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posted by on Tuesday March 07 2017, @08:38PM   Printer-friendly
from the they're-MISS-iles,-get-it? dept.

North Korea Launches Missiles, Land in Japanese Waters

North Korea has launched four ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan.

Three of them fell into Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) after flying some 1,000km (620 miles), in what PM Shinzo Abe called a "new stage of threat".

They were fired from the Tongchang-ri region, near the North's border with China, the South Korean military said.

The type of missile is unclear but the North is banned from any missile or nuclear tests by the UN.

The United States' Secret Cyberwar Against North Korean Missiles

The U.S. has been operating a "Stuxnet"-like program against North Korea to hinder its ability to produce intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads:

Three years ago, President Barack Obama ordered Pentagon officials to step up their cyber and electronic strikes against North Korea's missile program in hopes of sabotaging test launches in their opening seconds.

Soon a large number of the North's military rockets began to explode, veer off course, disintegrate in midair and plunge into the sea. Advocates of such efforts say they believe that targeted attacks have given American antimissile defenses a new edge and delayed by several years the day when North Korea will be able to threaten American cities with nuclear weapons launched atop intercontinental ballistic missiles.

But other experts have grown increasingly skeptical of the new approach, arguing that manufacturing errors, disgruntled insiders and sheer incompetence can also send missiles awry. Over the past eight months, they note, the North has managed to successfully launch three medium-range rockets. And Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, now claims his country is in "the final stage in preparations" for the inaugural test of his intercontinental missiles — perhaps a bluff, perhaps not.

An examination of the Pentagon's disruption effort, based on interviews with officials of the Obama and Trump administrations as well as a review of extensive but obscure public records, found that the United States still does not have the ability to effectively counter the North Korean nuclear and missile programs. Those threats are far more resilient than many experts thought, The New York Times's reporting found, and pose such a danger that Mr. Obama, as he left office, warned President Trump they were likely to be the most urgent problem he would confront.

Additional articles about the NYT investigation and "left-of-launch" strikes.


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2

 
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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday March 08 2017, @12:41PM (3 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 08 2017, @12:41PM (#476409)

    Invaded who, and when? And compare their record to somewhat more warmongering empires, such as like, all of them, and they're practically the neutral Swiss. They make the Aussies look like warmongers.

    Agreed on the China thing and China is down with the whole MAD strategy thing, much like if "Castro" had decided to nuke Wash DC during the Cuban Missile Crisis you know Moscow would have had a worse day than Havana, frankly. In that way the NK behavior is basically taunting and ignoring them is likely the best policy.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 08 2017, @01:52PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 08 2017, @01:52PM (#476427) Journal

    Invaded who, and when?

    The invasion of course of South Korea in 1950.

    And compare their record to somewhat more warmongering empires, such as like, all of them, and they're practically the neutral Swiss.

    North Korea is still at war with South Korea. They just aren't fighting very much. And yes, that has included a fair number of battlefield deaths over the years since 1953 with the possibility of a flare up which might kill hundreds of thousands (due to the ridiculous amount of artillery pointed at Seoul) in minutes at any time. And it is silly to compare them to Switzerland who hasn't been at war since 1815 by intent for over 200 years ago. North Korea hasn't invaded South Korea again merely because they don't have the logistics to wage sustained war by themselves.

    It is foolish to make your comparison for two reasons: first, North Korea has never been peaceful and continues to kill people in acts of war. Second, North Korea has always acted at the convenience of warmongering empires, the USSR and current China.

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday March 08 2017, @05:01PM (1 child)

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 08 2017, @05:01PM (#476530)

      The invasion of course of South Korea in 1950.

      Whoa... my great (-great- ?) uncle was involved in that on the US Army side, he never talked much about it, he was just a kid soldier not in charge of the war. He's like pushing 90 now. I would imagine everyone in charge of that war is dead, then everyone who knows someone first order who was in charge is also dead, and at best you got 2nd order.

      Its like still being pissed off at the Japanese for WWII atrocities. There's like nobody alive for a long time who was making those policy decisions. Or being angry at the American south today for that slavery thing about 150 years ago. Its like being angry at the USA Democratic Party in 2017 because in 1860 they supported slavery.

      What happened in '50 is interesting militarily, strategically and logistically, but not politically. That was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.

      North Korea hasn't invaded South Korea again merely because they don't have the logistics to wage sustained war by themselves.

      One theory I like about war is wars are fought when the outcome is unclear. Its obvious that NK could cause some short term pain before being wiped off the map again unless China steps in, pretty much like last time, actually. That complete lack of confusion about the outcome on both sides is why no war gets fought. Probably no war will ever get fought as long as its obvious that it would just be a rerun of 1950 and as long as no one gets pushed into a corner and threatened. I can't imagine anyone on either side thinking tossing a nuke at Tokyo or LA as an offensive act would result in anything but glassing the country, and as a defensive act being able to rely on MAD instead of China stabilizes the situation rather then destabilizes it because now relations with China have no effect, NK can't be wiped from the map regardless of China's opinion. Not really seeing a problem with that.

      So I'm not seeing Korea 2.0 breaking out any time soon and building ICBMs is mildly stabilizing to the situation as only being useful as a last ditch "Masada defense", so as long as we can avoid invading NK by accident or for fun, we're all good here?

      I mean what realistically is the problem, other than general imperial warmongering and such?

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 08 2017, @05:35PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 08 2017, @05:35PM (#476559) Journal
        And yet North Korea is still killing people over this ancient war.

        I mean what realistically is the problem, other than general imperial warmongering and such?

        That North Korea is crazy enough to start a war that could kill millions.