Powered by Max Banner Ads
Korean Navies Exchange Fire, North Loses
The North and South Korean Navies fired on one another today on the Yellow Sea. A North Korean patrol boat wandered into South Korean waters and refused to pull back. Shots were fired and the North Korean patrol boat limped back to port in flames.
Video: Laura Ling Thanks Clinton For Freeing Her In North Korea
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
North Korean Ship Reverses Course?
This from the AP:
U.S. defense official: North Korean ship under watch reverses course.
Developing…
North Korea May Fire Missile At Hawaii On July 4
The Japanese press is reporting that North Korea is readying its Taepodong-2 ballistic missile to fire at Hawaii on July 4. The Taepodong-2 has a range of 4,000 miles, but analysts are skeptical that it would reach that far.
Secretary Gates has ordered the military’s ground based mobile missile defense system to Hawaii, which is capable of shooting down anything North Korea launches in our direction.
I have no doubt that anything North Korea shoots at us would be defeated by our missile defense systems. They have almost 0% chance of hitting us with a damn thing.
However, whether or not a missile attack would be successful is hardly the point. The issue here is that North Korea plans to launch a missile attack against the United States.
If they do launch against us and president Obama takes no military action he will go down in history as a bigger pussy than Jimmy Carter.
It’s beyond pathetic that we’ve lived with threats and belligerence from North Korea for decades. There is no country on the planet that’s weaker or more pathetic than North Korea.
It’s unbelievable that such a brokedown, cold war relic like the DPRK has been allowed to threaten the world.
The United States could cripple the North Korean military beyond repair in less than 24 hours.
Aside from their ballistic missile program and primitive nuclear bombs, their military equipment belongs in a museum rather than on a battlefield.
The modern fighter jets they have are useless because they don’t have the fuel to fly them.
They have a standing army of 1,000,000 soldiers, but they are poorly equipped and hungry.
We could fly a single B-2 Stealth Bomber over North Korea and drop JDAMS on their military bases, rocket launch pads, and any other targets of opportunity.
While we’re at it, we should drop bombs on the military barracks in the concentration camps up in the mountains.
This would give the hundreds of thousands of people enslaved in those camps a chance to escape.
The argument against military action with North Korea has always been that if we attack they’ll launch artillery and rockets into South Korea which would kill thousands of people.
They have hundreds of artillery pieces and rockets pushed right up to the DMZ ready to fire on Seoul.
However, we have the technology to simultaneously hit almost all of these installations in one strike, rendering the North nearly impotent.
After we degrade their ability to fire on the South, it would be a joke the rest of the way. Kim Jong-il is a lunatic and a mass murderer who should have been taken out by the U.S. years ago.
The bottom line is that it would be disaster of historic proportions if president Obama does not respond in kind to a missile strike on Hawaii by North Korea.
-Chris Jones
North Korea Launches Another Missile
Breaking on Twitter:
BULLETIN — NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES MISSILE IN THE EAST SEA.
Developing…
UPDATE:
From AFP:
North Korea has fired off another missile, one day after reportedly launching two short-range missiles, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Wednesday.
Time to break out the pens and issue another strongly worded statement!
-Chris Jones
U.N. Security Council Meets Over North Korea Nuke Test — North Keeps Laughing
You don’t have to be a diplomat to know exactly how this North Korea nuclear test is going to shake out.
The fallout (politically) from the detonation of a 10-20 megaton nuclear bomb by the North Koreans will be exactly as Kim Jong-il assumed it would be — zero.
This entire episode is just so damn predictable. The U.N. is a toothless, pointless organization that reacts to every situation the same way no matter how serious it is.
The U.N. Security Council convened an emergency meeting today at the request of Japan to discuss yesterday’s nuclear test by North Korea.
As usual, each member of the council feigned outrage and spoke of disappointment in the North’s actions.
Last night, president Obama issued his own weak statement on the nuke test:
Today, North Korea said that it has conducted a nuclear test in violation of international law. It appears to also have attempted a short range missile launch. These actions, while not a surprise given its statements and actions to date, are a matter of grave concern to all nations. North Korea’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons, as well as its ballistic missile program, constitute a threat to international peace and security.
By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community. North Korea’s behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea’s isolation. It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
The danger posed by North Korea’s threatening activities warrants action by the international community. We have been and will continue working with our allies and partners in the Six-Party Talks as well as other members of the U.N. Security Council in the days ahead.
Obama says the North is acting in “blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council” as if this is something new.
Who doesn’t act in defiance of the UN Security Council? The North has been in defiance of the security council for years just like Iran.
The reason the world’s enemies act in blatant defiance of the UN is because they know nothing will happen.
Being in violation of the security council means an angry press release will be issued about you when you do something bad.
In fact, had it not been for president Bush, Saddam Hussein would still be sitting in one of his palaces in blatant violation of 17 UN Security Council resolutions.
It is unbelievable that a deadbeat, broke down, piss poor little dictatorship like North Korea is allowed to hold the world hostage with its nuclear threats.
South Korea in partnership with the U.S. could destroy the North’s ability to wage war and topple the Stalinist government in one day.
The issue for everyone in the region and the reason China resists doing anything that might topple the North is the refugee issue.
If the government in North Korea were toppled it would mean millions of starving, sickly, and brainwashed North Koreans pouring over the borders of China and South Korea.
Both countries agree that this would be a disaster for their economies, and I think that’s probably right.
So the solution to this vexing problem is for the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and China to begin building the necessary infrastructure to care for North Korean refugees.
Plans could be put in place for the feeding, clothing, etc. of the population immediately after the liquidation of the current government.
After the necessary preparations and plans were in place to deal with the humanitarian situation, the U.S. and South Korea could strike the North and cripple its military and eliminate the government leadership.
When countries like North Korea know you’re only interested in talking to resolve disputes, why in the hell should they do anything you say?
-Chris Jones
NORTH KOREA CONDUCTS NUCLEAR TEST
Breaking on Twitter…
Don’t know much yet, but just moments ago South Korea detected an “artificial earthquake” in North Korean territory believed to be from a nuclear test.
Developing…
***UPDATE***
From the AP:
SEOUL, May 25 (AP) – (Kyodo)—North Korea appears to have gone ahead with its threat to conduct a second nuclear test, South Korean media reported Monday.
Yonhap News Agency quoted a source as saying South Korea detected an “artificial earthquake” in North Korea that was felt shortly before 10 a.m.
Developing…
Kim Jong-Il Wins Re-Election In North Korea
I’m not even sure why this is a news event anymore, but Kim Jong-Il has been re-elected as leader of North Korea:
Turnout Sunday was 99.98 percent, with all voters backing the sole candidate running in their constituency, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
Kim had basically a 100% turnout with every single vote going to him. That kind of turnout has to make even the most hard line dictator blush. Kim Jong-Il is the one of the cruelest men on the planet. His regime is stained with the blood of millions of North Koreans who’ve starved to death or died in a concentration camp.
There’s a special seat in hell reserved for Kim right along side Hitler and Stalin.
Mass Murder Still Continues Inside North Korea
After the decision by North Korea to declare and begin disassembling their nuclear program, the Bush Administration has agreed to lift sanctions long held against the regime in Pyongyang and remove that country from the list of state sponsors of terror.
To show their country is serious about disarming, the North Koreans are planning the televised destruction of the cooling tower at one of their major nuclear facilities at Yongbyon.
U.S. officials are quick to point out that this is only the beginning of a process that will be completed in stages. As the North Koreans fulfill each part of the agreement, the U.S. will in return make good on its promises.
The Bush Administration acknowledges that North Korea has a rich history of deception and broken promises and will of course be watched very carefully. Representatives from the U.S. and the IAEA will be allowed in to the country to monitor the progress of disarmament.
The disarmament of North Korea is of course a wonderful thing, however the world must not forget about the literal genocide that’s taking place in that country.
There is absolutely no country on the face of the earth with a worse record on human rights than North Korea. Kim Jong-IL makes Saddam Hussein look like a choir boy. North Korea is known as “the world’s largest prison camp” which is not an exaggeration by any means.
The cult-of-personality that the current Kim regime and his father before him have created in North Korea is unprecedented anywhere in the world. Most people have no idea the level to which that country is controlled. Their are only two phone lines in the entire country that reach the outside world, and you only need one guess to know who controls them.
More than 3 million North Koreans have died of starvation in recent years due to widespread famine. The Kim regime diverts what food aide it does allow in to the country to the military and party faithful.
The people of North and South Korea are genetically identical people, separated only by razor wire and a Stalinist madman.
However, North Koreans are on average 5″ shorter than South Koreans because of chronic malnutrition and starvation. South Korea is one of most technologically advanced nations in the world with a standard of living comparable to the United States, while North Koreans don’t even have anything to eat.
Human beings in North Korea have no value to the regime. The slightest infraction can result in a life sentence to one of the hundred of political prison camps scattered about the country. Prisoners live about as well as farm animals, and are worked until they die of starvation, hypothermia, sickness, suicide, or execution.
One particular human rights abuse is something right out of Nazi Germany. North Korea routinely tests chemical and biological weapons on prisoners. Sometimes gassing entire families together to study the effect of weapons.
Guards in these prisons are taught that prisoners are not humans but criminals who wish to destroy the country.
Collective punishment is the norm in North Korea. Not only is a suspected dissident arrested but also three generations of his family are imprisoned, to root out the bad blood and seed of dissent. There are children who are literally raised in prison camps if they’re fortunate enough to survive to adulthood. Their only crime is to have ancestors labeled as “criminals” by the regime.
One man who actually escaped from a camp he was born in says he had no idea about the outside world or anything. He thought it natural that he was in a prison camp because of his ancestors crimes.
“I didn’t know about America, or China or the fact that the Korean Peninsula was divided and there was a place called South Korea,” he said. “I thought it was natural that I was in the camp because of my ancestors’ crime, though I never even wondered what that crime was. I never thought it was unfair.”
The government practices total information control. North Koreans have no cell phones, no Internet access, and only limited government controlled television.
The bottom line is that while we celebrate what looks to be a nuclear disarmament of North Korea, we must also remember the horrifying cruelty that the citizens of North Korea will still be forced to endure.
Hollywood lefties love to play activist when it comes to global warming or Darfur, but the people of North Korea are suffering daily atrocities the likes of which the world has only rarely seen.
Robert Mugabe, Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, or the Junta in Berma, are all amateurs when it comes to mass murder compared to “Little Kim” of North Korea.
-Chris Jones
Khan Network Had Advanced Nuclear Warhead Design
The Washington Post is reporting that the now defunct A.Q. Khan nuclear smuggling ring was in possession of a far more advanced nuclear warhead design than has been previously reported. The blueprints were discovered on seized computers and showed how to build a compact nuclear warhead that would easily fit atop ballistic missiles. Specifically, the kind of missiles that both North Korea and Iran possess.
The real stink of it is that U.S. intelligence and the U.N. simply have no idea who the blueprints may have been shared with before they were discovered.
US shows evidence of alleged Syria-N. Korea nuke collaboration
Via the AP:
The Syrian nuclear reactor allegedly built with North Korean design help and destroyed last year by Israeli jets was within weeks or months of being functional, a top U.S. official said Thursday.
The facility was mostly completed but still needed significant testing before it could be declared operational, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
However, no uranium—needed to fuel a reactor—was evident at the site, a remote area of eastern Syria along the Euphrates River.
The Syrian reactor was similar in design to a North Korean reactor at Yongbyon that has in the past produced small amounts of plutonium, U.S. officials said. Plutonium is highly radioactive and can be used to make powerful nuclear weapons or radiological bombs.
Top members of the House intelligence committee said Thursday after being briefed on the facility by intelligence and administration officials that the reactor posed a serious threat of spreading dangerous nuclear materials.
“This is a serious proliferation issue, both for the Middle East and the countries that may be involved in Asia,” said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich.
North Korea Bills Itself as ‘U.S. Partner Against Terrorism’
In an extremely rare public expression, North Korea officially thanked the United States for helping the crew of a North Korean cargo ship hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast late last month, describing the rescue as a symbol of Washington-Pyongyang rapprochement.
“We feel grateful to the United States for its assistance given to our crewmen. This case serves as a symbol of the DPRK -U.S. cooperation in the struggle against terrorism,” the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
Posts
