North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

N. Korea fires long-range missile, others

TOKYO - Defying stern warnings from Washington and Tokyo,
North Korea launched a long-range missile Wednesday that may be capable of reaching America, two U.S. officials said. But they said the missile failed after 35 or 40 seconds.

The audacious military exercise by the isolated communist nation came as the United States celebrated the Fourth of July holiday and launched the space shuttle Discovery from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

"We are urgently consulting with members of the Security Council," said John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations.

The North also fired two other missiles, the State Department said. Initial intelligence indicates that one was a Scud missile and the other a Rodong. The Scuds are short-range and could target
South Korea. The Rodong has a range of about 620 mbiles and could target Japan.

All three landed in the Sea of Japan between Japan and the Korean Peninsula, said the Japanese government.

State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the long-range missile was the Taepodong-2, North Korea's most advanced missile with a range of up to 9,320 miles. Experts believe a Taepodong-2 could reach the United States with a light payload.

The launch came after weeks of speculation that the North was preparing to test the Taepodong-2 from a site on its northeast coast. The preparations had generated stern warnings from the United States and Japan, which had threatened possible economic sanctions in response.

"North Korea has gone ahead with the launch despite international protest," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said. "That is regrettable from the standpoint of Japan's security, the stability of international society, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

The missiles all landed hundreds of miles away from Japan and there were no reports the missiles caused damage within Japanese territory, Abe said.

He said the first missile was launched at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, or about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday EDT. The two others were launched at bout 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., he said.

If the timing is correct, the North Korean missiles were launched within minutes of Tuesday's liftoff of Discovery, which blasted into orbit from Cape Canaveral in the first U.S. space shuttle launch in a year.

It was not clear which launch was the long-range missile. The Japanese government was unable to confirm the report by U.S. officials that a Taepodong-2 was fired.

Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea's mission to the U.N. in New York, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview: "We diplomats do not know what the military is doing."

North Korea's missile program is based on Scud technology provided by the former Soviet Union or Egypt, according to American and South Korean officials. North Korea started its Rodong-1 missile project in the late 1980s and test-fired the missile for the first time in 1993.

North Korea had observed a moratorium on long-range missile launches since 1999. It shocked the world in 1998 by firing a Taepodong missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean.

On Monday, the North's main news agency quoted an unidentified newspaper analyst as saying Pyongyang was prepared to answer a U.S. military attack with "a relentless annihilating strike and a nuclear war."

The Bush administration responded by saying while it had no intention of attacking, it was determined to protect the United States if North Korea launched a long-range missile.

On Monday, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns warned North Korea against firing the missile and urged the communist country to return to six-nation talks on its nuclear program.

The six-party talks, suspended by North Korea, involved negotiations by the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia with Pyongyang over the country's nuclear program.

The United States and its allies South Korea and Japan have taken quick steps over the past week to strengthen their missile defenses. Washington and Tokyo are working on a joint missile-defense shield, and South Korea is considering the purchase of American SM-2 defensive missiles for its destroyers.

The U.S. and North Korea have been in a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program since 2002. The North claims to have produced nuclear weapons, but that claim has not been publicly verified by outside analysts.

While public information on North Korea's military capabilities is murky, experts doubt that the regime has managed to develop a nuclear warhead small enough to mount on its long-range missiles.

Nonetheless, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told U.S. lawmakers last week that officials took the potential launch reports seriously and were looking at the full range of capabilities possessed by North Korea.

Source: Yahoo News

Way to piss off China Kim Jong-il.

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

Kim made alot of threats that never really followed through, this time he followed through with his threat but unfortunately for him, it backfired a little. But at least in his case, he's showing people "We can and will use missiles as seen so far" instead of "Hey! We'll uhh..throw anuke at you. yeah..thats what!"

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

I find nothing wrong it. They're just testing some weapons. Nothing to get all fired up about.

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

who thinks this will be a bad ending?

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

Only for the North Korean people. Kimy won't attack anyone.

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

I'd like to see what Bush does if they hit America with a missle.

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

Well, if Kim holds up to what his new threat is, if the US strikes back, Kim will throw nukes at us.

So...its a matter of whether or not Kim is bluffing us with that threat or not

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

here let me test my new knife on you, take of your shirt and stand over there...would you like me to strap you down so i can make a cleaner cut?

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

I don't know a damn thing about politics. But we went to war with Iraq with no hard evidence, even at the time of going to war. I'd like to think that their country would be a flaming crater before they ever got to shoot a nuke at us. If we strike back I don't think they'll be mobile.

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

Im shaking in my boots...

but seriously, is this country honestly scared about this ****? We have much more serious things to be worried about, like the oil crisis or global warming.

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

I agree with GM.

They're just testing.

If they cant test their weapons, why does any other country have any more right than they do?


Either all nations are allowed to test, or none are.

Simple as that.

Yes, they are communist. Yes, they have missles. Woo hoo.

Way to promote equality in saying they cant test, while your own country does.

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

What oil crisis? Global warming?

There is no oil crisis. Rich influential people are benefiting off of you having to pay tons of money for gas. Anyone that tells you an alternative source of fuel is not an option is bullsh!tting you and is most likely a politician, or the head of some major company. Crisis implicates that we are going to run out, and be screwed. We won't. They will milk you as long as they can, until you're possibly paying 5 or 6 dollars a gallon. Then, when we are on the brink of riots or running out, they will make the shift. It's not that the industry is afraid of making a shift, it's that the people running the industry like money.


And global warming is environmentalist propaganda crap.


Having to go to war with the world's 4th largest land army = bad times.

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

I agree. Hey, let's let the Germans test things too. And better yet, they don't have to go public, it can be private tests!!! **** sanctions and restrictions. Let's have a free-for-all test-fest. If your country wants to test some nukes, **** getting permission, just test them! wooohooooooo.

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

That's quite an interesting economic theory that I have a hard time perscribing to.

The products that commpanys put forth are dependent on what people will buy and what they will pay for it. While almost everyone is currently complaining about gas prices (including myself) most people are still willing to pay the "high" price (compared to Europe gas is still extremely cheap here). The day when the people are unwilling to pay for gas will be the day that innovation takes place. It's not the other way around.

Re: North Korea Missile Fails After 35 Seconds
 

I agree, and I guess I didn't make it clear, so my bad, but I never said people were complaing now. I did say when people are rioting they will make the shift. The companies could make the shift now, they just choose not to. While I dislike throwing 45 dollars away every week, it's not the bane of my existance. It's just lame knowing that there's a solution around the corner and no one is going to tap it. Hence, no crisis.