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When North Korea launched long-range missiles this summer, and again on Friday, demonstrating its ability to strike Guam and perhaps the United States mainland, it powered the weapons with a rare, potent rocket fuel that American intelligence agencies believe initially came from China and Russia.
The United States government is scrambling to determine whether those two countries are still providing the ingredients for the highly volatile fuel and, if so, whether North Korea's supply can be interrupted, either through sanctions or sabotage. Among those who study the issue, there is a growing belief that the United States should focus on the fuel, either to halt it, if possible, or to take advantage of its volatile properties to slow the North's program.
But it may well be too late. Intelligence officials believe that the North's program has advanced to the point where it is no longer as reliant on outside suppliers, and that it may itself be making the potent fuel, known as UDMH. Despite a long record of intelligence warnings that the North was acquiring both forceful missile engines and the fuel to power them, there is no evidence that Washington has ever moved with urgency to cut off Pyongyang's access to the rare propellant.
Classified memos from both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations laid out, with what turned out to be prescient clarity, how the North's pursuit of the highly potent fuel would enable it to develop missiles that could strike almost anywhere in the continental United States.
Pop Science earlier has a more detailed look at how their missile might work:
How North Korea's Theoretical ICBM Would Work
Toxic Propellant Hazards ~ 1966 NASA KSC; Hydrazine Rocket Fuel & Nitrogen Tetroxide Oxidizer
It's really nasty stuff...
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @09:02AM (4 children)
Sabotage?
As if we needed any more evidence that North Korea is absolutely right about being under attack and needing weapons to defend themselves.
By now, it should be clear to anyone that when politicians say that NK should not be allowed to have nukes, what they really mean that they should not be able to defend themselves. You know, just like Iraq after years and years of UN weapons inspectors making sure that they didn't have anything to defend themselves with.
THAT is what Kim is worried about, and why he thinks he needs nukes. And yet they keep showing evidence that he is right to be worried.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @11:48AM (3 children)
So if Kim's motives are about self preservation, then the international community needs to set up a situation where his survival depends on NK joining the community of nations.
The question is, how do you do that?
Offer a great retirement plan.
Offer a stick and a carrot instead of a stick and a stick.
Call out his helpers.
Get between his people and him so he has to look outside for help.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday September 20 2017, @12:46PM (2 children)
Euphemism for American Empire. Note they seem pretty stable hanging out with China on one side and SK on the other. They don't really need to ally with anyone.
My (south, afaik) Korean coworker anecdotally described the NK as being like stereotypical hillbillies. Don't F them over or otherwise force them, and they're quite content to chill out in their mountains and not bother anybody. The only way they're gonna fight "the international community" or American Empire or whatever is if the Chinese force them, which turns it into how to keep China happy.
Last time the NK tried a civil war, they almost pushed the south off the peninsula until the Americans landed in force at which time we pushed them all the way back to the Chinese border, again in mere weeks. Then the Chinese got pissed about buffer state issues and did four years of human wave / zerg rush attacks against us, until everyone got tired of it. Not really all that much has changed since then.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @01:06PM (1 child)
Do "stereotypical hillbillies" build tiny submarines to infiltrate their neighbors? When I visited S Korea (late 1980s) they were catching these little subs fairly often, each one was dropping off a spy or two. Since they are all Korean, it's relatively easy to blend in, I suppose the South also infiltrates the North (but did not hear about that).
Our hosts (Hyundai car company) took us to a beautiful beach near the southern end of the peninsula, but just above high tide was a barbed wire fence and there were raised sentry posts at regular intervals--the whole coastline was guarded.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Wednesday September 20 2017, @10:12PM
Yes, they do [history.com], and have for a long time. Those zany stereotypical hillbillies. Link has picture of actual stereotypical-hillbilly-built tiny submarine from 1864.