Alles omtrent Noord-Korea

Gestart door Cobra4, 16/02/2009 | 09:55 uur

Lex

N. Korea Vows to Punish U.S., S. Korea 'Warmongers'

SEOUL, South Korea —
North Korea vowed Tuesday to punish U.S. and South Korean "warmongers" after the American military said it would go ahead with annual joint exercises that Pyongyang calls an invasion rehearsal.
Tensions in Northeast Asia have spiked amid mounting concern over the North's apparent plan to test-launch a missile believed capable of reaching the U.S. west coast.
Many analysts have said the launch threat is a bid to draw President Barack Obama's attention as his administration formulates its North Korea policy to move stalled international disarmament talks forward. Obama's new envoy to North Korea arrived in Bejing on Tuesday to the region for talks with his counterparts to the nuclear talks.
North Koreas's military demanded Monday that the U.S.-South Korean drills be called off during rare talks with U.S.-led U.N. forces on the Korean peninsula, according to media reports.
But U.S. military spokesman Kim Yong-kyu said Tuesday the exercises — involving 26,000 American troops, an unspecified number of South Korean soldiers, and a U.S. aircraft carrier — would go ahead at sites across South Korea from March 9-20.
On Tuesday, the North's state media said the U.S.-South Korean military maneuvers were aimed at "rounding off the capability to make a military strike."
"The revolutionary armed forces of (North Korea) are in full combat readiness to resolutely shatter any provocation of the enemy," the Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea has routinely condemned any military exercises as rehearsal for an attack. Washington and Seoul say they have no such intention.
Further escalating the stand off, the North said last week it would launch a communications satellite into orbit. But neighboring governments believe the claim may be a cover for a long-range missile test and have warned the regime such a move would invite international sanctions. Analysts say satellites and missiles use similar delivery systems.
South Korea's new Unification Minister Hyun In-taek urged the North on Tuesday to halt any provocative acts and agree to defuse tension through dialogue.
Japan plans to deploy an Aegis-radar equipped destroyer carrying a missile interceptor, reported Kyodo news agency, quoting unnamed defense sources. The North test-fired a ballistic missile over Japan in 1998, a launch the regime also claimed was a satellite.
Japan's Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said it is "natural" for Tokyo to "respond to any situations" when asked whether the navy plans to shoot down a North Korean missile. He did not elaborate.
North Korea unsuccessfully test-fired a long-range missile in 2006, but is believed to have made improvements in its missile capabilities. Analysts say satellite images reveal brisk activity at a launch pad in North Korea's northeast.
The new American special envoy for North Korean nuclear talks, Stephen W. Bosworth, will meet with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, who heads the Chinese delegation in talks, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.
Bosworth will also travel Japan and South Korea, and will consult with Russian officials who will travel separately to the region.

AP, Tuesday , March 03, 2009

Lex

Japan May Deploy Missile Defense Ships Near N. Korea

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan —
Tokyo is considering deploying both its ballistic missile interceptor warships to the Sea of Japan ahead of a possible test launch of North Korea's longest-range missile, Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday.
The U.S. military is closely monitoring activities in North Korea from its bases in Japan, officials said Tuesday.

The North said last week that it would launch a communications satellite into orbit. But neighboring governments believe the satellite claim may be a cover for a missile launch and have warned the regime not to carry out any "provocative" actions.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso indicated earlier this week that Japan should be able to use its missile defence capabilities even if North Korea insists that it is launching a satellite, domestic media reported.
Failure to shoot down a target could undermine faith in Japan's defence system, which was introduced with U.S. help after North Korea fired a missile over the country in 1998, stunning the region.

Analysts say satellite images reveal brisk activity at a launch pad in North Korea's northeast.
U.S. military officials at Misawa Air Base, which is on Japan's northern fringe just across the Sea of Japan from North Korea, said they are closely watching the situation but refused to provide any details about the possible timing of the launch.
"U.S. Army forces in Japan are always vigilant and more than capable of defending Japan from any threat, including ballistic missiles, and as always we are working closely with our Japanese allies," Maj. James Crawford, a spokesman for the U.S. Army in Japan, said Tuesday.
Japan, which is within easy range of the North's arsenal, has long been anxious about missile activity from North Korea, which in 1998 launched a long-range ballistic missile over its main island and well into the Pacific, almost reaching Alaska.

Since then, Japan and the United States have worked together on ballistic missile defense and have built a multibillion dollar ballistic missile shield that includes interceptor missiles both onboard ships at sea and Patriot missile units that ring Tokyo and are also positioned on the island of Okinawa — where more than half of the 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan are deployed.
North Korea unsuccessfully test-fired a long-range missile in 2006 — the same year it conducted its first nuclear test — but is believed to have made improvements in its missile capabilities.

Officials say Misawa is a front-line station for monitoring North Korean activity. If U.S. military satellites detect a flash of heat from a missile range in North Korea, within seconds computers at the base can plot a rough trajectory.
Analysts say North Korea's latest threat is a bid to draw President Barack Obama's attention as his administration formulates its North Korea policy as international disarmament talks remain on hold. Obama's envoy on North Korea is heading to the region for talks with his counterparts to the nuclear talks.

Fox News, Tuesday , March 03, 2009

pewe64

Als ikhet goed begrijp zijn dit raketten met vloeibare brandstof.
Het schijnt een hele logistieke heksentoer te zijn om die dingen vol te tanken.
USA en Rusland gebruiken toch alleen maar vaste brandstof raketten voor hetzelfde doel?

Lex

U.S. Prepared to Shoot Down N. Korean Missile

The U.S. military is prepared to shoot down a North Korean missile or rocket if President Obama should give the order, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command said Thursday.
"If a missile leaves the launch pad we'll be prepared to respond upon direction of the president," Adm. Timothy Keating told ABC News.
North Korea announced earlier this week that it was preparing to shoot a communication satellite into orbit as part of it space program. The U.S., South Korea and other neighboring countries believe the launch may be a cover for a missile test-fire, saying the action would trigger international sanctions.
"There's equipment moving up there that would indicate the preliminary stages of preparation for a launch," Keating said. "So I'd say it's more than less likely."
North Korea lashed out at critics warning it not to test a long-range missile on Thursday, saying that it would punish those trying to disrupt its plan to send what it calls a satellite into orbit.
Keating said the U.S. military is ready to respond to the missile launch with at least five different systems: a naval destroyer, Aegis cruiser, radar system, space-based system and ground-based interceptor, ABC News reported.
"Should it look like it's not a satellite launch — that it's something other than a satellite launch — we'll be ready to respond."
The latest harsh words from Pyongyang came as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced plans to send her new envoy on North Korea to meet with negotiators in Asia trying to revive stalled nuclear disarmament talks.
Clinton later spoke by telephone with her South Korean counterpart, Yu Myung-hwan, to discuss the North's missile issue and informed him of her envoy's trip to Seoul, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said without elaborating.
On Thursday, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of (North) Korea accused South Korea of "trumpeting about 'sanctions"' against its satellite launch, saying outsiders will know "what will soar in the air in the days ahead."
"If the puppet warmongers infringe upon our inviolable dignity even a bit ... we will not only punish the provokers but reduce their stronghold to debris," the committee said in a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
Kim Myong Gil, minister to the North's U.N. mission in New York, said in Atlanta where he was attending an academic forum that his country would implement the satellite launch "as scheduled." Asked about the timing, he told reporters Thursday they'll have to wait and see, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
Kim said North Korea bears the right to launch a satellite into space, and that the North's space program is not up for any negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang. He also said the country is facing dire energy shortages and must develop nuclear power as a source of energy, the report said.
Analysts say the North's planned launch is seen as a bid for President Barack Obama's attention as international talks on its nuclear programs remained stalled for months and tensions with South Korea are at their highest level in a decade.
The launch of the Taepodong-2 will most likely take place around the first week in March, around the time of elections for the North's rubber-stamp parliament, said Rodger Baker, director of East Asia analysis at the global intelligence company STRATFOR.
The long-range Taepodong-2 missile is believed capable of reaching Alaska. Some experts think the North is preparing to test an advanced version that could reach the western continental U.S.
Baker said North Korea's missile capability is "fairly sophisticated" given the country's isolation and lack of access to technology.
"They are really good with short-range and anti-ship missiles, mostly those they've modified from Soviet and Chinese missiles," Baker told The Associated Press.
Clinton announced Thursday that envoy Stephen Bosworth would soon travel to the capitals of the four countries that have been working with Washington to get North Korea to give up its nuclear program — Russia, Japan, China and South Korea.
Bosworth, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, was named last week as the Obama administration's special representative for North Korea.
Asian and U.S. officials are looking at the best way "to deter this launch," said Christopher Hill, the top U.S diplomat for Asia. He dismissed North Korea's claims that it was preparing to conduct a satellite launch.
"It looks an awful lot like a missile launch, and the reason it looks a lot like a missile launch is because it essentially is a missile launch, whatever the payload," Hill told reporters in Washington. Considering the North's "opaqueness," coupled with its claims that it has weaponized plutonium, he said, "you can see why we have some very deep concerns about the missile launch."
South Korea's Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea has built an underground fueling facility near its launch pad, making it harder for spy satellites to detect signs that a missile is being prepared for launch.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Fox news, Friday , February 27, 2009

Cobra4

'Noord-Korea gaat sateliet lanceren'

SEOUL -  Het regime van Noord-Korea heeft dinsdag aangekondigd dat het land alle voorbereidingen in werking heeft gezet voor het lanceren van een satelliet voor telecommunicatie. Dat meldden staatsmedia in het streng communistische land. Waarnemers vrezen dat het slechts gaat om een dekmantel voor het testen van langeafstandraketten.

Volgens het Noord-Koreaanse staatspersbureau KCNA zijn de voorbereidingen gaande om de raket Unha-2 te lanceren die de communicatiesatelliet Kwangmyongsong-2 in een baan om de aarde moet brengen. De raket wordt gelanceerd vanaf de basis Hwadae in het noordoosten van het land. In 1998 lanceerde Noord-Korea de Taepodong-1. Het land claimde toen met deze raket een satelliet te hebben gelanceerd. Het afvuren van de Taepodong-2 liep in 2006 uit op een mislukking.

Noord- en Zuid-Korea slaan de laatste dagen weer stevige taal naar elkaar uit. Het communistische regime in het noorden beschuldigde het zuiden ervan een oorlog te willen provoceren. Op zijn beurt beschuldigde het westers georiënteerde Zuid-Korea het noorden van het plaatsen van raketten.

De relatie tussen beide landen is sinds de verkiezing van Lee Myung-bak tot president van Zuid-Korea verslechterd. Hij stelt zich veel harder op tegen de noorderbuur dan zijn voorgangers. Zo heeft hij hulp aan het regime in Pyongyang gekoppeld aan de voortgang van de ontmanteling van de Noord-Koreaanse nucleaire faciliteiten. Uit woede hierover schrapte Noord-Korea onlangs een aantal akkoorden met Seoul.

Volgens de toonaangevende Noord-Koreaanse communistische partijkrant Rodong Sinmun zorgt Lee ervoor dat de twee Korea's zich op de rand van oorlog bevinden. De krant spreekt van een ,,totale ineenstorting" van de verhoudingen tussen de twee landen door toedoen van Lee en de zijnen.

bron: www.telegraaf.nl
Peloton 3 602 Sqn

Cobra4

ma 23 feb 2009, 14:28
Noord-Korea plaatst nieuwe raketten

SEOUL -  Noord-Korea heeft de plaatsing van een reeks raketten voor de middellange afstand recent afgerond. De projectielen kunnen 3000 kilometer ver weggeschoten worden en hebben een kop van 650 kilogram. Dat heeft Zuid-Korea maandag gesteld in een document over het communistische buurland. Hoeveel raketten er geplaatst zijn meldt het tweejaarlijkse rapport niet. Er gaan geruchten dat Noord-Korea binnenkort een langeafstandsraket zal gaan testen.

Het noorden heeft in de afgelopen twee jaar het leger met 20.000 mensen uitgebreid tot bijna 1,2 miljoen medewerkers. Het onderdeel waar militairen getraind worden om te infiltreren, is volgens Zuid-Korea verdubbeld tot 180.000 mensen.

Pyongyang heeft verder de beschikking over 2500 ton tot 5000 ton chemische wapens. Dat is dezelfde hoeveelheid als in 2006. Het rapport schat dat Noord-Korea veertig kilo plutonium bezit, dat geschikt is om bommen mee te maken. Over een atoombom wordt in het document, anders dan twee jaar geleden, niet gerept.

Volgens Seoul zijn de nieuwe cijfers zorgwekkend. Het rapport spreekt van een ,,directe en serieuze bedreiging van onze veiligheid".

De spanning tussen Noord- en Zuid-Korea is het afgelopen jaar flink opgelopen. De conservatieve president Lee Myung-bak vaart een hardere koers jegens Noord-Korea dan zijn voorganger.

De twee Korea's zijn officieel nog steeds in oorlog met elkaar, omdat de Koreaanse oorlog (1950-'53) is geëindigd zonder het tekenen van een vredesverdrag.

bron: www.telegraaf.nl
Peloton 3 602 Sqn

Cobra4

North Korea fuels missile rumours

North Korea has asserted its right to "space development", amid speculation that it plans to launch a missile test.

In state media, it accused countries of trying to block its "peaceful research" and said: "One will come to know later what will be launched."
Experts say "space development" has been used before for a rocket launch.

North Korea denied it was seeking attention, as Hillary Clinton begins a visit to the region as US President Barack Obama's secretary of state.
Speculation that North Korea is preparing to test a long-range missile has persisted for two weeks, following surveillance reports of long objects being moved towards the coast and of Chinese ships vacating the area.

Kim birthday

The latest comments from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) coincided with official birthday celebrations for Mr Kim, who is thought to have suffered a debilitating stroke last August. Mr Kim's apparent ill-health has sparked deepening concerns about succession in the reclusive nuclear state. On his 67th birthday, state media hailed Mr Kim as a "heaven-made commander and an affectionate father who safeguards and illuminates the fate of our nation".

His return to active politics, confirmed by a visiting Chinese diplomat in January, has been accompanied by heightened North Korean bellicosity, analysts said. Reports citing intelligence from satellite photos have said preparations at the Musudan-ri launch site on the north-east coast are well advanced. But KCNA said rumours of a planned test launch of the long-range Taepodong-2 missile came from "hostile forces".

"This is a vicious trick to put a brake on the wheel of not only the DPRK's [North Korea's] building of military capability for self-defence but also scientific researches for peaceful purpose," it said.

"Space development is the independent right of the DPRK." "The DPRK has no need to draw anyone's attention and wants nobody to interfere or meddle in the issue of the Korean peninsula where only the Koreans live."

Nuclear disarmament talks involving the United States, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea are currently stalled.
Relations between North and South Korea are at a new low after the North scrapped several peace agreements and the South appointed a hard-line unification minister. Hillary Clinton, who this week makes her first Asian tour as US secretary of state, urged the communist state to avoid provocation and stop "unhelpful rhetoric" towards South Korea.


bron: news.bbc.co.uk
Peloton 3 602 Sqn