N. Korea building missile launch pad capable of aiming at U.S.: report

[sked14]

By Alexander Smith, NBC News contributor

North Korea is improving one of its missile launch sites and may soon be able to fire rockets large enough to hit mainland United States, according to experts.

Recent satellite images appear to show that one of the country's launch stations has been modified to accommodate an intercontinental missile 25 percent larger than one it fired into space in Dec. 2012, according to a report by Johns Hopkins University’s U.S.-Korea Institute (USKI) published Wednesday

The report added that the launch pad, which could be ready as early as March, would allow for "a more robust rocket test program in the future involving larger space launch vehicles and road-mobile ballistic missiles able to attack targets in Northeast Asia and the United States."

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warned the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday that North Korea had gone through with its threat to continue its nuclear weapons program, posing “a serious threat to the United States and to the security environment in East Asia.”

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/30/22506777-n-korea-building-missile-launch-pad-capable-of-aiming-at-us-report?lite


Not overly worried about this right now, their missiles have a very poor track record, but in the future....

[Lint Head]

1. Time for interceptor missile target practice.

[Archae]

3. Yeah, complete with rigged "tests"

The target gets a homing beacon, and even then it can't be hit most of the time.

[sked14]

4. I consider their long range missile threat about as credible

as their Navy.

[jmowreader]

9. Do you know why the New North Korean Navy has a fleet of glass bottom boats?

It's so they can see the Old North Korean Navy.

[sked14]

11. LOL.

Too funny.

[RKP5637]

29. OMG that was funny, I didn't expect it!

[Rex]

20. Wow, isn't that one of their new destroyers!?

I hear it runs on an 8 manpower engine and has a single harpoon up front! SCARY!

[jmowreader]

83. I think it's how they plan to feed their population

Forget slash-and-burn agriculture, they're gonna fish for man-eating sharks using Kim Jong-il as bait.

[RKP5637]

30. Gee, he's even waving to us, probably to Dennis Rodman! n/t

[arcane1]

2. North Korea is number 47,295 on my list of things to worry about.

[jsr]

5. Aiming, not hitting

[mindwalker_i]

7. I was going to say

I can aim my ass at N. Korea...

[sked14]

12. This is their new guidance system to make sure the missile hits it's target.

[jsr]

14. He certainly has fire in his ass

[jmowreader]

6. I can imagine the news story after they tried launching a nuclear-tipped missile

"North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was executed by being fed to a pack of wolves early this morning after the missile he ordered fired at Seattle wound up nuking North Korea's most important seaport."

[Niceguy1]

43. more likely if would be the rocket scientists and their families

[Iggo]

8. Nope. Not afraid.

I grew up in the thick of the cold war.

North Korea ain't shit.

NEXT!

[sakabatou]

10. Not worried

[Comrade Grumpy]

13. Ooh, I'm scared now.

[sked14]

15. This says it all.

[frwrfpos]

16. considering the disaster the Korean war was

The US should mind its own business. Oh and fuck Clapper, the Liar

[sked14]

17. S. Korea is our business,

we have a mutual defense pact with them and it behooves us to make sure that N. Korea knows that we will honor it if they're attacked.

[frwrfpos]

21. people have short memories about the korean war

The US created a disaster there and South Korea should handle its own business if need be. Thankfully China is a counterweight to US imperialism in the region. Too bad for you.

[sked14]

24. The US created a disaster there?

Nice re-write of history.

[frwrfpos]

25. yes, the United States created a violent disaster with the Korean War

Are you saying the Korean War and our involvement was good? Seriously

[sked14]

26. I'm not going to debate someone who

likes to re-write history.
Have fun living in fantasyland.

[frwrfpos]

27. have fun fighting fantasy commies

red scare is alive and well I see, even in 2014. Sad really.

Continue to ignore US imperialism

[sked14]

28. Fighting commies?

[frwrfpos]

32. re writing history

projection much?

please continue to ignore United States violent imperialism around the globe

The Korean War was a disaster just like Vietnam, just like Iraq etc etc

[Ikonoklast]

45. Ask the citizens of South Korea if they feel that way.

Prepare to be laughed at.

[frwrfpos]

46. see post 32

I have a friend who serves in SK and reunification is a huge issue is SK.

Again, ignore the US violent imperialism in the region

[sked14]

47. Reunification?

Yes, but not on the Norks terms.

[frwrfpos]

49. of course

on the US's imperialists terms.

maybe I should post a history of the Korean War and our extreme violence we shit on the region..

revisionist history is one thing that I despise.

The US was responsible for war crimes and atrocities unimaginable during the Korean War.

[sked14]

51. Wow.

This is true comedy gold.

[sked14]

55. Now I know where I've heard this drivel from.

of course

on the US's imperialists terms.

maybe I should post a history of the Korean War and our extreme violence we shit on the region..

revisionist history is one thing that I despise.

The US was responsible for war crimes and atrocities unimaginable during the Korean War.

Straight from the front page of Pravda.

[GP6971]

85. Not on US "imperialist" terms

but KOREAN terms. So far the north refuses to cooperate

[Ikonoklast]

53. There will be no unification until the North rejects off totalarianism. Period.

Nice to see you have a friend, though.


Enjoy your stay.

[frwrfpos]

56. its not nice to threaten new members here

also try spelling correctly

oh and fuck Capitalism

[Ikonoklast]

57. You're a re-tread, nothing new about you. The 'fuck capitalism' thing is just shtick.

Please, enjoy your stay here.

[sked14]

58. Well, he is hitting all the right slogans.

[oneshooter]

73. I bet he could recite "The Little Red Book" by memory.

[GP6971]

87. I doubt you are a "new" member

probably a recycled banned member

[sked14]

31. I suppose you don't think N. Korea is a brutal communist

dictatorship? They're just a bunch of misunderstood guys?

[frwrfpos]

33. scary commies

scary scary brutal, dictatorship. You hit all the talking points ..

oh and Fuck Capitalism.

[sked14]

36. I've got just the vacation spot for you.

Let me pay for it.

[frwrfpos]

39. thanks but I will stay here in the US

and fight against right wing talking points.

You can keep your money..lol

Use it to fight those commies...

[sked14]

40. LOL.

Pure comedy gold.

[GP6971]

84. Is this guy for real?

Probably so

[GP6971]

86. So you going fight against the right wing talking points

but not their actions???????

[The Straight Story]

70. If I go to the island will Hannah Bell be there?

[Warren DeMontague]

82. Say Hi, and Point

Dem's da breaks

[Warren DeMontague]

81. North Korea is a totalitarian nightmare.

I cannot believe you're seriously defending that regime.

Not all wars are good and just, but our involvement in the Korean war was. The mistake was in Macarthur not listening to Truman and getting so close to the Yalu river, prompting Chinese involvement and the subsequent stalemate.

A lot of North Korean lives have been made miserable as a result of that move.

[EX500rider]

48. "The US created a disaster there"

NOT......the North Koreans with help from the Chinese did all the disaster making......and the U.N. response was not "American Imperialism"....lol

[sked14]

54. I offered the poster an all expense paid vacation to

Fantasy Island, but it was turned down.

[Rex]

18. If they cannot even hit Japan, why should I worry way over here in Texas?

N.K. talks a lot of shit and never seems to be able to back it up.

[Orrex]

22. Texas is a bigger target.

Be afraid! Be very afraid!

[Rex]

23. Oh shit...I did not think about that!

[oneshooter]

72. Remember that they have to go over California first.

And so far they always shoot short.

[Art_from_Ark]

79. It's not that they can't hit Japan

They do have the range, as they have on at least two occasions shot missiles over Japanese territory, including the latest which went all the way to Okinawa. However, even their idiotic leadership knows that actually hitting Japan would be disastrous for them, so they content themselves with showing Japan that great big chip on their shoulder every once in a while.

[clarice]

19. I'm wooonwyyyy...I'm so woooonwyyyyyy.nt

[geek tragedy]

34. I hear they have those in Baltimore nt

[msanthrope]

68. I miss Hannah Bell, too....nt

[onehandle]

35. We should pull our military presence from Korea.

China created them and have become rich as we paid the bills to keep the region stable.

Let China take care of their own backyard.

[sked14]

37. I disagree.

Our presence is what's keeping N. Korea on it's side of the DMZ.

[Niceguy1]

44. too bad we didnt

Go all the way north at the time. Life would have been much better for millions people

[Agnosticsherbet]

59. Truman fired General Douglas Macarthur because he wanted to do that.

Truman did not want a war with China. No, it would not have been better.

Apr 11, 1951 Truman relieves MacArthur of duties in Korea
Problems with the flamboyant and egotistical General MacArthur had been brewing for months. In the early days of the war in Korea (which began in June 1950), the general had devised some brilliant strategies and military maneuvers that helped save South Korea from falling to the invading forces of communist North Korea. As U.S. and United Nations forces turned the tide of battle in Korea, MacArthur argued for a policy of pushing into North Korea to completely defeat the communist forces. Truman went along with this plan, but worried that the communist government of the People's Republic of China might take the invasion as a hostile act and intervene in the conflict. In October 1950, MacArthur met with Truman and assured him that the chances of a Chinese intervention were slim. Then, in November and December 1950, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops crossed into North Korea and flung themselves against the American lines, driving the U.S. troops back into South Korea. MacArthur then asked for permission to bomb communist China and use Nationalist Chinese forces from Taiwan against the People's Republic of China. Truman flatly refused these requests and a very public argument began to develop between the two men.

[1000words]

66. Like the Chinese were going to allow that

Do you realize how many lives would have been thrown into the meat grinder to make that happen?

[Niceguy1]

75. do you realize

How many lives the brutal opression in North Korea have destroyed?

[1000words]

77. Stalin killed millions

We didn't march onto Moscow for the very same reason we won't Pyongyang.

[Niceguy1]

78. not now

but 60 years ago when we had the chance we should have.life would have been better for millions had we done so.

[GP6971]

88. We did make it to the Yalu

Then the Chinese intervened with massive ground troops

[SidDithers]

38. Aimed at Baltimore, surely...nt

Sid

[msanthrope]

69. I was hoping for pictures of smiling North Koreans....nt

[SidDithers]

71. Ahh, memories...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1207515

Oh wait, that's the 'look how shitty things are in SOUTH Korea' thread.

Here's the smiling NORTH Koreans thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1207027

Sid

[PowerToThePeople]

41. Well, Iran is looking like a long shot now. N Korea is next on the list of "Axis of Evil." n/t

[sked14]

42. I'm grateful that we have a president like Obama at the helm,

no telling what a president Romney would do.

[1000words]

50. With a million active and 8 million in reserve ...

No one is picking a fight with North Korea

[PowerToThePeople]

52. 1.4 Million long term unemployed Americans

need a job...

[snooper2]

60. Why do I have the image of 40 dudes each with a 3 ton jack on the side of

a big slab of concrete?


2 degrees, 3 degrees, 4 , keep jacking!

[sked14]

61. LOL.

A perfect picture.

[HereSince1628]

62. Getting the windage right on an aim from 6000 miles away must be tough...

I'd have thought that UP was the primary direction of a launch platform, and the flight profile and navigation devices would deal with the targeting.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

63. Erect bogeyman (or, bogeymen), wave flag, more $$ for MIC, clamp down on dissent.

[lpbk2713]

64. They don't have any guidance systems worth a damn.

If they were to have the range it would be just like Hitler's buzz bombs falling in English cow pastures.

[sked14]

65. Sure they do.

[lpbk2713]

67. They're going to go to a lot of trouble ...

to piss off some prairie dogs in the Mojave Desert.

[DemocraticWing]

74. They'll hit our golf greens with remarkable precision.

nt.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

76. Heck, they can *aim* at anywhere they want.

Question is, can they hit it?

[Little_Wing]

80. Oh sure, take your frustrations out on California

Everything is our fault