US deploys warships in advance of suspected Korean missile launch

Status
Not open for further replies.
V

Valdez

Me
Joined
Feb 4, 2009
Messages
327
Reaction score
0
The US Navy said Thursday it had deployed two warships in waters off Japan ahead of North Korea's planned rocket launch early next month.

Two destroyers fitted with Aegis technology to track and destroy missiles left port on Wednesday, US Navy public relations officer Charles Howard told AFP.

"I would say we are ready for any contingencies," he said.

Pyongyang says it will launch a communications satellite between April 4 and 8. The United States and its Asian allies suspect the launch is a test of a long-range ballistic missile that could reach North America.

Tensions have risen after US officials said overnight that North Korea had moved a Taepodong-2 missile to the Musudan-ri launch site on the country's northeast coast.

The US Navy spokesman said two Aegis-equipped destroyers -- the USS McCain and USS Chafee -- left Sasebo port in southwestern Japan where a third, the USS Curtis Wilbur, remained docked.

The USS Stethem, another Aegis-equipped destroyer, was set to leave northern Aomori port Thursday after a port call of several days, a US Navy spokeswoman said, without specifying its destination.

The Japanese navy's two Aegis-equipped destroyers Kongo and Chokai are on stand-by at Sasebo, a defence ministry spokeswoman said.

A South Korean Aegis-equipped warship is also likely to be deployed in waters near Japan, public broadcaster TBS reported, without citing sources.

The North's missiles have alarmed Japan since a Taepodong-1 overflew its territory in 1998. The first test of a longer-range Taepodong-2 in 2006 failed after 40 seconds.

Japan's security council will meet this week to prepare for the shooting down of any rocket or debris which threatens to strike its territory.

General Ryoichi Oriki, chief of staff of the Japanese Self Defence Forces, told a media briefing: "We will take all measures possible to ensure safety once the government order is issued."

Asked when he would deploy surface-to-air Patriot missiles and the destroyers, he said: "We want to deploy swiftly after the order."
Click to expand...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090326/usa/nkorea_nuclear_missile_japan_us_military
 
I wouldn't say it's a good thing since NK is right in the middle of Major World economic countries. Any disruption there will make the G-20 summit an interesting scene...
 
Netto Azure said:
I wouldn't say it's a good thing since NK is right in the middle of Major World economic countries. Any disruption there will make the G-20 summit an interesting scene...
Click to expand...

Indeed. China, South Korea, and Japan are next-door neighbors to North Korea, and America has the USS George Washington parked right at Yokosuka. In fact, now that I think about it, North Korea is my other main reason for maintaining a special interest in Japan... right alongside Pokémon. A dictatorship with nuclear weapons is bad enough, but a dictatorship with nuclear weapons and a death wish would be much, much worse. I am definitely keeping an eye on this developing international incident.
 
GrnMarvl13 said:
I notice this doesn't mention North Korea's statement from a week or two back that any attempt to interfere with the test will be met with retaliation.
Click to expand...

Don't they always say that, no matter what the issue is?

Honestly, some day we'll have to call their bluff. As isolated as they are, do they even have the basic resources to wage war in any significant way? Yeah, they have a million man army, but do they have enough fuel for their tanks and planes? Do they have the logistics to support their belligerence?

Before anyone mentions nukes and ICBMs, their ONE nuclear test was pretty much judged a dud and they haven't gotten one ICBM launched successfully.
 
the gadfly said:
Don't they always say that, no matter what the issue is?
Click to expand...

Do they? I know they usually get pissy, but I can't really remember them ever being that harsh regarding interference in a test. But, then again, I can't remember them ever telling anyone about their tests. So you're probably right. Still seems more antagonizing than normal (even for them), but maybe i'm just overly paranoid about them.
 
For those of us who aren't political junkies... is this something to be worried about?
 
I wouldn't say so. I don't think it would trigger World War III.
 
Well, that's that. Leave it to my favorite villains of the early 21st century to make an appearance in this drama. Now I have one more incentive to keep an eye on this missile launch, and I still remember this Stratfor prediction that "sometime in March or April, things will get interesting". Japan may very well shoot this missile down, or it may simply malfunction. Of course, either scenario will most likely be positive, reminding yours truly of his support for missile defense.
 
It's getting especially dangerous now, and yes I'd say it's something to worry about.

N. Korea vows to attack Japan if rocket intercepted

North Korea's military threatened Thursday to attack "major targets" in Japan if Tokyo tries to shoot down a satellite it intends to launch as soon as this weekend.

"If Japan recklessly 'intercepts' the DPRK's (North's) satellite for peaceful purposes, the KPA will mercilessly deal deadly blows not only at the already deployed intercepting means but at major targets," said a statement from the Korean People's Army (KPA).

The communist state insists that no one has the right to block its plan to launch a communications satellite between April 4-8, as part of what it calls a peaceful space programme.

The North has begun fuelling its rocket in a sign it could be in the final stages of a launch as early as this weekend, CNN quoted a senior US military official as saying. There was no immediate confirmation.

The United States and its Asian allies say the North, which has staged two previous long-range missile launches, wants a pretext to test a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile which could in theory reach Alaska or Hawaii.

Japan and the United States have deployed missile-hunting Aegis destroyers to monitor the launch. South Korea has reportedly also sent an Aegis warship.

Tokyo has additionally deployed Patriot guided-missile units on land, and says it will try to bring down the rocket should it start falling toward Japanese territory.

The KPA general staff, in a statement on official media, told the United States "to immediately withdraw its already deployed armed forces if it does not wish to be hurt by the above-said strike."

The North has previously warned that any interception will mean war.

Recent satellite photos appear to confirm the North has indeed mounted a satellite atop the missile and not a dummy warhead, US experts say.

But South Korea, Japan and the United States say it doesn't matter what is on top of the rocket -- any launch would breach a UN resolution passed after the North's 2006 missile launches and underground nuclear test.

"Whether it is a satellite or a missile, the technology is the same," Seoul's Defence Minister Lee Sang-Hee told a parliamentary hearing Wednesday.

"Even if it is a satellite, the technology behind it can be converted for use on a missile. That is the view shared by South Korea and the United States."

Lee and his US counterpart, Robert Gates, held phone talks Thursday and agreed to respond "firmly" to any launch, the defence ministry told AFP, adding that a variety of responses was discussed.

South Korea is "actively considering" taking a full part in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) if the launch goes ahead, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

The initiative aims to halt ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction and related materials.

The North's Minju Joson newspaper said any decision by Seoul to join PSI would amount to a "declaration of war."

Yonhap news agency, quoting a government source, said the North has moved a MiG-23 squadron -- between 12 to 24 planes -- to the northeast, where the Musudan-ri launch site is located. On Wednesday Pyongyang threatened to shoot down US spy planes monitoring the site.

Seoul's defence ministry declined comment.

South Korea and Japan have agreed to push for a new UN Security Council resolution against North Korea if the launch goes ahead, a senior Seoul official was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

"As far as I know, the US is not opposed to the plan," the official said.

North Korea has said that even a UN discussion of its launch -- let alone new sanctions -- would trigger the breakdown of international nuclear disarmament talks.

UN resolutions bar Pyongyang from missile-related activities.

However, the North signed on to international space treaties before its launch. Analysts believe China and Russia would block any new sanctions move on the grounds that previous resolutions do not cover satellite launches.
Click to expand...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090402/world/nkorea_missile_25
 
No kidding. If those defense officials are accurate, then that missile goes up -- on Saturday.:

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea is fueling a rocket in final preparations for its threatened launch of a satellite, U.S. defense officials said Thursday.

A senior intelligence official told The Associated Press that Pyongyang was on track for a projected Saturday launch.

Senior defense officials in Washington had said early Thursday that propellant vehicles and trailers, signs of imminent fueling, were in place at North Korea's coastal launch site.

At first, the officials said they were unclear on where preparations stood. But by late morning, they confirmed that fueling and other pre-launch activities were indeed under way.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence issues.

At the G20 summit in London, President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak issued a statement agreeing on "a stern, united response from the international community if North Korea launches a long-range rocket."

State Department spokesman Robert Wood would not address the U.S. intelligence reports. But he repeated earlier warnings for the North Koreans not to take any "provocative" actions.

"The North should refrain from engaging in a provocative act, like a missile launch, that would further inflame tensions in the region," he said.

North Korea heightened its militaristic rhetoric toward the U.S., Japan and South Korea on Thursday, threatening retaliation for any attempt to shoot down the rocket. Quoting an unidentified North Korean general, the North Korean Central News Agency said Japan would be struck with a "thunderbolt of fire" if it attempts to intercept the multistage rocket.

The news service also issued a veiled threat against American warships moving in position to monitor the launch, saying: "The United States should immediately withdraw armed forces deployed if it does not want to receive damage."

Some U.S. lawmakers are urging Obama to shoot down the rocket if it endangers the United States or its allies. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a weekend TV interview that the U.S. had no plans to intercept the rocket — though it might consider the move if an "aberrant missile" were headed to Hawaii "or something like that."

U.S. officials have been keeping tabs on North Korea's launch preparations with satellite imagery and other surveillance. North Korea has complained that the U.S. is also using high-altitude U-2 spy planes and has warned the aircraft would be shot down.

North Korea's pre-launch movements are similar to the steps taken in advance of its 2006 firing of a Taepodong-2 missile, the U.S. intelligence official said.

The fueling starts an informal pre-launch phase that precedes the formal countdown.

"You need to launch within a few days because rocket fuel is typically quite corrosive," said Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C.

U.S. intelligence analysts continue to believe that North Korea aims to launch a communications satellite rather than conducting a missile test, which would violate a U.N. resolution. However, the rocket launch would yield data directly applicable to its long-range ballistic missile program.

The issue was top of the agenda Thursday when Obama met with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Myung-bak, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in London. Obama pledged to push for "peace and stability," while Lee's office issued a statement saying the two leaders agreed to keep working on a verifiable dismantling of North Korea's worrisome nuclear programs.

Russia appeared to be edging closer to Washington's position in an apparent show of goodwill. But a strong united response likely would prove difficult given that China — the North's closest ally — has veto power in the Security Council. Beijing continued to urge all sides to show restraint.

North Korea is warning against any effort to intercept the rocket, take the issue to the Security Council or even monitor the launch. It says its armed forces are at a high level of combat-readiness.

Debris from the rocket could fall off Japan's northern coast, North Korea has said. Tokyo has deployed warships and missile interceptors there as a precaution, but says it has no intention of trying to shoot the missile down on its own.
Click to expand...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512210,00.html

To think that the world's bigwigs jetted off to Europe to attempt to tackle this global downturn earlier this week, and some of those power players might have to stick around for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's 60th anniversary summit. Whatever happens to that missile, I definitely wouldn't be surprised to see political fireworks over East Asia during the course of the next few days.
 
Holy crap....this is kinda freakin' me out, I gotta say. I mean...I'm not expecting a nuclear war to break out this weekend or anything, but it looks like this is getting pretty serious. And seeing as how, if North Korea DOES launch missiles at the US, the west coast will likely be hit first -- especially places like San Diego and LA. In other words, my general area.
 
http://www.missilethreat.com/missilesoftheworld/id.166/missile_detail.asp
http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/nukes/nuclearweapons/Taepodong.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/dprk/td-2.htm

I just checked the Taepodong-2's range between the Claremont Institute, the Federation of American Scientists, and GlobalSecurity.org. It won't just be Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles that are possible targets. Pearl Harbor Naval Base and Anchorage, Alaska, I would think rank pretty high on Kim Jong-Il's hit list, as well. Meanwhile, it looks like Lee has added his voice of alarm to North Korea's launch tomorrow, which would mean that the countdown has begun.:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512375,00.html

With my special interest in East Asia as it is, this missile launch is one of my "NoKo nightmare scenarios", and let's not forget Kim himself. I sincerely hope America and Japan succeed in shooting down that missile.
 
Apparently, the missile fizzled. North Korea may claim success in launching a satellite, but nobody believes them.

And life goes on.
 
Last edited:
It managed twice the distance of the launch in 1998 though, and if this was really a front for a missile test...

This ain't over yet, not by a long shot.
 
Valdez said:
This ain't over yet, not by a long shot.
Click to expand...

Indeed. You know the trouble with tyrants and nuclear missiles? They only need to be right once to cause enormous destruction. Meanwhile, as Ed Morrissey describes, that missile wasn't the only dud this past weekend.:

NoKo missile, UN Security Council both duds

The UN once again proves its uselessness in enforcing international agreements. People criticized the US and the Bush administration for invading Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein, but the UN — and specifically Russia and China — left us no choice. Had the UN taken Saddam’s violations of 17 UNSC resolutions seriously (and had they not participated in the multibillion-dollar corruption of the Oil-for-Food program), Saddam and his sons would have left the stage years before, and we could have been rebuilding Iraq in the 1990s. Now the UNSC can’t even be bothered to issue resolutions when tinpot dictators defy them.

We now have two instructional fizzles. Unfortunately, only one of them will result in serious effort to improve, and it won’t be at Turtle Bay.
Click to expand...

With Japan and South Korea monitoring this on their own, we may be at a standoff for now, but if North Korea manages to succeed, we can say "sayonara" to continued peace in East Asia.
 
It's strange how NASA says no satellite has entered orbit from N. Korea, yet the Russians claim they succeded. Even if it did fizzle out into the ocean, it is an interesting development. The Security Council is a dud and can't solve much of anything really. >.< I think if push came to shove, Japan would shoot down a N. Korean missile, not too sure about South Korea though.
But it's a balance really, because North Korea wasn't stopped before, they can push other countries buttons until it "hits" the wrong one. Maybe this country's crazy leader is why the U.S. maintains it's military presence in Japan and South Korea.
 
Well it's not over by a long shot...But then again NK isn't the only problem the Obama administration is dealing with after smooch left a wreck.

That's why I still wonder why people can't accept that multitasking is part of a president's job and say that he "should just concentrate on the economy." I fully support and agree on his policy of pushing for a lot early and while in a crisis since once the political capital expires and the public gets used to him...things will be a lot harder to get done in Washington. =/
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom