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posted by takyon on Sunday May 10 2015, @01:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the kim-jong-underwater dept.

USA Today reports that under the watchful eyes of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea says it has conducted an underwater test-firing of a submarine ballistic missile. Kim called the missile a "world-level strategic weapon" and an "eye-opening success." Although American officials had suspected North Korea was developing such a missile system, the country had not previously claimed to have conducted a test launching. The test, if confirmed, would pose a new challenge to the United States and its regional allies, South Korea and Japan, which have been trying to build missile defense capabilities to guard against potential North Korean missile attacks.

The news of a successful test-fire was most likely a surprise to South Korean military officials, who have privately told reporters that they believed it would take years for the North to develop such a submarine-launched ballistic missile. "North Korea's development of a submarine-launched missile capability would eventually expand Pyongyang's threat to South Korea, Japan and U.S. bases in East Asia" says Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. "Submarines carrying land-attack missiles would be challenging to locate and track, would be mobile assets able to attack from any direction, and could operate at significant distances from the Korean peninsula."

See also: BBC, Reuters, The Guardian, Washington Post.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 10 2015, @02:22AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday May 10 2015, @02:22AM (#180943) Journal

    The US said using ballistic missiles was a "clear violation" of UN sanctions against North Korea.

    The UN Security Council != America.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 10 2015, @02:26AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 10 2015, @02:26AM (#180945)

    The UN Security Council meets in America.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Sunday May 10 2015, @02:44AM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday May 10 2015, @02:44AM (#180949) Journal

      Thanks anon, your grasp of international politics is awe-inspiring.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 10 2015, @03:47AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 10 2015, @03:47AM (#180964)

        OK then, let's see the United Nations forcibly eject the United States from its membership, while continuing to meet in New York. What's that? American soldiers are here to detain the United Terrorists and everyone just lost diplomatic immunity? Imagine that.

      • (Score: 2) by Aighearach on Sunday May 10 2015, @06:01AM

        by Aighearach (2621) on Sunday May 10 2015, @06:01AM (#181007)

        In fairness to the AC, neither of you is showing any grasp of how the UN system works.

        Lets also remember that the US was never at war with North Korea; the UN was!

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by frojack on Sunday May 10 2015, @03:22AM

    by frojack (1554) on Sunday May 10 2015, @03:22AM (#180959) Journal

    Knowing the North Koreans, this is probably not that much of a threat. These guys pull stunts all the time.

    It might not even be their own build. But in any event this launch picture looks a bit different than most submarine launched missiles. It looks like its engine was fired underwater, which is uncommon. Googleing around You will see most missiles launched from subs rise to the surface in a huge steam/bubbles, with sufficient speed to jump into the air, and actually ignite in the air. See this sequence [ausairpower.net] of a Chinese SLBM.

    Its considered mildly crazy to light your boosters under water in this day and age. It might be a standard frigate missile, or even a truck mount missile. North Korea isn't known to have any submarines big enough to house internal missiles as far as I can tell.

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  • (Score: 2) by Aighearach on Sunday May 10 2015, @05:58AM

    by Aighearach (2621) on Sunday May 10 2015, @05:58AM (#181005)

    If you go and read the UN Charter, you'll find that out that there is not some sort of UN bureaucracy that enforces the Security Council decisions, but actually instead the member states are supposed to implement the Council decisions themselves.

    So yes, in fact, when there is a UN Security Council action creating sanctions against a country, that means that the US is indeed authorized to enforce those sanctions. That authorization is what the Security Council decision actually is!