North Korea: 2012-2016

[Bill Moore]

I think we get overly focused on missile capabilities due to our tendency to apply mirror analysis and assume our adversaries seek to fight the way we do. Even after the non-traditional attack on our homeland on 9/11 the military-industrial complex as shown little real progress in addressing increasingly dangerous non-conventional threats.

However, that doesn't mean we should ignore missile technology, it may or may not be a red herring in this case, but it still bears watching as these two articles point out. At the end of the day, our adversaries have nuclear weapons, and they can be utilized in various ways to achieve their ends to include with and without missiles.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...g-on-n/?page=1

The miniaturization myth

The public is being misled by the White House, some so-called “experts” and mainstream media casting doubt on whether the Great Leader’s threat is real. They claim North Korea has not demonstrated sufficient “miniaturization” of a nuclear weapon to be delivered by a missile.

Technologically, “miniaturizing” a nuclear warhead is much easier than developing an atomic bomb or a multi-stage missile for orbiting satellites — as North Korea has already done.

On February 7, North Korea orbited a second satellite, the KSM-4, to join their KSM-3 satellite launched in December 2012.

Both satellites now are in south polar orbits, evading many U.S. missile defense radars and flying over the United States from the south, where our defenses are limited. Both satellites — if nuclear armed — could make an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack that could blackout the U.S. electric grid for months or years, thereby killing millions.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-kor/?page=all

Hyper-proliferation in North Korea
Help from China and Russia makes the situation all the more dangerous

After laying out how the author believes China and Russia are helping North Korea with their nuclear program, he ends with

Some of the implications of hyper-proliferation are that Russia and China are part of the problem, not part of the solution; that hyper-proliferation by these actors is a weapon in the New Cold War; and that we should
reassess the nuclear missile threat from other nations of concern — including Pakistan and Iran.

Peter Vincent Pry is executive director of the EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security and served in the Congressional EMP Commission, the Congressional Strategic Posture Commission, the House Armed Services Committee and the CIA.

[AdamG]

Best Korea must need more free USGovernment cheese.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said on Wednesday it had conducted a ballistic missile test that simulated pre-emptive strikes against South Korean ports and airfields used by the U.S. military, a likely reference to the launches of three missiles on Tuesday.

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Lee Chun-geun, a scientist at South Korea's Science and Technology Policy Institute, said that the North Korean missiles were believed to be carrying warheads, which contain trigger devices but not plutonium or uranium, to see whether those warheads could detonate properly.

The launches were the latest in a series of weapons tests North Korea has carried out since Kim in March ordered tests of a nuclear warhead explosion and ballistic missiles capable of carrying such warheads.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-ko...es-u-s-n613016

[AdamG]

I think we get overly focused on missile capabilities due to our tendency to apply mirror analysis and assume our adversaries seek to fight the way we do. Even after the non-traditional attack on our homeland on 9/11 the military-industrial complex as shown little real progress in addressing increasingly dangerous non-conventional threats.

However, that doesn't mean we should ignore missile technology, it may or may not be a red herring in this case, but it still bears watching as these two articles point out. At the end of the day, our adversaries have nuclear weapons, and they can be utilized in various ways to achieve their ends to include with and without missiles.

Nothing was said about *just* a missile attack. Depending on who is involved and what their perceived victory conditions are, an attack might involve 1) missile(s) + 2) hacking +3) terror attacks on select targets + 4) infrastructure attacks (see California power grid) and whatever chaos is caused from that equation might be more about hamstringing a US response to a changing situation somewhere else on this globe.

[AdamG]

Gosh. How did we miss the Mu Du Bong mystery?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cPhwfXohDA

See also
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/kore...015140502.html

Then, for nine straight days, from July 1-9, the Mu Du Bong stopped signaling on AIS, and disappeared from the commercial shipping grid. It’s possible the ship was simply sitting quietly at anchor. But there are echoes here not only of the Chong Chon Gang, but of a number of other North Korean-flagged freighters which over the years have followed this pattern of dropping off the grid in the vicinity of Cuba. In congressional testimony last September, illicit-trafficking expert Hugh Griffiths, of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, described this practice as “a common risk indicator of maritime trafficking.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/claudiar.../#2097b55c492a


Current location

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/...sel:MU_DU_BONG

[AdamG]

North Korea has launched two ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan, one of which exploded immediately after launch, according to the US. The move has been condemned by the country’s southern neighbor, as well as Japan and Washington.

The projectile that was launched at about 7:50am local time (around midnight GMT), and, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, flew for about 1,000 km (620 miles) before landing in Japan's economic exclusion zone. US Strategic Command said it had also detected a second launch which resulted in failure.

https://www.rt.com/news/354410-korea...qCxt2N8.reddit

[AdamG]

SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Saturday accused the United States of seeking to invade the communist state in the near future, and threatened to launch a nuclear strike against the U.S. at any sign of such a move.

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The commentary came three days after Washington said it has deployed three B-2 stealth bombers to Guam in response to repeated and heightened provocations from the communist North that included recent missile launches.

Pyongyang, however, claimed the deployment of nuclear capable U.S. bombers only showed U.S. intention to invade the North.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/nati...04500320F.html

[AdamG]

North Korea has fired a ballistic missile from a submarine off its east coast, say the US and South Korea.

The KN-11 missile was launched from waters near Sinpo and flew about 500km (300 miles) before falling into the Sea of Japan, a US official said.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile fell inside Japan's Air Defence Identification Zone.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37171608?SThisFB

[AdamG]

North Korea says it has successfully carried out its fifth nuclear test, in continued defiance of UN resolutions.
A 5.3 magnitude tremor had earlier been detected near its nuclear test site.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37314927