A group of scientists is claiming THAAD cannot effectively defend South Korea from ballistic missile attack:
Another scientist, David Wright, co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security Program, said that a salvo of North Korean short-range missiles could overwhelm THAAD.
The 10 million people living in Seoul will also not be protected by THAAD, since it is being installed 125 miles south of the city. “It cannot engage missiles fired at Seoul, so it offers no additional protection of the city,” David Wright told the Associated Press.
“We have a layered defense systems, which is shared with the Republic of South Korea and Japan,” Commander Gary Ross, a Pentagon spokesperson, told Business Insider in response to whether or not Seoul was protected. “But we don’t discuss specific weapons systems.”
As it stands, US Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile defenses provide protection for Seoul, though it has similar limitations to THAAD.
One scientist was even more wary of THAAD’s capabilities. Harris’ statement about THAAD is “technically incorrect,”Theodore Postol, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said.”The THAAD interceptor is very easily defeated by either causing a missile to tumble end over end or by intentionally fragmenting a rocket into pieces.”
In the case of a saturation attack, or a large volume of missiles as Postol described, THAAD’s defense capabilities “can be expected to be very low, probably zero or close to that,” Postol said. [Business Insider]
You can read more at the link, but of course if North Korea masses enough ballistic missiles at one location and there is not enough Patriot and THAAD interceptors to shoot them down then ballistic missiles will get through. When it comes to Seoul, North Korea can already destroy Seoul with artillery why waste ballistic missiles by shooting at it?
It seems they would want to use their ballistic missiles to target areas further to the south that their artillery systems cannot reach. Additionally as mentioned in the article THAAD is not the only missile defense system in South Korea with Patriot batteries deployed across the peninsula. THAAD has never been sold as being a magic force field to protect all of South Korea, it is part of a layered missile defense system to protect the country.
It is interesting that this announcement is coming from the North Koreans and not from USFK:
This photo, provided by South Korea’s Air Force on March 22, 2017, shows a joint military drill staged by U.S. B-1B strategic bombers and South Korean KF-16 fighter jets. (Yonhap)
North Korea claimed Tuesday that U.S. B-1B strategic bombers made flights over the Korean Peninsula early this week in an exercise on dropping nuclear bombs, saying that Washington is to blame for rising tensions.
The United States carried out a military provocation Monday by flying B-1B bombers over Korea less than one day after Seoul and Washington wrapped up their joint military drills at the end of last month, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The allies completed their two-month joint exercises on April 30, with U.S. strategic assets taking part in the training, such as the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, F-35 stealth fighter jets and B-1B bombers.
“The B-1Bs from Guam sneakily flew over sky above the East Sea (on Monday) and joined cooperative operations with strategic striking means, including the aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered submarine,” the KCNA said in an English report.
It is not confirmed whether the North’s claim is true as South Korea and the U.S. have not unveiled relevant information. [Yonhap]
Maybe I should start a new daily posting here on the ROK Drop called “North Korean Threat of the Day”?:
North Korea warned Monday that it will carry out a nuclear test “at any time and at any location” set by its leadership, in the latest rhetoric to fuel jitters in the region.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high for weeks, with signs that the North might be preparing a long-range missile launch or a sixth nuclear test — and with Washington refusing to rule out a military strike in response.
A spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry said Pyongyang was “fully ready to respond to any option taken by the US”.
The regime will continue bolstering its “preemptive nuclear attack” capabilities unless Washington scrapped its hostile policies, he said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.
“The DPRK’s measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership,” the spokesman added, apparently referring to a sixth nuclear test and using the North’s official name, the Democratic Republic of Korea. [AFP]
Another US politician shares his point of view on what to do about North Korea:
Ohio Gov. and former U.S. presidential candidate John Kasich said Friday the best way to solve the problem of North Korea is “to eradicate the leadership.”
Kasich made the remark to reporters in Washington, noting that other forceful means, such as a military strike and war, are not a viable option because a North Korean counterstrike could result in a massive loss of lives.
“I believe the best way to solve this problem is to eradicate the leadership,” Kasich said.
He said that the U.S. could “remove a number of the top people and have a more benign leadership there that understands what’s at risk.”
Asked if that could be done militarily, he said, “You have to have very good intelligence. You have to have an ability to do things very quickly. It’s not beyond our capability to achieve that.”
“I don’t want to say any more than that, but that’s what I believe we need to do, as opposed to a full military strike,” Kasich said. [Yonhap]
Does anyone think their nuclear program wasn’t already accelerated? I doubt the Trump administration is going to be too impressed with this claim:
North Korea pledged Monday to bolster its nuclear weapons program at maximum speed, issuing the country’s first official response to the recently released North Korea policy by the U.S. administration, which focuses on “maximum pressure and engagement.”
“Now that the U.S. is kicking up the overall racket for sanctions and pressure against the DPRK, pursuant to its new DPRK policy called ‘maximum pressure and engagement’, the DPRK will speed up at the maximum pace the measure for bolstering its nuclear deterrence,” a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.
DPRK is the abbreviation of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“The DPRK’s measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership,” according to the statement, carried by the state news wire Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). [Yonhap]
The Committee for Human Rights In North Korea has published an open letter to President Trump asking him to use his Twitter account to promote human rights in North Korea:
To be sure, the national security of the American people and that of our allies is incredibly important and certainly your number one responsibility. However, human rights for the North Korean people are important as well.
In the Art of the Deal, your closing words include, “In my life, there are two things I’ve found I’m very good at: overcoming obstacles and motivating good people to do their best work.” You have also demonstrated a mastery of highly effective and spontaneous communications. Your unconventional communication and problem-solving talents are sorely needed, now.
Much like you have reduced the influence of the conventional news media by communicating with the American people directly through your Twitter account, an approach to North Korea’s problem sets is needed to blast through the traditional conventions that have not worked.
So beyond thumbing through the playbook of failed engagement and negotiation strategies, or placing over-reliance on an unreliable China, do what you do best—communicate directly to the people through Twitter. Use this venue to talk directly to the 25 million North Koreans who suffer under a brutal, multi-layered system of repression. Yes, North Koreans do not have access to your Tweets, but nearly everybody else does and numerous human rights groups have ways of sending those tweets into North Korea through surreptitious means. [HRNK]
I wonder how the North Koreans could even find the USS Michigan much less sink it? Sounds like another empty threat from the Kim regime:
After the United States deployed a nuclear-powered submarine and an aircraft carrier to South Korean waters amid high inter-Korean tensions, North Korea on Sunday threatened to sink the underwater vessel, accusing America of stepping up military intimidation.
“The moment the USS Michigan tries to budge even a little, it will be doomed to face the miserable fate of becoming a underwater ghost without being able to come to the surface,” the North’s propaganda website Uriminzokkiri said in a posting.
“The urgent fielding of the nuclear submarine in the waters off the Korean Peninsula, timed to coincide with the deployment of the super aircraft carrier strike group, is intended to further intensify military threats toward our republic,” the website claimed. [Yonhap]
It is pretty clear that over the next month enormous pressure is going to be put on North Korea to give up their nuclear and ICBM programs as even the European powers are now deploying military assets into the region:
A French navy ship arrives at the Sasebo naval base in Sasebo, southwestern Japan, on April 29, 2017
France’s Mistral amphibious assault carrier docked in Nagasaki, Japan on April 29 in advance of military exercises to be conducted with the U.K., U.S., and Japan. Nagasaki is the closest major Japanese port to South Korea, and coming at a time of tension on the peninsula, the French and U.K. naval presence sends a strong message to both China and North Korea. Japan’s increased naval activity is also welcome support for South Korea, and will decrease diplomatic tension between the two natural allies. The U.K. and French presence shows that NATO, including the U.S., is strongly behind South Korea. [Forbes]
