This AP article stresses what I have been saying for years, that the Kim regime is not crazy or suicidal, but rather quite rational in regards to their pursuit of ICBMs and nuclear weapons:
Four extended range Scud missiles lift off from their mobile launchers in Tongchang-ri in North Pyongan rovince, North Korea, on March 6, 2017. KCNA/KOREA NEWS SERVICE/AP
Early one winter morning, Kim Jong Un stood at a remote observation post overlooking a valley of rice paddies near the Chinese border.
The North Korean leader beamed with delight as he watched four extended range Scud missiles roar off their mobile launchers, comparing the sight to a team of acrobats performing in unison. Minutes later the projectiles splashed into the sea off the Japanese coast, 620 miles from where he was standing.
It was an unprecedented event. North Korea had just run its first simulated nuclear attack on an American military base.
This scene from March 6, described in government propaganda, shows how the North’s seemingly crazy, suicidal nuclear program “. Rather, this is North Korea’s very deliberate strategy to ensure the survival of its ruling regime.
Back in the days of Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s “eternal president” and Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, the ruling regime decided it needed two things to survive: reliable, long-range missiles and small, but potent, nuclear warheads. For a small and relatively poor country, that was, indeed, a distant and ambitious goal. But it detonated its first nuclear device on Oct. 9, 2006.
Today, North Korea is testing advanced ballistic missiles faster than ever — a record 24 last year and three in just the past month. With each missile and each nuclear device, it becomes a better equipped, better trained and better prepared adversary. Some experts believe it might be able to build a missile advanced enough to reach the United States’ mainland with a nuclear warhead in two to three years. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, including the scenarios that anyone against developing missile defense systems needs to consider.
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)
Humanitarian missions to NK slowed to a trickle under Lee MB & Park GH. Led by For Min Kang, however, Moon seems to want this back on track. pic.twitter.com/Qnc2CXm7IB
It appears as the US increases its force posture in the area that the North Koreans are trying to signal that they have no intentions of giving up their weapons program no matter how much pressure is put on them:
North Korea launches a mid-range ballistic missile in this undated file photo. (KCNA-Yonhap)
North Korea fired a ballistic missile from its eastern coast early Monday morning, dealing another blow to efforts by South Korea’s new government to improve inter-Korean ties.
The missile, presumed to be a Scud type, was launched eastward from the vicinity of Wonsan, Gangwon Province, at around 5:39 a.m., according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“The flight distance is around 450 kilometers,” it said.
The North’s latest action was immediately reported to President Moon Jae-in, who ordered related government officials to convene a National Security Council meeting, said the JCS.
The session started at 7:30 a.m., presided over by Moon’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong.
The U.S. Pacific Command also confirmed the launch occurred near Wonsan Airfield, saying the missile was tracked for six minutes until it landed in the East Sea. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but some speculation is stating that the North Koreans may be testing an anti-ship variant of the SCUD missile in response to American aircraft carriers in the area.
I wonder if someone is just trying to rile people up by putting up this flag?:
SHOCKED neighbours have been speculating about whether Kim Jong-un has opened a base within a suburban house in the north east of England.
Hoisted on a 20 foot pole in the garden of a house in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, is the red, white and blue North Korean flag stamped with its distinctive communist red star. (……)
One neighbour Michelle Ungurs-Wood, 35, has lived in the street for five years and said it was “bizarre”.
She said: “It doesn’t really bother me but I would like to know why they have put it up.
“I didn’t even know which flag it was I had to Google it, it surprised me to find it was North Korea.
“They might just be doing it to be controversial.”
She said the pole itself had been up since the World Cup, saying it had previously held a British flag. [The Sun]
