Talking smack to someone like President Trump may not be wisest thing for Kim Jong-un to be doing:
The show of force came as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed that North Korea had launched an ICBM on Tuesday, reversing an initial U.S. assessment that it was an intermediate-range missile.
He also said the U.S. would push for tougher sanctions by the U.N. Security Council, which planned an emergency meeting later Wednesday to discuss the latest provocation.
“Testing an ICBM represents a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region and the world,” Tillerson said in a statement. “Global action is required to stop a global threat.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, meanwhile, reportedly called the ICBM test an Independence Day “gift” for the Americans and promised to send more “big and small gift packages often in the future so they don’t get bored.” [Stars & Stripes]
Kim Jong-un better hope that President Trump doesn’t send him some big and small gift packages in return.
Even though the US is calling this an ICBM test its maximum range of possibly 5,500 kilometers barely makes it an ICBM and analysis has not determined if the reentry technology worked or not:
South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense followed up on Tillerson’s statement hours later, announcing Wednesday that the missile was a “new type” of ICBM, apparently a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), also known as a KN-17, modified into a two-stage projectile.
An IRBM class missile has the capacity to fly between 3,000 and 5,500 kilometers (1,864 to 3,418 miles), shorter than an ICBM’s capacity of more than 5,500 kilometers.
But the ministry fell short of saying whether North Korea’s ICBM launch was successful, saying it was hard to confirm yet. Analysis of whether Pyongyang has perfected re-entry technology, a core part of a long-range missile that’s been considered the last hurdle for North Korea’s ICBM development, was still ongoing, according to Defense Minister Han Min-koo, who briefed lawmakers on the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee Wednesday. Han said the Hwasong-14, North Korea’s name for its ICBM, qualified to be an ICBM when considering its travel distance, but that the maximum speed was way below the threshold of Mach 20. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
At its maximum range the KN-17 puts Guam and parts of Alaska at risk. This is clearly significant progress, but the Kim regime has not perfected ICBM technology that can reliably strike the US mainland, yet. At this point it seems like it is only a matter of time if the US and the ROK allow the Kim regime to have that time.
Here is the latest outrageous demand from North Korea:
This graphic shows, from left, former NIS chief Lee Byung-ho, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)
North Korea on Wednesday warned of capital punishment against a former South Korean president and former spy chief for their alleged plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The angry statement came after a Japanese media report that former South Korean President Park Geun-hye had instructed former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Lee Byung-ho to oust Kim by any means — including assassination.
The latest claim came amid lingering tensions on the Korean peninsula over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
“Former President Park Geun-hye and former spy chief Lee Byung-ho as well as NIS agents can never make any appeal even though they meet miserable dog’s death any time, at any place and by whatever methods from this moment,” the North Korea Ministry of State Security said in an English-language statement carried by the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The statement demanded South Korea immediately hand over Park and Lee to North Korea, claiming they committed what it claims is hideous state-sponsored terrorism against the North’s supreme leadership.
North Korea also warned it will impose summary punishment without advance notice on those who organized, took part in or pursued the plot in case the U.S. and South Korea again try to stage a terrorist attack against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I hope President Park has good security around her because of how unpopular she is in South Korea you never know if the Kim regime may think they could get away with an attack on her.
North Korea test-fires a new type of anti-aircraft guided weapon system, with its leader Kim Jong-un watching at an observation post in this compilation photo released by Pyongyang’s state media on May 28, 2017. (KCNA-Yonhap)
As I expected Kim Jong-un seems pretty pleased with the recent successful ballistic missile launch:
North Korea said on Monday it has successfully tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile to confirm the reliability of the late-stage guidance of the nuclear warhead, indicating further advances in the ability to hit U.S. targets.
The North’s KCNA news agency said leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test which also verified the functioning of the solid-fuel engine for the Pukguksong-2 missile and ordered it for deployment in field action.
North Korea has defied all calls to rein in its nuclear and missile programs, even from China, its lone major ally, saying the weapons are needed for legitimate self-defense. The North last conducted a ballistic missile test a week ago.
“Saying with pride that the missile’s rate of hits is very accurate and Pukguksong-2 is a successful strategic weapon, he approved the deployment of this weapon system for action,” KCNA said, quoting leader Kim Jong Un.
The launch verified the reliability and accuracy of the solid-fuel engine’s operation and stage separation and the late-stage guidance of the nuclear warhead which was recorded by a device mounted on the warhead, KCNA said.
“Viewing the images of the Earth being sent real-time from the camera mounted on the ballistic missile, Supreme leader Kim Jong Un said it feels grand to look at the Earth from the rocket we launched and the entire world looks so beautiful,” KCNA said.
The missile flew about 500 kilometers (310.69 miles), reaching an altitude of 560 km, and landed in waters off the North’s east coast, South Korea’s military said on Sunday. [Yahoo News]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un celebrates with soldiers and officials after a new type of ground-to-ground intermediate range ballistic missile, called the Hwasong-12, is launched on May 14, 2017, in this combined photo released by the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s ruling party organ, on May 15, 2017. North Korea said it has successfully test-fired the missile, claiming that the U.S. mainland is within its striking range. (Yonhap)
You have got to like how the Korea Times equates President Trump with someone like Kim Jong-un who maintains a system of slave labor camps, regularly threatens to turn Seoul into a Sea of Fire, carries out mass executions of political rivals to include his own uncle and older brother, and is the chief person responsible for the suffering and poverty of North Koreans:
I would love to see what “evidence” the Kim regime has gathered on this supposed assassination attempt on Kim Jong-un to warrant an extradition request:
Pyongyang will seek the extradition of anyone involved in what it says was a CIA-backed plot to kill leader Kim Jung Un last month with a biochemical poison, a top North Korean foreign ministry official said Thursday.
Han Song Ryol, the vice foreign minister, called a meeting of foreign diplomats in Pyongyang on Thursday to outline the North’s allegation that the CIA and South Korea’s intelligence agency bribed and coerced a North Korean man into joining in the assassination plot, which the North’s Ministry of State Security has suggested was thwarted last month.
The North’s state media have been running stories about the plot since last week. The security ministry has vowed to “ferret out” anyone involved in the alleged plot, which it called “state-sponsored terrorism.” [Associated Press]
I am beginning to think that maybe the Kim regime is pushing this story for domestic consumption in order to make it appear that the CIA killed his older brother Kim Jong-nam? The defector groups have been sending balloons across the border informing North Koreans of the murder of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia.
By claiming the assassination attempt on Kim Jong-un used a bio-chemical substance that makes it appear the same group that killed his older brother was trying to kill him too. Though I think these claims are targeted towards a domestic North Korean audience, the claims may have some carry over effect internationally as well. Considering how there are still people who don’t believe the North Koreans sunk the Cheonan, there will probably be people who think the CIA is behind some plot to kill the Kim family as well.
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