30 PM CDT October 27, 2017, 4:17 PM CDT
Up to 25 million on both sides of border could be affected
Grim assessment offered by Congressional Research Service
Renewed conflict on the Korean peninsula could kill hundreds of thousands of people in the first few days alone even if no nuclear weapons are involved, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.
Given population densities on the peninsula, military conflict “could affect upwards of 25 million people on either side of the border, including at least 100,000 U.S. citizens,” according to a 62-page assessment sent to U.S. lawmakers Friday and obtained by Bloomberg News.
Read more at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-27/new-korean-conflict-could-kill-300-000-within-days-report-says
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2 articles from VOA:
High-level North Korean Defector Urges Engagement With Pyongyang
VOA News
The highest-level North Korean defector to make it out of the country in 20 years says the West must use "maximum engagement" with the Kim Jong Un regime.
Thae Yong-ho is making his first visit to Washington. The former deputy chief of mission at the North Korean embassy in London defected to South Korea with his family last year.
"I decided that the best gift which I may give to my son is the freedom which is so common to everyone here," Thae told the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, on Tuesday.
Read more: https://www.voanews.com/a/high-level-north-korean-defector-urges-engagement-pyongyang/4094900.html
Reuters: US Engaging in Secret Diplomatic Overtures with N. Korea
VOA News
Reuters news agency says the United States is pursuing direct diplomacy behind the scenes with North Korea, despite the ongoing war of words between President Donald Trump and Pyongyang.
In an exclusive story published Wednesday, Reuters says it has learned from an unnamed State Department official that Joseph Yun, the U.S. special envoy to North Korea, has been speaking with diplomats stationed at the North's United Nations mission, utilizing what is known in the diplomatic trade as "the New York channel."
Read more at: https://www.voanews.com/a/us-north-korea-diplomacy-/4095146.html
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Merchants in China Scramble to Collect Debts Before Beijing Expels North Korean Traders
2017-10-31
Chinese merchants are scrambling to collect massive debts from North Korean traders who bought their goods on credit ahead of the end of the year, when Beijing will force them to leave the country as part of sanctions aimed at freezing Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, according to sources.
Read more at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/debts-10312017124245.html
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North Korea crisis becoming unsolvable, experts warn, as Trump heads to Asia
ABC News
All it would take is a miscalculation — an error in interpretation by a single soldier, for example — to plummet the United States, North Korea and the region into war, some analysts warned.
Imagine a North Korean surface-to-air missile operator who sees a U.S. B-1B bomber flying closer and closer to his country’s airspace and, after years of anti-U.S. propaganda that has portrayed an aggressive invader, thinks his country is at risk. What was a defensive military exercise, by U.S. accounts, becomes an international incident, with two pugnacious leaders — who don’t like to be seen as backing down — risking a wider conflict.
Continued: http://abcnews.go.com/International/north-korea-crisis-unsolvable-experts-warn-trump-heads/story?id=50872436
N. Korea is ready to 'press the button' if U.S. attacks, defector says
by Alexander Smith
North Korean military officers have been trained to trigger a devastating counterstrike if their country is attacked by the United States, according to a high-profile defector.
Former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong Ho's comments to U.S. lawmakers suggest that military action on the Korean peninsula — a course of action repeatedly raised by President Donald Trump — would almost certainly result in a catastrophic number of civilian casualties.
Read more at: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea/north-korea-defector-warns-military-will-react-any-sign-u-n816756
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Bump
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North Korean military officers have been trained to trigger a devastating counterstrike if their country is attacked by the United States, according to a high-profile defector.
The problem for them is, their options for counterstrike are severely limited. They have liquid fuel missiles that take time to fuel and position. They’ll be spotted and hit almost immediately. They have no legitimate air force to speak of and no credible navy to strike our fleet.
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North Korea fires unidentified ballistic missile, South Korea news agency reports
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2017/11/29/0200000000AEN20171129000600315.html (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2017/11/29/0200000000AEN20171129000600315.html)
Breaking
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At some point, aren’t we going to have to blow this country off the map? I mean, yes, it would be a tragedy for the innocent people, but it looks like it’s them or us.
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At some point, aren’t we going to have to blow this country off the map? I mean, yes, it would be a tragedy for the innocent people, but it looks like it’s them or us.
I've said many times before, I think there would be mass surrenders and defections, similar to Gulf War I. The recent info about the defecting NK soldier's life in that hell hole makes me believe it more.
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North Korea defector: News of Kim Jong Un made me leave
NEW YORK, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Radio broadcasts are changing North Korean perceptions of the outside world as Kim Jong Un may be proving to be an increasingly unpopular leader.
Kim Hyeong-soo, 54, told UPI by Skype from South Korea that he left North Korea because he could not imagine a future where Kim Jong Un, the third member of the ruling family, was running the country.
"I was inspired to leave North Korea after hearing U.S. and South Korean radio broadcasts filtering in," Kim Hyeong-soo said.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/11/30/North-Korea-defector-News-of-Kim-Jong-Un-made-me-leave/3291512056706/ (https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/11/30/North-Korea-defector-News-of-Kim-Jong-Un-made-me-leave/3291512056706/)
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What North Korean photos say about new ballistic missile
FINANCE
What North Korean photos say about new ballistic missile
Associated Press
ERIC TALMADGE
Associated PressNovember 29, 2017
0:141:08
What North Korean photos say about new ballistic missile
TOKYO (AP) — North Korea released dozens of photos Thursday of the Hwasong-15, a new intercontinental ballistic missile it claims can reach any target in the continental United States. The photo dump, published in the paper and online editions of the ruling party's official daily, is a goldmine for rocket experts trying to parse reality from bluster.
Their general conclusion is that it's bigger, more advanced and comes with a domestically made mobile launcher that will make it harder than ever to pre-emptively destroy. But there's a potentially major catch: it might not have the power to go much farther than the West Coast if it is loaded down with a real nuclear warhead, not a dummy like the one it carried in its test launch on Wednesday.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/north-korean-photos-ballistic-missile-053212236.html
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Posted in editorials:
Patrick Buchanan: Little Rocket Man's Risky Game
By Patrick J. Buchanan | December 1, 2017 | 5:56 AM EST
In the morning darkness of Wednesday, Kim Jong-un launched an ICBM that rose almost 2,800 miles into the sky before falling into the Sea of Japan.
North Korea now has the proven ability to hit Washington, D.C.
Unproven still is whether Kim can put a miniaturized nuclear warhead atop that missile, which could be fired with precision, and survive the severe vibrations of re-entry. More tests and more time are needed for that.
Thus, U.S. markets brushed off the news of Kim's Hwasong-15 missile and roared to record heights on Wednesday and Thursday.
Read more at: https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/little-rocket-mans-risky-game (https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/little-rocket-mans-risky-game)
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North Korean soldier’s survival is ‘truly a miracle,’ says American rescue crew
https://www.facebook.com/annafifield (https://www.facebook.com/annafifield)
TOKYO — When the injured soldier was loaded onto into the Black Hawk helicopter, Sgt. 1st Class Gopal Singh, on his last mission as a flight medic, said a prayer. He did not think the man, who had been shot five times, was going to survive.
“I could tell immediately that this guy was probably going to die in the next 15 minutes if we didn’t start working on him and get the aircraft off the ground,†said Singh, a medic in the Eighth Army’s 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, stationed at Camp Humphreys in South Korea.
The evacuation crew did not know it then, but their patient was a North Korean soldier who had just made a daring dash for freedom across the Joint Security Area, the neutral section in the demilitarized zone where enemy troops stand face-to-face.
Read more at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-korean-soldiers-survival-istruly-a-miracle-says-american-rescue-crew/2017/12/01/2595ee42-d5c3-11e7-9461-ba77d604373d_story.html (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-korean-soldiers-survival-istruly-a-miracle-says-american-rescue-crew/2017/12/01/2595ee42-d5c3-11e7-9461-ba77d604373d_story.html)
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According to this aircrew, the missile did not survive re-entry. Expect more launches soon.
'Blew up and fell apart'
Described by Pyongyang as its "most powerful" missile, the 29 November launch ended up in Japanese waters but flew higher than any other the North had previously tested.
According to the South China Morning Post, Cathay's general manager of operations Mark Hoey told staff in a message that "today the crew of CX893 reported, 'Be advised, we witnessed the DPRK missile blow up and fall apart near our current location'".
The launch was reportedly also witnessed by two South Korean aircraft en route to Seoul from the US.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42218615 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42218615)
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US, Japan, South Korea to Hold Missile Tracking Drill Amid North Korea Crisis
By Reuters
The United States, Japan and South Korea will hold two days of missile tracking drills starting on Monday, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force said, as tensions rise in the region over North Korea‘s fast-developing weapons programmes.
The United States and South Korea conducted large-scale military drills last week, which the North said made the outbreak of war “an established factâ€.
North Korea has fired missiles over Japan as it pursues nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in defiance of U.N. sanctions and international condemnation. On Nov. 29, it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile which it said was its most advanced yet, capable of reaching the mainland United States.
Continued at: https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-japan-south-korea-to-hold-missile-tracking-drill-amid-north-korea-crisis_2383665.html (https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-japan-south-korea-to-hold-missile-tracking-drill-amid-north-korea-crisis_2383665.html)
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Antiwar.com:
Upbeat South Korea Expects Talks With North in 2018
Unification Ministry Sees an Opening for Talks
Jason Ditz Posted on December 26, 2017Categories NewsTags North Korea, South Korea, Trump
South Korea’s Unification Ministry has offered a new report on Tuesday, a collection of predictions and expectations for the year to come. Unlike other recent reports, the ministry offered a surprisingly upbeat outlook for the next year, despite a very tense 2017.
South Korea now expects that North Korea will, at some point in 2018, enter into direct talks with the United States, seeking to become recognized as a de facto nuclear power, seeing North Korea’s priority as shifting to the talks themselves.
Source: http://news.antiwar.com/2017/12/26/upbeat-south-korea-expects-talks-with-north-in-2018/ (http://news.antiwar.com/2017/12/26/upbeat-south-korea-expects-talks-with-north-in-2018/)
Interesting website, is off-limits at TOS (sounds like antiwar.com told them not to post their stories); I frequently disagree with their viewpoint but they are one of those news conglomeration websites and often have articles one might ordinarily miss.
This story looks like it was probably assembled largely from other news sources.
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North Korean Nuclear Scientist Commits Suicide on Forced Return From China
2017-12-28
A North Korean nuclear scientist who defected to China has killed himself after being forced home, taking poison in a state security cell while awaiting interrogation, RFA has learned.
The defector, a researcher in the physics center of the State Academy of Sciences in Pyongyang, was one of a group of North Koreans detained in Shenyang city, China, on Nov. 4 and sent back on Nov. 17, a source in North Hamgyong province told RFA’s Korean Service this week.
“He killed himself only a few hours after he was placed in solitary confinement at the State Security Department in Sinuiju city†just across the border from China, RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Read more at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/return-12282017153555.html (http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/return-12282017153555.html)
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A number of sources are saying this whole matter is now dying down.
We know we can't trust NK; but I guess this is better than outright bad news.
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A number of sources are saying this whole matter is now dying down.
We know we can't trust NK; but I guess this is better than outright bad news.
Things are probably dying down from a rhetoric standpoint, but you can believe they are still in the process of figuring out their biggest technical issue - a survivable re-entry vehicle.
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JANUARY 6, 2018 / 2:46 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
Trump says he would 'absolutely' talk to North Korea's Kim on phone
James Oliphant
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-northkorea/trump-says-he-would-absolutely-talk-to-north-koreas-kim-on-phone-idUSKBN1EV0OC (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-northkorea/trump-says-he-would-absolutely-talk-to-north-koreas-kim-on-phone-idUSKBN1EV0OC)
CAMP DAVID, Md. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would “absolutely†be willing to talk on the phone to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and that he hopes a positive development results from talks between North Korea and South Korea.
[...]
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North Korea nuclear test site has 'significant' work underway: report
Lukas Mikelionis is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @LukasMikelionis.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un celebrates what was said to be the test launch of a Hwasong-12 missile, in an undated government photo that was distributed Sept. 16, 2017.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un celebrates what was said to be the test launch of a Hwasong-12 missile, in an undated government photo that was distributed Sept. 16, 2017. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via Associated Press)
“Significant tunneling†has been detected at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site, according to a Washington-based think tank specializing in tracking the Hermit Kingdom's activities.
Satellite images from December show increasing efforts to maintain the test site where North Korea has conducted the last six underground nuclear tests, claims a report Thursday by 38 North. The publication is run by Johns Hopkins University.
Continued: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/01/12/north-korea-nuclear-test-site-has-significant-work-underway-report.html (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/01/12/north-korea-nuclear-test-site-has-significant-work-underway-report.html)
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Trump Accuses Russia of Helping North Korea Evade Sanctions
Peter Heinlein
WHITE HOUSE —
U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Russia of helping North Korea evade international sanctions, and said Pyongyang is making daily progress in its quest to develop ballistic missiles that can reach the United States.
In an Oval Office interview with Reuters Wednesday, Trump praised China for its efforts to restrict oil and coal supplies to North Korea but said Beijing could do much more to help constrain Pyongyang. But he said Russia appears to be filling in the gaps left by the Chinese.
On Russia, North Korea
“Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea,†Trump told Reuters. “What China is helping us with, Russia is denting. In other words, Russia is making up for some of what China is doing.â€He suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin might deliberately be subverting the sanctions.
Read more at: https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-accuses-russia-of-helping-north-korea-evade-sanctions/4212483.html (https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-accuses-russia-of-helping-north-korea-evade-sanctions/4212483.html)
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The US appears to be quietly preparing for nuclear war with North Korea
Alex Lockie
Despite the appearance of thawing tensions with North Korea, both Washington and Pyongyang have made several steps that suggest things could escalate soon.
The US has quietly moved heavy firepower like nuclear bombers and aircraft carriers to the region.
On the sidelines of important diplomatic meetings, talk of military action has been ever present, if not front and center.
While most of the world celebrates the progress from pre-Olympic inter-Korean talks and the apparent thaw in tensions between North Korea and the world, the US has taken steps to move heavy firepower to the region.
Continued at: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-appears-quietly-preparing-nuclear-war-north-korea-2018-1 (http://www.businessinsider.com/us-appears-quietly-preparing-nuclear-war-north-korea-2018-1)
Take with a grain of salt, who knows? The author goes on to mention the possibility of a "bloody nose" attack which has been discussed before. Perhaps, this is just a rehashing of that story. Business Insider is okay, that doesn't mean all of their stories are so.
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Take with a grain of salt, who knows? The author goes on to mention the possibility of a "bloody nose" attack which has been discussed before. Perhaps, this is just a rehashing of that story. Business Insider is okay, that doesn't mean all of their stories are so.
The united states has been preparing for Nuke war with other countries since the Rooskies started work on thier 1st bomb. This is not concerning in the least. It just feeds the sheeple.
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I was really worried about all of this until I found out nuclear weapons are a hoax.
http://abeldanger.blogspot.com/2016/03/nuclear-weapons-are-hoax-nuclear-power.html?m=1 (http://abeldanger.blogspot.com/2016/03/nuclear-weapons-are-hoax-nuclear-power.html?m=1)
Where do people come up with this stuff?
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I was really worried about all of this until I found out nuclear weapons are a hoax.
http://abeldanger.blogspot.com/2016/03/nuclear-weapons-are-hoax-nuclear-power.html?m=1 (http://abeldanger.blogspot.com/2016/03/nuclear-weapons-are-hoax-nuclear-power.html?m=1)
Where do people come up.with this stuff?
I feel so much better...no, maybe not.
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China secretly bought North Korean coal as US watched from above: report
Fox News
(http://a57.foxnews.com/images.foxnews.com/content/fox-news/world/2018/01/19/china-secretly-bought-north-korean-coal-as-u-s-watched-from-above-report/_jcr_content/par/featured_image/media-0.img.jpg/931/524/1516341116782.jpg?ve=1&tl=1&text=big-top-image)
The Glory Hope 1 is shown in a satellite picture, where it reportedly took on illicit North Korean coal. (U.S. photo submitted to the United Nations)
At least six cargo ships linked to China furtively violated U.N. sanctions by taking on North Korean coal late last year, potentially providing a significant boost to the rogue regime's coffers, the U.S. alleges.
The U.N. Security Council in August hit North Korea with sanctions that were projected to cut nearly $1 billion from its annual exports revenue of roughly $3 billion, banning exports of coal, iron ore, and other products.
Read more at: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/01/19/china-secretly-bought-north-korean-coal-as-us-watched-from-above-report.html (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/01/19/china-secretly-bought-north-korean-coal-as-us-watched-from-above-report.html)
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It's almost like China and Russia aren't our friends...
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Trump Sends "Silent Death" Ship to NK Conflict Zone
By Chris Golden
January 17, 2018 at 6:48am
Kim Jong Un is about to come face to face with yet more American naval power in the Pacific, and the latest addition sent by the Trump administration could rain down “silent death†on his North Korean regime.
According to Stars and Stripes, the USS Wasp — an amphibious assault ship with stealth attack capabilities — has been deployed to Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, joining the 7th Fleet’s show of force against Pyongyang. The ship will be replacing the USS Bonhomme Richard as the flagship of Task Force 76.
One of the key features of the Wasp is that it’s been modified to carry F-35B Lightning II stealth aircraft, allowing for nearly silent strikes against the North Koreans should the situation arise.
Continued at: https://conservativetribune.com/trump-sends-silent-death/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=idealmedia&utm_campaign=conservativetribune.com&utm_term=68763&utm_content=2176790
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"Kim Jong Un is about to come face to face with yet more American naval power in the Pacific, and the latest addition sent by the Trump administration could rain down “silent death†on his North Korean regime."
I think the "Little Un" is sucking his bottle with wet diapers.
I agree with you @Wingnut.
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I was really worried about all of this until I found out nuclear weapons are a hoax.
http://abeldanger.blogspot.com/2016/03/nuclear-weapons-are-hoax-nuclear-power.html?m=1 (http://abeldanger.blogspot.com/2016/03/nuclear-weapons-are-hoax-nuclear-power.html?m=1)
Where do people come up with this stuff?
I guess that cat scratcher "could" be a fake, too. Give me a break! I have watched those videos so many times. Baker is my favorite of all.
*****rollingeyes*****
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I agree with you @Wingnut.
:beer: Just don't make a habit of that. You might lose your street cred round here. :whistle:
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"Kim Jong Un is about to come face to face with yet more American naval power in the Pacific, and the latest addition sent by the Trump administration could rain down “silent death†on his North Korean regime."
I think the "Little Un" is sucking his bottle with wet diapers.
I agree with you @Wingnut.
@Slip18
No, he thinks America will back down. And if we don't he doesn't care. He considers it a fair trade to die if he gets to kill a bunch of Americans. So do those around him who have power.
The one thing he probably won't do it attack China or South Korea, unless they attack him first.
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North Korea "months away" from ability to hit U.S. with nuclear weapon -U.S. envoy
Thomson Reuters Foundation
* U.S. and North Korea clash at U.N. disarmament forum
* N. Korea may be "months away" from missile able to reach US
* U.S. says Pyongyang "charm offensive frankly is fooling no one"
* North Korea envoy says Washington considering pre-emptive strike (Adds more quotes from U.S. envoy Wood, Korean envoy)
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - North Korea is only months away from obtaining the capability to hit U.S. territory with a nuclear weapon and must be disarmed, a U.S. envoy said on Tuesday, dismissing Pyonyang's diplomatic thaw with South Korea as a "charm offensive" that fooled no one.
More: http://news.trust.org/item/20180206115222-xhu2b (http://news.trust.org/item/20180206115222-xhu2b)
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Report: China Moves 300,000 Troops Closer to North Korean Border
by Frances Martel5 Feb 20181,254
The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo cited Radio Free Asia (RFA) in a report Monday, stating that RFA had compiled evidence that China had “late last year deployed another missile defense battery at an armored division in Helong, west of Longjing in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture.â€
The “North Korean source in China†speaking to RFA also noted that Pyongyang had observed the movement of 300,000 troops closer to the North Korean border and ...
Continued at: http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/02/05/report-china-moves-300000-troops-closer-north-korean-border/ (http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/02/05/report-china-moves-300000-troops-closer-north-korean-border/)
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North Korea Invites South’s Leader to Pyongyang—and Creates a Dilemma for Allies
Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, conveyed the invitation to President Moon Jae-in
By Jonathan Cheng and
Andrew Jeong
Updated Feb. 10, 2018 2:56 p.m. ET
SEOUL—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited his South Korean counterpart for a summit in Pyongyang, presenting Seoul with a quandary: accept, and risk heightening differences with the U.S. over how to rein in the North’s nuclear program, or decline, and risk a chance to build on a thaw in cross-border relations.
Wall Street Journal paywall, so that was the first paragraph:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korean-leader-invites-south-korean-president-to-pyongyang-1518245274 (https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korean-leader-invites-south-korean-president-to-pyongyang-1518245274)
Surely, details can be found elsewhere.
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This is from antiwar.com so rather than calling them leftists, I'd say they are a bit like the Ron Paul view of things, still, if an Admiral said this, this is just reporting the news but separate the real news from editorial comment:
Top US Admiral: North Korea Plots to ‘Reunify’ Korean Peninsula
Dismisses Idea North Korea Got Nukes to Deter Attack
Jason Ditz Posted on February 14, 2018Categories NewsTags North Korea, Pentagon
US Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris, testifying Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee, accused North Korea of making its recent military advances exclusively with an eye toward forcibly unifying the Korean Peninsula “under a single communist system.â€
Reunification Monument, Pyongyang, North Korea
Admiral Harris scorned the idea that North Korea had gotten nuclear arms to try to protect North Korea from a US-imposed regime change, saying he believes Kim’s ambitions are to “blackmail the South and other countries in the region, and us.â€
https://news.antiwar.com/2018/02/14/top-us-admiral-north-korea-plots-to-reunify-korean-peninsula/
Antiwar.com also has some extreme hater types commenting, Unpatriotic and Russian troll types and the like.
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Bookmark
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April 23rd, 2018 article from "The Drive War Zone":
North Korea Shows Zero Signs It Is Willing To Consider Denuclearization
Tyler Rogoway
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20344/kim-jong-un-international-man-in-demand (http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20344/kim-jong-un-international-man-in-demand)
4 days ago, so we will see. This already looks a bit out-of-date.
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Basically, they are saying because China is NK's biggest trading partner, 63% of all trade. And to me, that also says, because North Korea depends on China so much.
Why Does North Korea Have No Choice but to Suspend Nuclear Tests?
By Sunny Chao, Epoch Times
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced on April 20 that the country will suspend nuclear tests and missile launches. Why did the dictator suddenly decide to submit to international demands to denuclearize after increased nuclear testing throughout the past year?
A longtime Chinese blogger who frequently comments on domestic economic news, with the pseudonym Manzu Yongshi, penned an article on April 23, explaining that the regime’s about-face may have to do with its rapidly declining trade with China as a result of international pressure, threatening its survival.
China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner. According to data from the Bank of Korea, North Korea’s trade with China made up 63 percent of its total trade in 2007. By 2013, that percentage grew to 89.1 percent. Despite sanctions from the international community, China increased its trade with the regime, the blogger noted. Many necessities such as petroleum and medicine is imported from China, while the North Korean regime primarily exports its coal to China.
After 2013, due to North Korea’s continued nuclear tests, the United States and other countries strengthened their sanctions on North Korea. Thus, trade between China and North Korea decreased slightly, but still remained at the scale of $5.06 billion until the end of 2017, according to China’s official customs data.
Read more at: https://www.theepochtimes.com/why-does-north-korea-have-no-choice-but-to-suspend-nuclear-tests_2505073.html (https://www.theepochtimes.com/why-does-north-korea-have-no-choice-but-to-suspend-nuclear-tests_2505073.html)
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World News
North Korea to align with South's time zone as first practical step toward reconciliation
North Korea will shift its time zone 30 minutes earlier to align with South Korea starting May 5 "as a first practical step for national reconciliation and unity," the North's state media said Monday.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea/north-korea-to-align-with-souths-time-zone-as-first-practical-step-toward-reconciliation-idUSKBN1I1040 (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea/north-korea-to-align-with-souths-time-zone-as-first-practical-step-toward-reconciliation-idUSKBN1I1040)
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(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ55hPfRU0KX3uEhQzDBBRbHiVJGBbkLCE4vtIzxWXCXe0QraU74w)
“As far as the risk of dealing with a madman is concerned, that’s his problem, not mine,†Trump said.
-----------------
Saw this "joke" at a conservative website, "Biased BBC": https://biasedbbc.org/blog/2018/05/03/on-trump/ , has to be a joke, maybe it was actually said but I doubt it....pretty funny.
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This is starting to sound like the Iran Deal Part 2.
The US would be "prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our South Korean friends", he told reporters on Friday.
Mr Pompeo, who has just returned from Pyongyang, said he had "good" talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un......
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44091279 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44091279)
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If the result is similar the Marshall Plan, it would be worth it.
If N. Korea becomes a member of the peaceful, modern world it will be the benefit of a very long cold war.
BMW now makes vehicles in the former East Germany (Leipzig).
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If the result is similar the Marshall Plan, it would be worth it.
You pay for it then out of your own pocket - the rest of us are broke and in debt to the tune of trillions hoisted upon our grandchildren not even yet born.
Let them make their own economy work, we can barely keep ours afloat in the sea of red it exists in.
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What's wrong with allowing South Korea to pay for it? They stand to benefit the most.
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What's wrong with allowing South Korea to pay for it? They stand to benefit the most.
Amen
I have a question. Probably one that most people have. What does North Korea have to offer in a global market? How can you promise such a thing?
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Amen
I have a question. Probably one that most people have. What does North Korea have to offer in a global market? How can you promise such a thing?
My understanding is they are rich in mineral resources.
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It's my tax payers money, I'll gladly give. We've been paying North Korea for who knows for how long? Heckuva lot better than a war.
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My understanding is they are rich in mineral resources.
That's right, they have some sort of very rare mineral, I forget which, surely, it can be googled quickly.
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That's right, they have some sort of very rare mineral, I forget which, surely, it can be googled quickly.
Britholite and associated minerals, for their rare-earth metals like cerium, lanthanum, praseodymium, etc.
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My understanding is they are rich in mineral resources.
Yes they have, could be trillions in minerals. So being that Trump wanted to take the oil from Iraq I am sure he is expecting as much back and more for helping.
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Britholite and associated minerals, for their rare-earth metals like cerium, lanthanum, praseodymium, etc.
I was hoping one of the Geologists would check in...thanks! I think I read up to $6 Trillion worth. They have it, then know it, but they can't get at it. Of course, so does Venezuela....
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I was hoping one of the Geologists would check in...thanks! I think I read up to $6 Trillion worth. They have it, then know it, but they can't get at it. Of course, so does Venezuela....
China has a near monopoly on these materials. It will be very interesting to see how they will try to keep control over the market.
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China has a near monopoly on these materials. It will be very interesting to see how they will try to keep control over the market.
Exactly, @Suppressed. I think China is also interested in Pakistan and Afghanistan partly for the same reason. I don't think the US will want to entirely abandon either region. Especially since we're giving China carte blanche in East Africa.
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Exactly, @Suppressed. I think China is also interested in Pakistan and Afghanistan partly for the same reason. I don't think the US will want to entirely abandon either region. Especially since we're giving China carte blanche in East Africa.
You're right.
Actually, all throughout Africa. Mineral rich areas like the Congo predominantly go to China.
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As I said in the other thread and I will just make this much shorter (no pun),
Kim Jong Un has done such terrible things, I mean killing people. I think it will be somewhat problematic to economically aid that country without him stepping down. It probably can be done.
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This is funny per Mike Pompeo via Soledad O'Brien's twitter:
Soledad O'Brien
â€Verified account @soledadobrien
Soledad O'Brien Retweeted Lucas Tomlinson
Wow. This is a pretty crazy thing to say anout the North Korean dictator.
Soledad O'Brien added,
Lucas Tomlinson
Verified account @LucasFoxNews
Pompeo: “I think Chairman Kim [Jong Un] shares the objectives with the American people, I am convinced of that,†secretary of state says on @FoxNewsSunday
11:11 AM - 13 May 2018
https://twitter.com/soledadobrien/status/995728267540946947
No credit to the CNNers and exCNNers like I guess Soledad is, humor is humor.
And actually, the statement can make sense, it just sounds strange, Kim may want peace and prosperity, just like most of us want as well.
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China has a near monopoly on these materials. It will be very interesting to see how they will try to keep control over the market.
Not so much a monopoly on the materials, but they will produce them without being encumbered by everyone from the 'preserve the pretty piece of nowhere we never would see from the ground' to the 'save the three winged butterfly' crowds.
Lawsuits by such obstructionists here make it virtually impossible to develop such resources.
In the absence of environmental group concerns and, for that matter HSE considerations in general, along with a government which will make that production happen, they have the supply of materials pretty much sewed up. I have little doubt that other regions may have significant reserves of Rare Earth minerals, but other geoplolitical considerations apply.
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Fox radio had some blurb about NK threatening to cancel talks.
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"TRISH REGAN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL: That's not really diplomatic!"
Trish Reagan has been driving me crazy with her filtered camera lenses and her nonstop dropping of names.
Her show is on after Neal Cavuto's. That is my time to take leave of the markets. I always have litter boxes to clean.
:tongue2:
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"TRISH REGAN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL: That's not really diplomatic!"
Trish Reagan has been driving me crazy with her filtered camera lenses and her nonstop dropping of names.
Her show is on after Neal Cavuto's. That is my time to take leave of the markets. I always have litter boxes to clean.
:tongue2:
Where have you been, @Slip18? Haven't seen you lately.
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Where have you been, @Slip18? Haven't seen you lately.
Nice to see you, Sanguine!
I have been cleaning up the backyard getting ready to build the roof. Lotsa work there. It is hard to stop once you start, as you well know about your sink!
@Cyber Liberty
We have also become proud new parents of three more kittens. Too cute!
I did not mean to highjack this thread. LOL!
888high58888
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Nice to see you, Sanguine!
I have been cleaning up the backyard getting ready to build the roof. Lotsa work there. It is hard to stop once you start, as you well know about your sink!
@Cyber Liberty
We have also become proud new parents of three more kittens. Too cute!
I did not mean to highjack this thread. LOL!
888high58888
Outdoor kittehs. We were afraid the owl had gotten them....
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Trump’s North Korea Nobel buzz could die with John Bolton
By MICHAEL CROWLEY and ELIANA JOHNSON
Donald Trump wants a deal with North Korea. His national security adviser thinks the North Koreans can’t be dealt with. And North Korea thinks he’s “human scum.â€
North Korea’s latest diatribe against the United States — and specifically a “repugnant†national security adviser, John Bolton — spotlights a core tension within the Trump administration as the president seeks a nuclear deal with North Korea that he hopes might earn him a Nobel Peace Prize.
Bolton is famously contemptuous of what he considers naïve U.S. diplomacy with foreign adversaries who can only be trusted to cheat and lie. Prominent on his list is North Korea itself, which he has written “will never give up nuclear weapons voluntarily,†calling past U.S. diplomatic forays with the country “embarrassments.â€
Read more at: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/16/trump-north-korea-bolton-595064 (https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/16/trump-north-korea-bolton-595064)
Now is a good time to use this thread, I might. No one should feel obligated to though.
But we should keep it on topic.
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Now is a good time to use this thread, I might. No one should feel obligated to though.
But we should keep it on topic.
I like John Bolton quite a bit, and if his straight talk is rattling the Norks, then I say it's because they have been pulling on our chain to get some daylight between us and the South.
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I like John Bolton quite a bit, and if his straight talk is rattling the Norks, then I say it's because they have been pulling on our chain to get some daylight between us and the South.
There was a pretty good and relevant comment on another thread:
Re: North Korea threatens to withdraw from summit with Trump
« Reply #64 on: Today at 11:28:09 AM »
@IsailedawayfromFR
Per the Bloomberg article just cited is what boomberg wrote what Bolton said?
It was Bloomberg, not Bolton who mentioned the end of Qaddaffi.
all Bolton did was to reference the model of disengagement from nuclear arms.
And exactly how did a dictator who gave up nuclear ambitions get weaker to be overthrown anyhow? Was he going to use those on his own people to prevent a coup?
@TomSea , you will have to try harder than that.
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Two North Koreans including a soldier defect to South Korea: Yonhap
Reuters Staff
SEOUL (Reuters) - Two North Koreans defected to South Korea early on Saturday and were found in the Yellow Sea, Seoul-based news agency Yonhap reported, citing a government source.
Yonhap said that South Korean military spotted two people in a boat near the inter-Korean sea border, one of whom was a military officer, and they showed willingness to defect to the South.
South Korea’s unification ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea-defection/two-north-koreans-including-a-soldier-defect-to-south-korea-yonhap-idUSKCN1IK02A (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea-defection/two-north-koreans-including-a-soldier-defect-to-south-korea-yonhap-idUSKCN1IK02A)
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US ambassador to South Korea announced by White House
The White House announced Friday President Trump's intent to nominate Harry B. Harris Jr. to be the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea.
Days ahead of a White House visit from South Korean President Moon Jae-in, President Trump announced Friday his nominee for ambassador to the country.
The president said he intends to nominate Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., who currently serves as the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, to be the American ambassador to South Korea, according to a statement from Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
Read more at: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/05/18/us-ambassador-to-south-korea-announced-by-white-house.html (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/05/18/us-ambassador-to-south-korea-announced-by-white-house.html)
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Via the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Opinion: South-North Korean summit is the way forward
By Young-jun Kim
Posted: 5:15 p.m. Friday, May 18, 2018
History was made on the Korean Peninsula on April 27, 2018 with the summit between President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). The agreement between the two leaders at the Peace House at Panmunjom was more fruitful than expected and paved the way for the denuclearization of North Korea as well as the official end of the Korean War.
Since his inauguration in May 2017, President Moon’s diplomacy efforts have turned fear of the possibility of war on the Korean Peninsula into hope for peace and stability. The amicable atmosphere created by North Korean participation in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games improved relations once threatened by North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile provocations. The achievements reached during the recent summit are remarkable compared to the previous summits between South and North Korea in 2000 and 2007.
The agreement reached with the signing of the “Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity, and Unification of the Korean Peninsula†can be summarized as follows:
Read more at: https://www.myajc.com/news/opinion/opinion-south-north-korean-summit-the-way-forward/rZKywjDH1ebugDwiwu977O/ (https://www.myajc.com/news/opinion/opinion-south-north-korean-summit-the-way-forward/rZKywjDH1ebugDwiwu977O/)
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Is Xi Jinping the puppetmaster behind North Korea's pushback on talks?
By Ben Westcott, CNN 19 hrs ago
US President Donald Trump suggested Thursday Beijing could be behind North Korea's recent harsh rhetoric against Washington in the past week, which has thrown the June summit in Singapore into doubt.
Speaking in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump appeared to blame Xi for Pyongyang's change of tone, which included threatening to call off the talks if the US insisted on unilateral denuclearization.
"It could very well be that he's influencing Kim Jong Un," Trump said, adding Kim's apparent change of heart had begun after his recent meeting with Xi in the northern Chinese town of Dalian.
Read more at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/is-xi-jinping-the-puppetmaster-behind-north-koreas-pushback-on-talks/ar-AAxs8Sp (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/is-xi-jinping-the-puppetmaster-behind-north-koreas-pushback-on-talks/ar-AAxs8Sp)
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US reportedly cancels B-52 bomber exercise with South Korea amid threats from North Korea
Amanda Macias
A training exercise involving U.S. B-52 bombers flying alongside South Korean warplanes was canceled following threats that Pyongyang would withdraw from a highly anticipated summit with President Donald Trump next month, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials.
According to Friday's report, the officials said South Korea had asked to not participate in an air drill that also involved Japan and the U.S.
The White House referred CNBC's request for comment about the Journal report to the Pentagon, which said plans for a separate exercise is continuing as planned.
Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/18/us-cancels-south-korea-military-exercise-amid-north-korea-threats-report.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/18/us-cancels-south-korea-military-exercise-amid-north-korea-threats-report.html)
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Those exercises are just for show anyway. Letting Rocketman know who has the bigger "unit". No loss of face to zip it up for the time being.
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Those exercises are just for show anyway. Letting Rocketman know who has the bigger "unit". No loss of face to zip it up for the time being.
We've been doing them for years. Rocketman shouldn't be able to dictate when and what we do.
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Nice, we are capitulating to their demands.
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Nice, we are capitulating to their demands.
(http://cdn.overclock.net/photopost/data/82197/e/e7/e735dba8_Cant-tell-if-serious-.jpeg)
Mushroom clouds might be better? Yeah, we are really giving in.
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We went through this whole Gaddaffi scenario, maybe there are some roads to smooth over. But hey, if we can invent some fault, let's go with it. If I didn't know better, some of these folks brought up the same thing about attacking a sovereign nation with Syria....
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(http://cdn.overclock.net/photopost/data/82197/e/e7/e735dba8_Cant-tell-if-serious-.jpeg)
Mushroom clouds might be better? Yeah, we are really giving in.
That assumes only two options.
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That assumes only two options.
Lighten up Francis.
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Lighten up Francis.
:tongue2:
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That assumes only two options.
Defending others again? Eh?
Let 'em have contradictory views or searching for needles in haystacks.
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Defending others again? Eh?
Let 'em have contradictory views or searching for needles in haystacks.
What does that mean? Defending other whats?
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Foreign journalists set to witness North Korea nuclear test site closing
ABC News
North Korea is set to dismantle its nuclear testing facility at Punggye-ri this week in front of a delegation of two dozen handpicked foreign journalists.
The journalists flew on a chartered plane Tuesday from Beijing to the city of Wonsan on the east coast of North Korea and were set to be taken on a long journey to the nuclear site near the village of Punggye-ri.
From Wonsan, the group is expected to travel at least 11 hours on a train up the coast and another four hours into the foothills of Mount Mantap by bus and then finally an hourlong hike to the nuclear test site, according to reporters there.
(https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/north-korea-nuclear-site-01-gty-jef-180522_hpEmbed_4x3_992.jpg)
DigitalGlobe/38 North via Getty Images
Figure 6a. Overview of Main Administrative Area on May 15, prior to removal of several buildings and significant landscaping effort.more +
Continued at: https://abcnews.go.com/International/foreign-journalists-set-witness-north-korea-nuclear-test/story?id=55352464
Sure, NK could be doing a head-fake on all of this.
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North Korea designates Chagang Province as special zone, possibly to conceal nuclear weapons
Lee Sang Yong | 2018-05-23
The North Korean government has named Chagang Province a “Special Songun (military-first) Revolutionary Zone†and has reportedly created plans to designate the province a strategic region for the military. The region is mountainous, and harbors ideal terrain in which to conceal the country’s nuclear weapons.
North Korea has widely publicized its intent to shut down the country’s nuclear program as demanded by the international community. This intent has been exemplified by an event scheduled for May 23 to close its nuclear site in Kilju, North Hamgyong Province, prior to the planned US-DPRK summit. There have been reports, however, that the North Korean authorities are making efforts to conceal the country’s nuclear weapons and associated material.
“Designating Chagang Province as a Special Songun Revolutionary Zone was discussed during a lecture for members of the Ministry of State Security last month," a high-level source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on May 18.
Read more at: http://english.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=15203&cataId=nk01500 (http://english.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=15203&cataId=nk01500)
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Trump: North Korea Summit 'May Not Work Out'
Alana Abramson
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is in Washington Tuesday for a series of meetings with President Trump regarding the upcoming U.S. summit with North Korea – which could be in jeopardy following tough new rhetoric from Pyongyang and a new acknowledgement from Trump.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said there was a “substantial†chance the summit “may not work out†for June 12, but that a decision would be reached soon. “We’re moving along. We’ll see what happens,†he said. “If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will happen later.â€
Trump did not specify the conditions upon which the meeting would be predicated. The meeting between Trump and Moon came one week after North Korea suspended a meeting with South Korea over a joint military exercise with the United States, and threatened to cancel the summit with the U.S. South Korea has been instrumental in urging the two sides to come together.
Read more at: http://time.com/5287057/south-korea-president-moon-jae-in-meets-donald-trump-north-korea/ (http://time.com/5287057/south-korea-president-moon-jae-in-meets-donald-trump-north-korea/)
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Kim Jong Un is said to be worried about North Korea falling to a military coup while he's rubbing shoulders with Trump in Singapore
David Choi
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is reportedly anxious about a planned summit with President Donald Trump set to take place in Singapore next month.
Kim is said to be worried about a military coup or other hostile actors who might try to depose him while he's away.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is reportedly anxious about the planned summit with President Donald Trump in Singapore next month, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the preparations.
According to the report, Kim is less concerned about meeting Trump than he is about what might happen at home in Pyongyang while he's gone.
Read more at: http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-worried-about-military-coup-singapore-summit-trump-2018-5 (http://www.businessinsider.com/kim-jong-un-worried-about-military-coup-singapore-summit-trump-2018-5)
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Same story, the Mirror:
Kim Jong-un 'will hide nukes in North Korea' despite telling West he will shut down weapons programme
Samuel Webb 6 hrs ago
Kim Jong-un will hide his nukes in a mountainous region of North Korea despite announcing he will shut the country’s weapons programme down, it has been claimed.
The leader said he will shut down the nation’s nuclear test site, Punggye-ri, ahead of a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump next month.
But a source told NK News, that the regime has designated Chagang Province a 'Special Military-first Revolutionary Zone' and that the regime will hide its weapons and materials in tunnels beneath the mountains there.
Read more at: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/kim-jong-un-will-hide-nukes-in-north-korea-despite-telling-west-he-will-shut-down-weapons-programme/ar-AAxIEQu (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/kim-jong-un-will-hide-nukes-in-north-korea-despite-telling-west-he-will-shut-down-weapons-programme/ar-AAxIEQu)
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Trump calls off the talks.
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/05/28/us-halts-new-north-korea-sanctions-as-talks-for-potential-trump-kim-summit-continue-report.html (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/05/28/us-halts-new-north-korea-sanctions-as-talks-for-potential-trump-kim-summit-continue-report.html)
"US halts new North Korea sanctions as talks for potential Trump, Kim summit continue: report"
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"Japan says it has detected apparent Chinese ship breaking North Korea sanctions"
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-sanctions/japan-says-it-has-detected-apparent-chinese-ship-breaking-north-korea-sanctions-idUSKCN1IU0ZS (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-sanctions/japan-says-it-has-detected-apparent-chinese-ship-breaking-north-korea-sanctions-idUSKCN1IU0ZS)
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Whooah, looks like an old article but still relevant.
(https://www.nknews.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/dennis-rodman2.jpg)
How Eccentric Dennis Rodman Was Welcomed Home in Pyongyang
Basketball diplomacy follows an abandoned 2009 Eric Clapton visit, showing the important role of Kim family personal interests
Nate Thayer
February 28th, 2013
Today Dennis Rodman made world news by meeting with the North Korean leader to watch a basketball game together, marking the first time an American visiting the DPRK had personally met with Kim Jong Un. After their meeting Rodman said, “Although relations between the two countries are regrettable, personally I am a friend of Marshal Kim Jong Un and the DPRK people.â€
The visit to North Korea of basketball star Dennis Rodman may seem odd to outsiders, but the cross dressing, pierced and tattooed Hollywood celebrity has a very high-level fan club in Pyongyang. And it was no coincidence that Vice Media founder Shane Smith, whose organization helped plan the trip, said that Kim Jong Un’s love of basketball was why the trip was approved.
Read more at: https://www.nknews.org/2013/02/how-eccentric-dennis-rodman-was-welcomed-home-in-pyongyang/ (https://www.nknews.org/2013/02/how-eccentric-dennis-rodman-was-welcomed-home-in-pyongyang/)
Below, from article, Kim Jong Choi, the brother of Kim Jong Un in this picture from Switzerland where apparently both lived at one time and both area big fans of American basketball.
(https://www.nknews.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Kim-Jong-Un-Basketball-Shirt.jpg)
A photo of Kim Jong Chol in a Chicago Bulls shirt, Berne, Switzerland
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Trump takes on troubled US-North Korea history
ABC News
The first time Donald Trump met Barack Obama at the White House, days after Trump’s historic win, the president-elect appeared unusually subdued, even nervous.
Interested in North Korea?
“We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful, and some difficulties,†Trump said in November 2016, after the meeting, sitting next to Obama and looking ill at ease. “I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel.â€
Later that month Trump told The New York Times that he and Obama talked about “a big problem for the country,†which the Times later reported was most likely North Korea.
Read more at: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/News/trump-prepares-face-decades-north-korean-hostility/story?id=55719218
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We are bound to hit some snags in listing demands from North Korea, but it's better than nothing at all and it gets the ball rolling. Talk of a 2nd summit already shows that perhaps, everything can not be ironed out in one sitting.
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We are bound to hit some snags in listing demands from North Korea, but it's better than nothing at all and it gets the ball rolling. Talk of a 2nd summit already shows that perhaps, everything can not be ironed out in one sitting.
I agree, Tom.
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Wish we could change the Thread Title.
I mean, Crisis. What Crisis.
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Wish we could change the Thread Title.
I mean, Crisis. What Crisis.
Let's wait until something concrete happens before we declare the crisis over. Though it looks much more hopeful today than it did a month or two ago.
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Let's wait until something concrete happens before we declare the crisis over. Though it looks much more hopeful today than it did a month or two ago.
Okay. I'll just go put on some Supertramp and wait it out.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLc9xGA_Qhw#)
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Okay. I'll just go put on some Supertramp and wait it out.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLc9xGA_Qhw#)
Good choice.
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NSC Official Says North Korea Media Reports Are A Sign for “Optimismâ€
June 11, 2018
Singapore- Emerald Robinson, Chief White House Correspondent
A senior White House official tells One America News that the recent reports from North Korea state run media regarding the summit in Singapore between President Trump and Kim Jong Un is a “sign for optimism.â€
After weeks of silence regarding the upcoming summit, KCNA finally began reporting on the meeting Monday morning. An editorial in Rodong Sinmun, a state-run newspaper, confirmed that Mr Kim had travelled to Singapore to meet Mr Trump and that “we will establish a new relationship to meet the changing demands of the new eraâ€. The editorial went on to say that the leaders will exchange opinions on how to “establish a permanent and peaceful regime in the Korean peninsula and to solve problems that are of common concern, including issues to realise the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsulaâ€. The piece even raised the idea of normalisatition saying “we shall seek normalisation through dialogue.â€
North Korea’s state run television network, KCNA, also reported on the leader’s trip to Singapore saying Kim will exchange “wide-ranging and profound views on the issue of establishing new DPRK (North Korea)-U.S. relations, the issue of building a permanent and durable peace-keeping mechanism on the Korean Peninsula, the issue of realizing the denuclearization†and other issues.†The Trump Administration official said this is a cause for “optimism†given KCNA’s “history of reporting.â€...
http://www.oann.com/nsc-official-says-north-korea-media-reports-are-a-sign-for-optimism/ (http://www.oann.com/nsc-official-says-north-korea-media-reports-are-a-sign-for-optimism/)
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Dennis Rodman arrives in Singapore (https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/dennis-rodman-arrives-in-singapore/vi-AAyvzOa?ocid=spartandhp)
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Dennis Rodman arrives in Singapore (https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/dennis-rodman-arrives-in-singapore/vi-AAyvzOa?ocid=spartandhp)
All Right. The party can start now!
:cheerlead:
Popcorn anyone?
:pop41:
:2popcorn:
:lotsosmileys:
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Dennis is melting down, emotionally crying on CNN (the only TV news I get).
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Dennis is melting down, emotionally crying on CNN (the only TV news I get).
You sleep in the airports?
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No @Wingnut my cable package is really screwed up right now. If I had FOX I'd be watching it right now instead of this crap.
TV's haven't been turned on since the Warriors beat my Rockets, weeks ago.
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North Korea's Kim Jong Un sends Chinese president birthday letter and flowers, state media says
By Jason Lemon On 6/15/18 at 1:35 PM
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly sent a birthday note and flowers to his counterpart in China, President Xi Jinping.
Kim sent the congratulatory letter to Beijing as a friendly gesture on Friday, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. According to the report, the move signals “restored†relations between the two Asian leaders. Although Kim has previously sent Xi birthday greetings, this marks the first time since 2013.
Although China has traditionally been an ally to North Korea as well as its biggest trading partner, the relationship has taken a downturn in recent years. In 2013, relations eroded quickly when Kim executed his uncle, the once powerful Jang Song Thaek who had close ties with Beijing. That same year, Pyongyang moved ahead with a nuclear test opposed by its northern ally.
Read more at: http://www.newsweek.com/kim-jong-un-sends-chinese-president-birthday-note-flowers-979636 (http://www.newsweek.com/kim-jong-un-sends-chinese-president-birthday-note-flowers-979636)
Trump Says He Plans to Make Phone Call to North Korea on Sunday
By Margaret Talev and Terrence Dopp
President Donald Trump said he will make a phone call to North Korea on Sunday, continuing his administration’s dialog with the regime days after his summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
“I’m going to actually be calling North Korea,†Trump said in an interview on Fox News. The president didn’t elaborate on who he would call or the purpose of the conversation, and the White House didn’t immediately provide more information.
Trump and Kim committed to the “complete denuclearization†of the Korean peninsula during a summit in Singapore on Tuesday in a declaration that avoided addressing contentious details on how to achieve the goal and didn’t provide a timetable for progress.
Read more at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-15/trump-says-halting-u-s-south-korea-military-exercises-his-idea (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-15/trump-says-halting-u-s-south-korea-military-exercises-his-idea)
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Trump pick for South Korea ambassador says North Korea remains a nuclear threat
By Nicole Gaouette
Washington (CNN)Harry Harris, the Trump administration's nominee to be ambassador to South Korea, said North Korea continues to be a nuclear threat and that major military exercises should be paused to give Kim Jong Un a chance to prove whether he is "serious."
President Donald Trump announced in Singapore that the US would suspend "war games" with South Korea and Japan, taking Seoul, Tokyo, lawmakers and parts of the US military by surprise.
"In my previous capacity, I spoke very strongly about the need to continue military exercises, most notably in 2017," Harris said at his nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday. But he noted that, "we were in a different place in 2017. North Korea was launching missiles ... if war wasn't imminent, it was likely."
Read more at: https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/politics/trump-harris-south-korea-ambassador-nominee/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/politics/trump-harris-south-korea-ambassador-nominee/index.html)
North Korea general scolds South Korea officials at Panmunjom
June 15 (UPI) -- Working-level military talks at Panmunjom between North and South Korea became protracted and a North Korean lieutenant general made the abrupt suggestion to not have similar conversations in the future, according to a South Korean press report.
EDaily reported Friday that during Thursday's meeting at the truce village, North Korean Lt. Gen. An Ik San said he did not want to have talks, in response to a meeting that failed to reach a specific consensus on hot-button issues involving the armed forces.
"Let's not hold this kind of conversation again, I mean the military. We started today to create a dialogue culture in the areas of speed, questions and content, but this is unfortunate. I understand the circumstances of your side, but in the future let's be better prepared and make sure this does not happen again."
Read more at: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/06/15/North-Korea-general-scolds-South-Korea-officials-at-Panmunjom/1801529080852/ (https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/06/15/North-Korea-general-scolds-South-Korea-officials-at-Panmunjom/1801529080852/)
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North Korea working to deceive USA, hide ongoing nuclear production
White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday he believed the bulk of North Korea's nuclear programme could be dismantled within a year, as USA media reported that the hermit nation had recently increased production for nuclear weapons.
"If they have the strategic decision already made to do that, and they're cooperative we can move very quickly", he said, adding, "It's to North Korea's advantage to see these programs dismantled very quickly" to speed the elimination of worldwide sanctions and clear the way for foreign aid.
He said the one-year program the U.S. is proposing would cover all of the North's chemical and biological weapons, nuclear programs and ballistic missiles.
Read more at: http://viralshow247.com/2018/07/02/north-korea-working-to-deceive-usa-hide-ongoing-nuclear/ (http://viralshow247.com/2018/07/02/north-korea-working-to-deceive-usa-hide-ongoing-nuclear/)
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Pompeo says North Korea weapons work counter to denuclearization pledge
David Brunnstrom
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Less than two months after a landmark U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew back to the city state on Friday and said North Korea’s continued work on weapons programs was inconsistent with its leader’s commitment to denuclearize.
Pompeo was asked en route to Singapore about his statement in the U.S. Senate last month that North Korea was continuing to make bomb fuel and reports that North Korea, led by Kim Jong Un, was building new missiles.
“Chairman Kim made a commitment to denuclearize,†Pompeo told reporters. “The world demanded that they (North Korea) do so in the U.N. Security Council resolutions. To the extent they are behaving in a manner inconsistent with that, they are a) in violation of one or both the U.N. Security Council resolutions and b) we can see we still have a ways to go to achieve the ultimate outcome we’re looking for.â€
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asean-singapore-northkorea-usa/pompeo-says-north-korea-weapons-work-counter-to-denuclearization-pledge-idUSKBN1KO0Z5 (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asean-singapore-northkorea-usa/pompeo-says-north-korea-weapons-work-counter-to-denuclearization-pledge-idUSKBN1KO0Z5)
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It appears a whole live thread is needed for the ongoing situation. The situation is a bit unreal.
--------------------
It's obvious that many are easily beguiled by anything sourced by the
msm; whose raging objective is to discredit everything Trump attempts.
Pompeo said boilerplate equivalent to 2+2 = 4 and hardly worthy
of "breaking news".
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Kim Jong Un visits fish pickling plant in short sleeves
By Wooyoung Lee
(https://cdnph.upi.com/svc/sv/i/1791533700076/2018/1/15337004023963/Kim-Jong-Un-visits-fish-pickling-plant-in-short-sleeves.jpg)
Kim Jong Un visits a fish pickling factory in Kumsanpo, South Hwanghae Province, North Korea, the North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said on Wednesday. Photo by KCNA
SEOUL, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- As a record heat wave swept across the Korean peninsula, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been seen in white short sleeves and a fedora hat during his visit to a local fish pickling plant.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Wednesday Kim inspected the factory and was briefed about the production of pickled fish products.
Read more at: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/08/08/Kim-Jong-Un-visits-fish-pickling-plant-in-short-sleeves/1791533700076/ (https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/08/08/Kim-Jong-Un-visits-fish-pickling-plant-in-short-sleeves/1791533700076/)
Not coke I don't think, but coca-cola like bottles are behind him on the shelf. Though, NK is not totally in tune with denuking, we all may be on a long gradual point to doing such. Kim appearing a bit more like a common man here.
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Harry Kazianis: Is North Korea breaking its word to Trump?
Harry J. Kazianis
Recent comments by North Korea’s foreign minister could signal that dictator Kim Jong Un may break his vague pledge to President Trump to dismantle the North’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Since Kim, his father and grandfather who ruled before him all have a well-documented history of lying about North Korea’s military aims when it suits their interests, it should not come as a shock that Kim is continuing the proud family tradition.
If so, Northeast Asia could very well be headed right back to the brink of war, with few options left to avoid what could be a dangerous nuclear showdown.
Read more at: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/08/13/harry-kazianis-is-north-korea-breaking-its-word-to-trump.html (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/08/13/harry-kazianis-is-north-korea-breaking-its-word-to-trump.html)
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Women on Trial for Murder of Kim Jong Nam May Be Acquitted
Eileen Ng / AP
(KUALA LUMPUR) — Two Southeast Asian women on trial in Malaysia for the brazen assassination of the North Korean leader’s half-brother could be acquitted Thursday or called to enter their defense in a case that has gripped the world.
Indonesia’s Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnam’s Doan Thi Huong, 29, are accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam’s face in a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13, 2017. The women have said they thought they were taking part in a prank for a hidden-camera show.
They are the only two suspects in custody and face the death penalty if convicted. If the defense is called, the trial could take several more months.
Read more at: http://time.com/5367684/north-korea-kim-jong-nam-trial/?ref=hvper.com (http://time.com/5367684/north-korea-kim-jong-nam-trial/?ref=hvper.com)
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China's Xi to make first official visit to Pyongyang for North Korea's 70th anniversary
Amy Lieu
Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit North Korea next month, accepting Kim Jong Un's invitation to attend the country's 70th anniversary of its founding, a report said Friday.
Xi's visit to Pyongyang would be his first to the North Korean capital since 2012 when he took power, Reuters reported, citing Singapore's Straits Times.
The trip would also be 13 years after the last visit by a Chinese president, the report said. Hu Jintao, Xi's predecessor, visited in 2005.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/08/19/chinas-xi-to-make-first-official-visit-to-pyongyang-for-north-koreas-70th-anniversary.html (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/08/19/chinas-xi-to-make-first-official-visit-to-pyongyang-for-north-koreas-70th-anniversary.html)
Satellite picture of North Korea at night, so Pyongyang does get a blip on the map. I saw one picture where the country was totally black.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HvptC9WmcZs/T5fWmMYuIdI/AAAAAAAACXM/TK8VXOdJQ6c/s1600/north-korea-at-night-satillite-photo-no-lights%2B-%2Bimage%2Bchartercities.org.jpg)
A bit closer:
(http://www.impactlab.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Korea_at_night_satellite_image.jpg)
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The real reason Kim Jong Un met with Trump is that Kim wanted to be seen on the same stage as America, a "now look at me" moment that would mean he is a player on the world stage. Also, there is no doubt that China is directing North Korea. Again, the meeting with Trump was an ego massage for Kim and in his mind elevated him on Trump's (and America's) level.
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The real reason Kim Jong Un met with Trump is that Kim wanted to be seen on the same stage as America, a "now look at me" moment that would mean he is a player on the world stage. Also, there is no doubt that China is directing North Korea. Again, the meeting with Trump was an ego massage for Kim and in his mind elevated him on Trump's (and America's) level.
So what? If we make the world more safe, what difference does it matter HOW?
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Antiwar article takes from WaPo article with paywall, so will go with the AW article in this subforum:
Trump Canceled Pompeo’s North Korea Trip After ‘Belligerent’ Letter
Officials say Bolton pushing Trump to take tougher stance
Jason Ditz Posted on August 27, 2018Categories NewsTags Bolton, North Korea, Trump
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a visit to North Korea last week, and just a few hours later, President Trump cancelled it. According to officials familiar with the situation, this happened because of a “belligerent†letter from North Korea received in between the announcements.
Specifics on the letter are unclear, but the letter was said to be from Kim Yong Chol, a top official, and were delivered through the New York Channel, which is to say North Korean diplomats at the UN.mission.
https://news.antiwar.com/2018/08/27/trump-cancelled-pompeos-north-korea-trip-after-belligerent-letter/
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The real reason Kim Jong Un met with Trump is that Kim wanted to be seen on the same stage as America, a "now look at me" moment that would mean he is a player on the world stage. Also, there is no doubt that China is directing North Korea. Again, the meeting with Trump was an ego massage for Kim and in his mind elevated him on Trump's (and America's) level.
In an older parlance (still valid), Kim gained "Face" by being seen as important enough to be there.
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So Much For Sanctions! Kim Jong Un's New Ride Is A Rolls Royce Phantom
Tyler Rogoway
(https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBO7toX.img?h=768&w=1080&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1258&y=351)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited North Korea on the 7th of October, 2018 to try and jump-start denuclearization talks with North Korean officials. After being snubbed by Kim on his last visit, Pompeo met with the increasingly visible North Korean leader this time around and Kim's arrival at the engagement was quite grand indeed. Video from the meeting shows Pompeo waiting in a foyer when two big ornate doors swing open to the outside and Kim saunters over a red carpet and across the foyer to embrace Pompeo. But it's not what happened in the foreground of this video that's most interesting, it's what was sitting in the background—a big, gleaming Rolls Royce Phantom.
Kim's Pullman Guard Mercedes limousines, based on the 2012 S600, have been fixtures in the 'Dear Leader's' travels around Pyongyang, Panmunjom and most recently, abroad. Kim is known transportation aficionado, having a special interest in aircraft and cars since he was a young boy. This made international headlines when Kim took a peek at Trump's limousine, popularly known as The Beast, during the summit in Singapore last June. Now it appears that despite extreme sanctions—especially on luxury goods—and a rickety economy that is supposedly slowly starving due to lack of energy stocks, Kim was able to get his hands on the most luxurious of luxury cars.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/so-much-for-sanctions-kim-jong-uns-new-ride-is-a-rolls-royce-phantom/ar-BBO7tpb?OCID=ansmsnnews11#image=1 (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/so-much-for-sanctions-kim-jong-uns-new-ride-is-a-rolls-royce-phantom/ar-BBO7tpb?OCID=ansmsnnews11#image=1)
Pompeo meets Kim Jong Un:
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ7HtIiQOMs#)
Kim's new ride:
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b64L-arSfgY#)
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Kim Jong Un invited Pope to visit North Korea
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/10/09/Kim-Jong-Un-invites-Pope-Francis-to-Pyongyang/7551539085591/ (https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/10/09/Kim-Jong-Un-invites-Pope-Francis-to-Pyongyang/7551539085591/)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-pope/north-korea-wants-to-ardently-welcome-pope-francis-south-says-idUSKCN1MJ0HJ (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-pope/north-korea-wants-to-ardently-welcome-pope-francis-south-says-idUSKCN1MJ0HJ)
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has invited Pope Francis to visit Pyongyang in a gesture designed to highlight peace efforts on the Korean peninsula, South Korea’s presidential office said on Tuesday.
North Korea and the Vatican have no formal diplomatic relations. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will deliver Kim’s invitation when he meets Francis next week during a trip to Europe, Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said.
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China's Yao Ming visits North Korea during basketball exchange
By Elizabeth Shim
Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Two Chinese basketball teams visited North Korea this week with a delegation that included former NBA All-Star Yao Ming.
Korean Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported Tuesday Yao and Chinese athletes visited Pyongyang on Monday, a sign China and North Korea are drawing closer ahead of a possible fourth summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un.
Kim is an ardent basketball fan, and previously invited NBA Hall-of-Famer Dennis Rodman to Pyongyang.
Read more at: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/10/10/Chinas-Yao-Ming-visits-North-Korea-during-basketball-exchange/2541539180751/ (https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/10/10/Chinas-Yao-Ming-visits-North-Korea-during-basketball-exchange/2541539180751/)
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The Pope may well be going to visit North Korea, he indeed was invited last week.... time for the NK crisis thread to be unstickied.
https://www.voanews.com/a/head-of-s-korea-s-ruling-party-says-pope-wishes-to-visit-n-korea-yonhap/4613578.html (https://www.voanews.com/a/head-of-s-korea-s-ruling-party-says-pope-wishes-to-visit-n-korea-yonhap/4613578.html)
Head of S.Korea’s Ruling Party Says Pope Wishes to Visit N.Korea: Yonhap
Thanks to all participants.
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Funny how this "crises" just disappeared off the radar... And how much has it really changed?
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The clearest sign that things are changing is that we are not hearing about missiles being fired off in North Korea frequently.
Anyway, thanks for the comments, I can always "sticky" this again if anyone thinks it still should be.
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The clearest sign that things are changing is that we are not hearing about missiles being fired off in North Korea frequently.
The clearest sign things are changing will be when North Korea gives an account of their warhead inventory and allows inspection of at least one. Until that happens, the rest of it is just feelgoodism.
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The clearest sign things are changing will be when North Korea gives an account of their warhead inventory and allows inspection of at least one. Until that happens, the rest of it is just feelgoodism.
Accordingly, another example of "feelgoodism?"
The ReykjavÃk Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, held in Höfði in ReykjavÃk, on 11–12 October 1986. The talks collapsed at the last minute, but the progress that had been achieved eventually resulted in the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union.
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I didn't mean to make a political statement. I was just thinking, the situation is not as urgent now. I can still post updates here, I suppose. I was just talking about the ease of using the forum; limited use of "stickies" instead of about 20 as in one of the other forums. And that is no criticism. Some of those stories are of importance. Any advice is welcomed. We've also had largely, a glut of articles on China as well. Those could easily be made a sticky too. All articles are welcomed.
U.S. nonprofit to deliver tuberculosis medicine to North Korea
By Elizabeth Shim
Oct. 16 (UPI) -- A U.S. nonprofit that has supplied humanitarian aid to North Korea says it has received permission to travel to the North to deliver tuberculosis medicine.
The Eugene Bell Foundation is to travel to the North for three weeks, starting Tuesday, to deliver treatments for multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, or MDR-TB, Yonhap reported.
The foundation has previously distributed medicine and educated North Korean tuberculosis patients to prevent the spread of the disease.
Read more at: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/10/16/US-nonprofit-to-deliver-tuberculosis-medicine-to-North-Korea/7051539700208/ (https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/10/16/US-nonprofit-to-deliver-tuberculosis-medicine-to-North-Korea/7051539700208/)
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Don’t be fooled by any hint of humanitarian reform in North Korea
By Donald Kirk
Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018 | 2 a.m.
How about Pope Francis inspiring millions of the faithful in North Korea as he did in South Korea four years ago? Can we picture highly organized throngs cheering him on the way from Pyongyang’s sparkling new international airport, blessing one and all while host Kim Jong Un smiles happily beside him in the limo?
In a year full of surprises about confrontation on the Korean Peninsula, it’s still hard to imagine seriously that Kim is inviting Pope Francis to Pyongyang. Nor is it easy to see Francis accepting such an invitation knowing, as aides at the Vatican have to be telling him, that the ladies you see in the lone Catholic church in Pyongyang are basically actresses for whom the demure white veils they all wear are part of the act.
Still, President Moon Jae-in did well to urge Kim to put on a show for the pope in Pyongyang. The suggestion is a challenge, a chance for Kim to prove to the skeptics he’s really reforming.
Read more at: https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/oct/16/dont-be-fooled-by-any-hint-of-humanitarian-reform/ (https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/oct/16/dont-be-fooled-by-any-hint-of-humanitarian-reform/)
Patheos, so this is opinionated:
Trump’s Dishonest Tactics on North Korea
October 16, 2018 by Ed Brayton
Still going through the transcript of Trump’s interview with 60 Minutes and noting all the various types of deflection and dishonesty he used. This post will look at the questions about North Korea. And note how he tries to argue that his actions there were necessary because, without them, we would have gone to war.
Lesley Stahl: What about North Korea? Talking about accom–
President Donald Trump: Well, I consider it a, so far, great achievement. Look, we–
Lesley Stahl: You say “so far�
Read more at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2018/10/16/trumps-dishonest-tactics-on-north-korea/ (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2018/10/16/trumps-dishonest-tactics-on-north-korea/)
Trust him like we trusted bin Salman?
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Accordingly, another example of "feelgoodism?"
The ReykjavÃk Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, held in Höfði in ReykjavÃk, on 11–12 October 1986. The talks collapsed at the last minute, but the progress that had been achieved eventually resulted in the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Yes, because there was never a treaty the Soviets or Russians didn’t violate. Perhaps you should look at the Iskander-K and RK-55 missiles as examples.
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North, South Korea to restore railway, road connections severed during Korean War
ABC News
North and South Korea have agreed to rebuild connections between railways and roads that were severed during the Korean War more than 60 years ago.
Read more at: https://abcnews.go.com/International/north-south-korea-restore-railway-road-connections-severed/story?id=58501715 (https://abcnews.go.com/International/north-south-korea-restore-railway-road-connections-severed/story?id=58501715)
France says it could help North Korea denuclearize if it sees real commitment
John Irish, Marine Pennetier
PARIS (Reuters) - France is ready to help in North Korea’s denuclearization efforts, but Pyongyang must first show some detailed commitments and real desire to dismantle its nuclear and ballistic arsenal, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.
French President Emmanuel Macron greets South Korean President Moon Jae-in before talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, October 15, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
France, a nuclear power and permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, is not directly involved in talks between North Korea, South Korea and the United States to work toward the region’s denuclearization.
However, diplomats have said that given Paris’ nuclear know-how it could play a role in the dismantling of nuclear warheads or receiving nuclear materials.
Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-southkorea/france-says-it-could-help-north-korea-denuclearize-if-it-sees-real-commitment-idUSKCN1MP23Q (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-southkorea/france-says-it-could-help-north-korea-denuclearize-if-it-sees-real-commitment-idUSKCN1MP23Q)
Also, this thread seemed to sort of just sit up there, going for weeks without a post. There are other interests here. One doesn't keep a hurricane update thread up for months after the initial storm though the story does indeed, continue.
I'll stress that last point again, if a thread that has a sticky does not get a post in say, 3 or 4 weeks, there is no reason to keep it up there really, after all, it does say "live updates". Yes, we were having North Korean stories but they were not placed in this thread. It's something that this would become a point of contention when all this is, is forum etiquette I'd say.
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Also, this thread seemed to sort of just sit up there, going for weeks without a post. There are other interests here. One doesn't keep a hurricane update thread up for months after the initial storm though the story does indeed, continue.
I'll stress that last point again, if a thread that has a sticky does not get a post in say, 3 or 4 weeks, there is no reason to keep it up there really, after all, it does say "live updates". Yes, we were having North Korean stories but they were not placed in this thread. It's something that this would become a point of contention when all this is, is forum etiquette I'd say.
I agree. this Original Topic was about a crisis that was occurring at the time, and it appears that has passed. It would probably be best to just post new developments as new Topics and let this one go. You can unsticky it, as Mod of the Category, right?
N/M...I see you already did it.... 888mouth
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Yes, we have unstickied it. We will play this by ear. Thank you for your comment @Cyber Liberty
You are right, the initial panicky, hysterical part is over. Should more serious problems arise, we can have an NK II crisis thread.