Other nations respond by launching indignation. I can just imagine how impressed maximum Leader Bad-Hair feels and how remorseful he is.

B


N. Korea launches rocket, defying world pressure

By JEAN H. LEE, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230GMT) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean and U.S. governments said. The multistage rocket hurtled toward the Pacific, reaching Japanese airspace within seven minutes, but no debris appeared to hit its territory, officials in Tokyo said.

The U.N. Security Council approved an emergency session for Sunday afternoon in New York, following a request from Japan that came minutes after the launch.

The South Koreans called it "reckless," the Americans "provocative," and Japan said it strongly protested the launch.

The launch was a bold act of defiance against President Barack Obama, Japanese leader Taro Aso, Hu Jintao of China and others who pressed Pyongyang in the days leading up to liftoff to call off a launch they said would threaten peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

South Korea's presidential Blue House said the launch poses a "serious threat" to stability on the Korean peninsula and that it would respond to the provocation "sternly and resolutely." President Lee Myung-bak ordered the military to remain on alert, the Blue House said.

"We cannot contain our disappointment and regret over North Korea's reckless act," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told reporters Sunday. He said the launch of the long-range rocket "poses a serious threat to security on the Korean peninsula and the world."

North Korea claims its aim is to send an experimental communications satellite into orbit in a peaceful bid to develop its space program.
The U.S., South Korea, Japan and others suspect the launch is a guise for testing the regime's long-range missile technology — one step toward eventually mounting a nuclear weapon on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond.

They contend the launch violates a 2006 resolution barring the regime from ballistic missile activity.

Obama said Friday the launch would be a "provocative" move with consequences. State Department spokesman Fred Lash said late Saturday in Washington that the U.S. will "take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it cannot threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity."

He called the launch a clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted five days after North Korea carried out a nuclear weapons test in 2006.

Japan's U.N. mission has asked for a meeting of the 15-nation council Sunday, spokesman Yutaka Arima said. Mexico's mission to the United Nations set the meeting for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), spokesman Marco Morales said. Mexico holds the 15-nation council's presidency this month.
U.N. diplomats already have begun discussing ways to affirm existing sanctions on North Korea against its nuclear program and long-range missile tests.

In Japan, chief Cabinet spokesman Takeo Kawamura said it was not immediately clear if the rocket was mounted with a satellite as North Korea has claimed.

North Korea calls its "space launch vehicle" Unha-2, but the rocket is better known to the outside world as the Taepodong-2, a long-range missile that can be mounted with a satellite or nuclear armament.

"Even if a satellite was launched, we see this as a ballistic missile test and we think this matter should be taken to the United Nations Security Council," Kawamura said. "We are highly concerned by this matter."
"We strongly protest this launch," he said.

The first stage of the rocket dropped about 175 miles (280 kilometers) off the western coast of Akita into the waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula. The second stage was to land in the Pacific at a spot about 790 miles (1,270 kilometers) off Japan's northeastern coast, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said in Tokyo.

Japan said it would convene a security panel meeting later in the day to discuss what further measures can be taken. Kawamura said Japan would work closely with Washington and with the U.N.

"Our primary concern is to confirm safety and gather information," Aso told a news conference at his Tokyo office Sunday.

North Korea shocked Japan in 1998 when it launched a missile over Japan's main island. Japan has since spent billions of dollars on developing a missile shield with the United States and has launched a series of spy satellites primarily to watch developments in North Korea.

Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris from the rocket if the launch went wrong, and positioned batteries of interceptor missiles on its coast and radar-equipped ships off its northern seas to monitor the launch.

No attempt at interception was made since no debris fell onto its territory, a ministry spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.

Go to war.........wipe em out, nuke em. Shock and awe baby.

On another note, India launched a supersonic cruise missile, the first of its type anywhere but surprisingly, no brouhaha raised.

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Just like they protested Hitler in the Sudetenland and Ruhr, cheap talk from weak wusses. I'm sure the hot air blowing is causing dear leader some sleepless nights.

If they had balls Japan, SK, or US would have went Israeli on them and blew the damn thing up.

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It must disappoint those for whom our diplomacy consisted of eight years of bellicose ass-braying, that we are not braying like asses right now. I mean, what more would Bush have done other than his usual donkey howl? Attacking North Korea for launching a missle, something even Brazil is doing routinely at this point, seems like a rather irrational response, even for Bush, so I wonder just what it is those on the right expect Obama should be doing right now? Cartoonish "us or them" throw-the-rightwing-some-red-meat-rhetoric just isn't Obama's style.

The truth is, the only country that has any control over North Korea is China. It will take diplomacy, appeal to self-interest and reason to get the Chinese to see that Korea is a Cold War anachronism that will stand in the way of China's ascent as the pre-eminent economic power. China has total control over North Korea's economy, they supply them fuel and rice, and if they want the Koreans to behave, they simply pull the switch. China likes the idea of a bellicose Korean buffer state between it and Japan and the US forces in South Korea. If we can find some way to remove the Chinese need for this anachronism, then we can end it.

My personal opinion is that time will eventually solve this problem Red Fascist states based on the Stalin model have for the most part, in the end collapse on their own accord, and North Korea will eventually do so as well. This rocket was a cartoon show, like it's nuke, it went off with a big pfffftttt.. I see no reason for some outrageous response.

Sadly Japan, the most capable of the lot has been totally neutered and today its a nation of peeping perverts, hentai and manga obsessed freaks. S. Korea is spineless in every sense and US is too preoccupied with Middle East.

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They shot there bolt in WW2, as did the Germans. They will never be the same again.

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They incidentally would make the best allies as well.

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Hooray!!!

Now that North Korea is planing another nuke test in a month, have said that they are willing to sell their bomb and missile technology to Iran and anyone else with $$$$, we are in deep kimchee!

Start brushing up on your Korean.Are you learning the ways of "The Juche Idea"? Here is the web page of the PDRK
http://www.korea-dpr.com/



Here is the WSJ article President Obama the toothless tiger...

"

• ASIA NEWS
• APRIL 4, 2009

Worries Rise as North Korea Nears Missile Launch

Obama Warns That Long-Range Rocket Test Would Be 'Provocative,' as Pyongyang Continues Its Final Preparations




By PETER SPIEGEL in Washington and EVAN RAMSTAD in Seoul

President Barack Obama increased pressure on North Korea to halt moves toward a weekend test of a long-range ballistic missile, warning Pyongyang on Friday that a launch would be "provocative" and wouldn't go unpunished.




Testing, Talking and Testing

Since the early 1990s, North Korea has taken steps designed to test new leaders.


U.S. defense officials said, however, there were no signs North Korea was curtailing its test and was instead making final preparations for the rocket shot, which could come as early as Saturday -- despite intensified diplomacy and increasingly strong objections from Mr. Obama and the U.S.'s Asian allies.
Speaking at a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Strasbourg, France, Mr. Obama said North Korea has become only more belligerent in the face of calls to cancel the missile launch.
"Should North Korea decide to take this action, we will work ... to take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it can't threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity," Mr. Obama said.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Friday that he believes North Korea will fire the rocket Saturday if weather conditions permit.
Although U.S. officials have said they won't attempt to shoot down the missile, the White House has otherwise remained circumspect on how specifically it would respond to the launch.
The U.S. Navy has dispatched four ships to the region -- two destroyers in the Sea of Japan and a destroyer and cruiser east of the main Japanese island of Honshu -- with sophisticated Aegis radar systems to monitor a North Korean launch. A U.S. defense official said all four are equipped with ballistic missile defense systems.
A senior U.S. military official said that despite the capabilities of the ships and spy satellites monitoring the launch site, the North Korean missile will have to be "up in the air for a few minutes" before the Pentagon can confirm whether it is on a trajectory to place a satellite in orbit, or on a more vertical ballistic path that could threaten U.S. and allied territory.
View Full Image



ReutersJapan soldiers stand guard at a base in Akita, on Friday. Northern Japan is preparing for the worst when a North Korean rocket flies over the area. Prefectures have armed forces, police and fire brigade staff on standby and missile interceptors are poised to shoot down any errant parts of the rocket.






Mr. Obama is facing a more complex international environment than the Bush administration did nearly three years ago when North Korean leader Kim Jong Il attempted a similar test of a long-range ballistic missile, believed to be the multistage Taepodong-2.
The U.S.'s closest East Asian ally, Japan, has threatened to shoot down the missile if it encroaches on Japanese territory, and the senior U.S. military official said it is unlikely American pressure could dissuade Tokyo if it feels threatened.
"If they really felt that this was coming at them, or it fails and debris heads their way, they will do what they have to do," the official said.
In addition, North Korea's prime benefactor, its northern neighbor China, appears less likely to go along with new sanctions against North Korea than three years ago, when Beijing was angered by Pyongyang flouting its objections to its missile test. In that instance, the North Korean missile exploded shortly after takeoff.
Dennis Wilder, who handled Asian issues for the National Security Council during the Bush administration, said Beijing is more reluctant to act because it is concerned about the stability of the North Korean regime. Mr. Kim, the North Korean leader, is believed by U.S. and allied intelligence agencies to have suffered a stroke last year.
North Korea's Nuclear Threat

View Slideshow



Associated PressA North Korean soldier watched from behind barbed wires along the North Korean banks of the Yalu river Friday.





"The guy has aged considerably in the last six months," Mr. Wilder said, pointing to a photograph released by state-run media last month in which the North Korean dictator looked thin and frail.
North Korea has also been able to gain some diplomatic cover by insisting the missile test is a satellite launch, arguing that peaceful space programs are allowed under the existing United Nations sanctions regime. China and Russia, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, have pointed to these claims to support their reluctance to punish the regime.
The U.S. and Japan have dismissed the notion that the test is part of a space program. Yukio Takasu, Japan's ambassador to the U.N., said Friday that Tokyo would ask for an emergency meeting of the Security Council -- perhaps as early as the weekend -- if Pyongyang proceeds with the launch.
For its part, Pyongyang threatened to withdraw from existing international negotiations over its nuclear weapons program if the U.N. takes up the missile launch.
North Korea has taken an increasingly confrontational stance toward the Obama administration since it assumed office in January, including detaining two American journalists last month who were working along North Korea's border with China. The Obama administration has nonetheless sought to advance the nuclear weapons talks.
Stephen Bosworth, the White House's special envoy to North Korea, said Friday, "I am prepared to go to Pyongyang whenever it appears to be useful."
North Korea has bristled at the Bush-era nuclear negotiations, known as the six-party talks, because it prefers to talk with the U.S. on a bilateral basis. Even amid the current crisis, Mr. Bosworth hinted the Obama administration would be open to such discussions. "I don't think that bilateral contacts of the sort that have occurred in the past, and that I believe will occur in the future, will weaken the six-party process," he said.
North Korean experts said the launch is also likely aimed at an internal audience, with Mr. Kim eager to show he is still in control ahead of a long-scheduled party conference at the end of next week.
If the North Korean launch is successful, the Pentagon will be able to gather data on the Taepodong-2, something it was largely unable to do three years ago.
"It helps us quite a bit," said Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering, who recently retired as commander of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency. "We have never seen a Taepodong-2 fly more than a couple of seconds."
Mr. Obering said that during current computer modeling and testing, the Pentagon is reliant on "guesstimates" provided by U.S. intelligence agencies to estimate North Korean capabilities. But he said if North Korea launches a space shot, "it's going to fly through lots of sensors," including ground and ship-based radars, that can be used to gather important data.
"It's the models and simulations where you learn the most because you can run them hundreds of times," Mr. Obering said. "If this is going to happen ... you'll be able to anchor that intelligence with real data."
—SungHa Park in Seoul contributed to this article.Write to Evan Ramstad at evan.ramstad@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A5


Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved"

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What would you have him do? Invade ANOTHER country? Don't you think we oughtta finish what we've started in Afghanistan and Iraq before we get entangled in another mess?

For all of you who think we should exercise military diplomacy in this case, I ask you, what did our last war in Korea gain us? Do we have any expectation that conflict with the Koreans will not turn into another proxy war with the Chinese? We do not exist in a vacuum, and the North Koreans are not without their own allies. (maybe only allies of convenience and proximity, but allies none the less)

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https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

You mean they will test another sub-1kiloton firecracker? I'm not the least bit worried about the nuclear capabilities of a 3rd world country like N Korea. The "information" they would have available to sell isn't even comparable to what we had in the 1940's.

I like Mr. Kim Jong Il, but lets see reality here and understand that in a world of 70-150 megaton capability (US and Russia) their bomb of 1/100,000th the power is no threat to anyone. We would knock out anything they send our way the instant it passes the international water line.

Like Iraq, Iran, Israel, etc they aren't a threat to anyone but themselves and their immediate neighbors.

This only comes to mind by drawing the outdated WW2 comparison. Either is already way back on par and well in charge on the world stage. They came in through the back door, when nobody was looking and pandering the fading glory of WW2.

Their secret weapon is economical and innovative leadership, which will break through even more in the upcoming future. Motto: Let someone else do the dirty work.

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This is only superficially and partially correct. I wouldn't recommend to be naive enough and convey an idea of attacking either Japan or, in an other case, Germany. One might be in for an unwelcome surprise.

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I travel to both countries frequently, have relatives in Germany and Japan and I teach there as well. I can tell you with contention, neuter is an understatement there with the youth. In case of Japan, it would be few hours and they would capitulate in case China attacks and in case of Germany, they would let the Russians in and welcome them with bier and bratwurst.

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Traveling frequently to either of those places wouldn't allow enough insight bellow the surface.

Even if you have relatives, I assume they are not native to, or of local origin.
However, it remains a hard thing to argue and if beer and bratwurst do the trick, they got a winner!

On a different note, what would you be teaching there? I see many individuals going around here, claiming "I teach ...". It has evolved to an acronym of elevating oneself above another. In most cases a closer look reveals a mere "quizmastering" or "instructing" at best.
In additiion to that, most know, that education is rather tight in both of the named countries.

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Incidentally almost all my relatives in Germany are married into German families which includes my younger brother and some of my relatives are into second and third generations firmly entrenched in the echelons of German society with good enough tentacles to have fair amount of assessment and educated knowledge. Some of them including my cousins and my own brother are accomplished scholars and are in the education system as well. Both the nation's youth are doomed in every sense, Germany currently fairing far worse than Japan and this is the consensus of the older generation of German people as well as my relatives.

Now if you are questioning my role on teaching there, well this lowly quizzmaster here teaches post graduate level mathematics as a visiting professor in Germany and Japan and have taught in China and as far as Vietnam and Uzbekistan as well. The quizzmaster also teaches advanced programming language, discrete math structures as well as C, again in post grad level. I have no desire to make it into an acronym to elevate myself, I have other ways to achieve that. The only reason I mentioned the teaching part is because it puts me into a unique position to get perspective on the country's youth there and also the kind of youth that would be shaping the country's future.

Please don't blame my background and use it as an offensive maneuver in this dialog, thats quite crass of you in every sense and also unexpected. I just have the misfortune of having a doctorate in math from a US univ which has given me this unique privilege and I have no desire to assert myself over others with that, being a NYorker, I have other ways and means of doing that and doing it quite well.

Now if you care to do some reading you will find out the level of education elsewhere on globe apart from Germany and Japan, suggest you check this out at http://thodudayaseviyan.blogspot.com/2008/01/japanese-schools-envy-indian-school.html and http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070422x2.html

Hardly surprising as even the top students from schools in NY like Stuyvesant find it hard to get along in the Indian school system. I personally knew someone who was in top three in her class at Stuyvesant face a tough time in Indian schools due to the harder education workload, she was so traumatized that the parents had to change their plans of settling in India and go back to US.

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