US and South Korea Respond with Live-Fire Exercise After North Korea Tests 2nd ICBM
I will wait to hear what the US military releases publicly about how successful the warhead for this ICBM was before I believe anything the Kim regime puts out:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Saturday the second flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile demonstrated his country can hit the U.S. mainland, hours after the launch left analysts concluding that a wide swath of the United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now in range of North Korean weapons.
The Korean Central News Agency said that Kim expressed “great satisfaction” after the Hwasong-14 missile reached a maximum height of 3,725 kilometers (2,314 miles) and traveled 998 kilometers (620 miles) before accurately landing in waters off Japan. The agency said that the test was aimed at confirming the maximum range and other technical aspects of the missile it says was capable of delivering a “large-sized, heavy nuclear warhead.”
Analysts had estimated that the North’s first ICBM on July 4 could have reached Alaska, and said that the latest missile appeared to extend that range significantly.
Immediately after the launch, U.S. and South Korean forces conducted live-fire exercises. South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo called for the deployment of strategic U.S. military assets — which usually means stealth bombers and aircraft carriers — as well as additional launchers of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system.
Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the missile, launched late Friday night, flew for about 45 minutes — about five minutes longer than the first. The missile was launched on very high trajectory, which limited the distance it traveled, and landed west of Japan’s island of Hokkaido.
The KCNA quoted Kim as saying that the launch reaffirmed the reliability of the country’s ICBM system and an ability to fire at “random regions and locations at random times” with the “entire” U.S. mainland now within range. The agency said that the test confirmed important features of the missile system, such as the proper separation of the warhead and controlling its movement and detonation after atmospheric re-entry. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but if the Moon administration is now asking for the deployment of the four additional THAAD launchers doesn’t this mean that the current delay is entirely political? The supposed environmental concerns delaying the emplacement of the four launchers doesn’t just go away after North Korea tests an ICBM unless there was never any serious environmental concerns in the first place.
The senseless slaughter of fish by north and South Korea continues unabated.
Based on what’s been said and done the last few months regarding the DPRK I’m seeing it surely going down a path of absolutely not doing a thing other than these pointless shows of force until they commit an overt act against the US (or mayyybe the RoK but after the Cheonan who knows). If that’s the case then the DPRK will continue to arm and increase who it’s able to hold hostage.
Like a big giant thick headed ajeoshi of Godzilla proportions, the RoK will never take measures to lessen Seoul’s governmental and human footprint by dispersing it throughout the country and it will remain the hostage of the DPRK. We’re basically without options due to the RoK’s stupidity and sloth. How the F do you allow 50% of your country’s population to gaggle up at the world’s 6th most dense metro 1 1/2 hours (shortest drive time) from the DMZ?
Back in the ’70’s Prez. Park did not want any new building north of the Han River. He was thinking well into the future, but nobody was listing. I was a nuk missile crewman and we were located about 20 miles east/southeast of Seoul. It was to give us a slight buffer to get out and get the missile built and fired.