Actium Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 My future wife is from S Korea, and all her family is over there at present. While there is some to be concerned about the situation, everyone is continuing life as normal. After a while people start tuning out the whole "we will eradicate you" routine. That said, there are some variables, what with Kim Jong Un being new at this. Having loved ones that would be directly affected by the actions of a lunatic certainly puts things in perspective for me. The loss of life and damage could be staggering, even if it N Korea is crushed in a short period of time. As for China, I'm concerned that they are becoming more focused on economic strength, which will put them at odds with their proxy like N Korea. At some point N Korea will go beserk and China will not be able to rein them in. Hopefully that is not what is happening now (I don't think it is). I suspect N Korea is going to conduct the Missile Test as a way of saving face and backing down from the bellicose rhetoric. They will claim that they successfully conducted the test, and when no attack occurs, that they cowed the adversaries from testing the might of their army. Or something to that effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Actium Posted April 8, 2013 Report Share Posted April 8, 2013 i agree on pretty much all counts.. the first things written when he took over were if he could be a powerful leader and his balls were in question early... then there is a 1% chance he is crazy enough to go nuts on everyone.. but that wont last long and wont likely have any negative impact here in the US. If he did go nuts, the damage to S Korea could be profound. Which would have a ripple effect on the world economy. Anyway, who knows how it would go. The US and S Korea have the technological edge, but the N Koreans have the bodies. With the hilly terrain that covers the Korean peninsula, and the network of tunnels the N Koreans have been digging for the last half century, the battle might not be as quick as might be hoped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Numbers| Posted April 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 My future wife is from S Korea, and all her family is over there at present. While there is some to be concerned about the situation, everyone is continuing life as normal. After a while people start tuning out the whole "we will eradicate you" routine. That said, there are some variables, what with Kim Jong Un being new at this. Having loved ones that would be directly affected by the actions of a lunatic certainly puts things in perspective for me. The loss of life and damage could be staggering, even if it N Korea is crushed in a short period of time. As for China, I'm concerned that they are becoming more focused on economic strength, which will put them at odds with their proxy like N Korea. At some point N Korea will go beserk and China will not be able to rein them in. Hopefully that is not what is happening now (I don't think it is). I suspect N Korea is going to conduct the Missile Test as a way of saving face and backing down from the bellicose rhetoric. They will claim that they successfully conducted the test, and when no attack occurs, that they cowed the adversaries from testing the might of their army. Or something to that effect. And today's update on the US Embassy site in Korea. Fulcher/Actium, any on the ground updates ? That 10th of April "deadline" is approaching. My understanding is that patriot missile batteries have been moved to Tokyo (recently ?) and are already in/near Seoul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Actium Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 Fulcher/Actium, any on the ground updates ? That 10th of April "deadline" is approaching. My understanding is that patriot missile batteries have been moved to Tokyo (recently ?) and are already in/near Seoul. Nothing on my front. My fiancee said that all the media there is not really focusing on it. She concluded that either (a) it is mostly hype from American media, or (b) the local media doesn't want to incite a panic. Another variable I thought of after posting is that the S Korean president is their first female leader, and she is the daughter of a former South Korean dictator. Her mom was killed by N Korean agents, and her dad was murdered by his spy chief in an abortive coup. As a side issue, the history of S Korea is quite fascinating, as it was in many respects an authoritarian regime until relatively recently. Obviously way more liberal than its sister country to the north, but its history is different than I would have thought at first glance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Numbers| Posted April 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 Nothing on my front. My fiancee said that all the media there is not really focusing on it. She concluded that either (a) it is mostly hype from American media, or ( B) the local media doesn't want to incite a panic. Another variable I thought of after posting is that the S Korean president is their first female leader, and she is the daughter of a former South Korean dictator. Her mom was killed by N Korean agents, and her dad was murdered by his spy chief in an abortive coup. As a side issue, the history of S Korea is quite fascinating, as it was in many respects an authoritarian regime until relatively recently. Obviously way more liberal than its sister country to the north, but its history is different than I would have thought at first glance. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_B Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5scBuP2EK-I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Numbers| Posted April 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2013 http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/north-korea-missile-launch-2013-isolated-nation-missile-18930775 N. Korea Has Missile Fueled and on the Launch Pad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BM25_Musudan The actual rocket design is a liquid fuel rocket, generally believed to use a hypergolic combination of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) as fuel, and nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) as oxidizer.[2] Once the fuel/oxidizer combination are fed into the missile, it could maintain a 'ready to launch' condition for several days, or even weeks, like the R-27 SLBM, in moderate ambient temperatures. The oxidizer is only a liquid between –11°C and 21°C, constraining deployment conditions.[2] A fueled Musudan would not have the structural strength to be land transported, so would have to be fueled at the launch site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Numbers| Posted April 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2013 http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/04/us-sea-radar-tracking-n-korean-threat/ Apr 11, 2013 7:51amUS Sea Radar Tracking N. Korean Threat With North Korea threatening to launch missiles against the United States, the Pentagon reportedly sent the radar system out to sea April 1 from its home port of Pearl Harbor to assist with tracking a potential missile launch. The U.S. Navy has deployed two Aegis destroyers to the region that are equipped with SM-3 missile interceptors that could bring down a North Korean missile. Both South Korea and Japan have each deployed two similar Aegis destroyers to the waters off the Korean peninsula to provide missile defense. The Sea-Based X-Band Radar. USS Decatur SM-3 Launch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Numbers| Posted April 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2013 A transcript of a news show today. Pay attention to what a General says below. http://www.today.com/video/today/51514759#51514759 >>> the trip to seoul is a first for secretary of state john kerry. it comes at a time of great tension in the region. >> secretary kerry met with south korea's president, and labeled the ongoing rhetoric from north korea as "unacceptable." we get to andrea mitchell in seoul. andr andrea, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. that pentagon assessment that you spoke of is the first assessment from an official source that north korea might have a nuclear armed missile that it could launch but it has not been fully tested. still it raises the temperature just as secretary kerry is arriving here seeking a diplomatic solution out of this crisis. the secretary of state is in seoul to tell south korea the u.s. will defend it against any attack, hoping this country's new president its first woman leader won't retaliate or be provoked into an accidental response even as the president and the u.s. secretary-general discuss how to get north korea to back down. >> now is the time for north korea to end the kind of belligerent approach that they've been taking and to try to lower temperatures. >> reporter: but u.s. officials tell nbc news pyongyang's missiles are locked and loaded, fueled and ready to go, likely not armed but military intelligence, the defense intelligence agency or dia has told congress north korea is probably capable of firing nuclear armed missiles, if it wants to. >> general, would you agree with that assessment by dia? >> i can't it up that one. hasn't been released, some of it is classified, some of it is unclassified. >> the pentagon mislabeled what it gave congress. the alarming report was supposed to remain secret, kim jong-un could possible unleash the world's most powerful weapon but would he? >> i think his primary objective is to consolidate, confirm his power. >> we are all united in the fact that north korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power. >> reporter: kerry said president obama has deliberately canceled some military exercises to try to lower the rhetoric. he said whether or not there is a diplomatic way out is now up to one person, kim jong-un. matt? >> andrea mitchell in seoul, south korea, thanks, as always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_B Posted April 12, 2013 Report Share Posted April 12, 2013 Jimmy Carter makes a pretty good point here in this interview http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-april-9-2013/jimmy-carter-pt--1 http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-april-9-2013/jimmy-carter-pt--2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Numbers| Posted May 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2013 http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/06/world/asia/nkorea-missiles-withdrawn/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 North Korea withdraws missiles from launch site (CNN) -- Two North Korean Musudan missiles have been withdrawn from a launch site in the eastern part of the country and sent to a storage facility, a U.S. official confirmed Monday. The United States had been worried about the prospects of the regime firing the missiles. For weeks last month, North Korea dished out daily sabre-rattling threats aimed at South Korea and the United States. The North's rhetoric intensified after the U.N. Security Council voted in March to slap tougher sanctions on the regime and amid U.S.-South Korean military drills in the region Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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