North Korean Missile Launch

[Robert440]

If North Korea had oil we would be there in a heart beat....

[Blewvane]

UPDATE March 30, 2012, 1:04 pm
SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea has begun preparing for a rocket launch next month despite international condemnation, satellite images show, as Japan vowed to shoot down the projectile if it poses a threat.

The images taken Thursday show that work to prepare the launch pad appears to be under way, according to the 38 North website (38north.org), which published several images taken by private US firm DigitalGlobe.

The nuclear-armed North insists it will go ahead with what it calls the peaceful launch of a scientific satellite from its Tongchang-ri site in the far northwest.

The United States and other nations say the exercise is a disguised long-range missile test, in breach of UN resolutions and of a US-North Korean deal reached last month.

The website, a project of the US-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced and International Studies, said the detailed images show the mobile launch pad on tracks next to the gantry tower.

It said a crane atop the tower was at a 45-degree angle relative to the pad, indicating equipment was being loaded onto the gantry, and numerous small objects and people could be sighted on the pad.

A work crew appeared to be cutting away brush, possibly to prevent the spread of any fire started by the launch.
At the two largest propellant storage buildings to the right of the pad, containing tanks to supply the Unha-3 rocket's first stage, trucks could be seen delivering fuel and oxidiser, it said.

38 North said preparation "seems to be progressing on schedule" and the next step would be moving the first stage to the pad, probably on March 30 or 31.

This would be followed by the second stage a day or two later, with the third stage and payload likely following by April 2 or 3.

"Unless some major setback occurs, the North Koreans will be able to launch during the declared launch window starting April 12," it said.

The North has said it will launch the satellite some time in the morning between April 12-16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding president Kim Il-Sung.

It says it will estimate crop yields and collect weather data, among other civilian missions, and rejects strong criticism from leaders including US President Barack Obama.

Pyongyang said the first stage would fall about 140 kilometres (87 miles) off South Korea's west coast, in international waters between China and the South.

The second stage was expected to splash down 190 kilometres east of the northern Philippines.

Japan fears the flight path may take it over its southern island chain of Okinawa. Defence Minister Naoki Tanaka said in Tokyo Friday he had ordered troops to shoot it down if it threatens Japanese territory.

South Korea has also said it will shoot down the rocket if it strays over its territory.

The United States has suspended plans to start sending 240,000 tonnes of food aid to the North, which in return agreed last month to a partial nuclear freeze and a missile test moratorium.

Pyongyang insists a satellite launch is not a missile test, a stance rejected by other countries who say the rocket technology is dual-use.

South Korea, which currently has icy relations with its neighbour, says the launch aims to test technology which could one day deliver a nuclear warhead.

The North is estimated to have enough plutonium for six to eight weapons, but it is unclear whether it has mastered the technology to create an atomic warhead.

The North fired off long-range missiles in 1998, 2006 and 2009. After the two most recent launches it swiftly followed up with an underground nuclear test, and some analysts see a similar scenario unfolding this time.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/w...work-underway/

[Blewvane]

UPDATE
http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...shield-101489/

[Blewvane]

Think about it, if it was just testing their ability to send a satelite into orbit then why isn't the 'rocket' (missile) pointed straight up?

[Dynamo47]

This should be a no brainer. Draw the line in the sand and tell them they are not to fire a missile south. If they do they will face a military onslaught that will cripple their country and their economy.

They are basically surrounded by water so the combined navy of the US, UK, Australia and others can sit back and bomb the hell out of their strategic locations.

[bigmikeymike]

thats easier said than done with global powerhouse china backing up NK

[rob666]

Originally Posted by bigmikeymike

thats easier said than done with global powerhouse china backing up NK

Yeah, and South Korea would probably cease to exist if we attacked..... It's said that North Korea has a network of tunnels under to the South, as well as tens of thousands of Artillery pointed at Seoul.... There's video clips of the drill's they have in Seoul to prepare in case they are attacked, its's pretty serious business.... So glad I don't live there.

[Blewvane]

North Korea's rocket launch ends in failur

North Korea's much hyped long-range rocket launch on Friday ended in apparent failure, South Korean officials said, dealing a blow to the prestige of the reclusive and impoverished state that defied international pressure to push ahead with the plan.

North Korea said it wanted the Unha-3 rocket to put a weather satellite into orbit, although critics believed it was designed to enhance the capacity of North Korea to design a ballistic missile deliver a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the continental United States.

The rocket has even been dubbed "Kardashian 1" on social media, drawing parallels with Kim Kardashian's failed marriage to Kris Humphries.

A spokesman for the Defense Ministry in Seoul told journalists that the rocket had broken up and crashed into the sea a few minutes after launch.

Officials from Japan confirmed the mission had failed, while ABC News cited U.S. officials saying it had failed, although there was no immediate indication of where it fell.

The rocket's flight was set to take it over a sea separating the Korean peninsula, with an eventual launch of a third stage of the rocket in seas near the Philippines that would have put the satellite into orbit.

This was North Korea's second consecutive failure to get a satellite into orbit, although it claimed success with a 2009 launch and there was no comment on the launch from North Korea's official media.

The Unha-3 rocket took off from a new launch site on the west coast of North Korea, near the Chinese border.

The launch had been timed to coincide with the 100th birthday celebrations of the isolated and impoverished state's founder, Kim Il-sung, and came after a food aid deal with the United States had hinted at an easing of tensions on the world's most militarised border.

[Vanznizzle]

[Nite]

a billion dollars spent on this while the country starves