Today, North Korea fired artillery shells on the disputed South Korean border island Yeonpyeong, killing an indeterminate number of people. What motivated the attack? North Korea implied that South Korea fired first. The latter was conducting military exercises around the island. (Source)
The president called it an “outrageous act.”
The rogue state recently revealed that it was operating a uranium enrichment program. Last month, the Institute for Science and International Security released a report that concluded North Korea is enriching uranium for nuclear weapons. Among other things, North Korea has a centrifuge program, which enables the rogue state to develop nuclear weapons and to assist other countries attempting to build centrifuge programs. The Washington Post reported that the rogue state might own 500 to 1,000 centrifuges, and experts say the country would need 3,000 such systems to make a nuclear weapon.
The Heritage Foundation recently published a fact sheet list the top ten reasons not to trust Russia. Listed among the reasons is Russia violating nonproliferation agreements by providing ballistic missile technology to Iran and North Korea, which have continually threatened America and its allies. Several months ago, the Defense Intelligence Agency reported that in as little as five years, Iran may be capable of hitting the U.S. with an intercontinental ballistic missile, with North Korea’s help.
Today’s attack is part of a continuum of North Korea’s determination to develop nuclear weapons and antagonize U.S. allies. Heritage’s Conn Carroll urges the Obama administration not to give in to North Korea’s inevitable demands.
U.S. defense contractor SAIC won a $19 million contract to “provide measurement, prediction, and analysis support for evaluating the signatures of foreign missile systems and their support equipment” at Huntsville, Alabama. SAIC has worked with the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center for the past 20 years. The center provides intelligence on foreign missile defense systems. (Source)
The U.S. Army awarded defense contractor Raytheon a $17.2 million contract modification to assist with upgrades to South Korea’s Patriot Air and Missile Defense System. Specifically, Raytheon will provide the country with an alternative power source for the Patriot system and communications equipment. (Source)
Vice president for Patriot Programs at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems Sanjay Kapoor said, “This is an opportunity to further our working relationship with the South Korean industry. Raytheon’s major subcontract partner in South Korea, EHWA Technologies Information, has a robust and proven portfolio of products in power systems for the Republic of Korea Air Force and will be a key partner for these improvements.”
Contractor Lockheed Martin seeks to win a 10-year, $6 billion contact to take over Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD). Since the program began, Boeing has been the main contractor for GMD.
Retired Army Major General John Holly, a Lockheed vice president for missile defense, said his company “welcomes the opportunity to apply our talent and experience to a broader set of requirements for this important missile defense system.” (Source)
North Korea test-fired five short-range missiles today, an indication that the country has no intention of curbing its development of effective ballistic missiles. (Source)
The missiles were launched off North Korea’s east coast. The test-firing merely is the latest in a long line of such tests. on July 4, North Korea fired seven missiles (310 mile-range) toward the Sea of Japan. Afterward, Japan’s Coast Guard reported that North Korea banned ships from its coast by a wide range, fueling speculation that the rogue state was preparing to launch more missiles. North Korea indeed test-fired several more missiles and conducted a nuclear test. At the time, South Korea said North Korea had about 700 short-range missiles similar to the ones fired.
North Korea also launched a ship called the Kang Nam, suspected of carrying banned weapons. After our country launched the U.S.S. John McCain to intercept the ship, the Kang Nam reversed course and return to where it set sail.
>> The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report highlighting challenges to the U.S. establishing missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic and recommendations on actions needed to implement the plans. For example, the GAO notes that neither country’s parliament has ratified the agreements, signed last year; and the Department of Defense hasn’t established roles and responsibilities of the main U.S. stakeholders for the missile defense shield sites. Among the GAO’s recommendations are:
“[T]he Secretary of Defense should direct MDA, the Army, and the Air Force to finalize the Overarching Memorandums of Agreement and element-specific annexes that detail the specific roles and responsibilities for the European sites and define the criteria that must be met before the transfer of those sites from MDA to the Army and Air Force.”
>> Aviation Week reports that the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) seeks to increase the range of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system. The booster is currently 14.5 inches long, and the MDA wants to increase it to 21 inches.
MDA’s THAAD project manager William Lamb said, “The concept behind the 21 inches is that it significantly increases the interceptor range, and by increasing range that significantly–three to four times–increases the defended area we have on the ground with the system.”
Additionally, a longer booster would give commanders more time to make the decision to fire at a target.
“It allows you to shoot one interceptor, assess whether or not you have killed the incoming reentry vehicle,” Lamb said, “and [possibly] precludes having to ripple-fire to launch several interceptors. So, you shoot, assess and then–if you didn’t get it–you would shoot again.”
>> South Korea intends to launch its first space rocket this week. The $405-million Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 is on the launch pad at Naro Space Center and prepped for fueling. The launch has been delayed twice. (Source)
North Korea has accused President Barack Obama of planning to strike the rogue state with a nuclear weapon. (Source)
North Korea also accused South Korea of colluding with the U.S. in its scheme. According to state-run newspaper Tongil Sinbo: “The US-touted provision of ‘extended deterrence, including a nuclear umbrella’ (for South Korea ) is nothing but ‘a nuclear war plan.’” The paper said the U.S. was bringing “nuclear equipment” into South Korea .
Of course, these accusations are a subterfuge, and a poor one at that. North Korea is conducting nuclear tests and launching missiles despite international sanctions and disapproval. North Korea has threatened more nuclear tests and long-range missile launches. North Korea declared that if any country searched its ships suspected of carrying nuclear weapons, it would be considered an act of war. Sources reported that North Korea may be planning to attack Hawaii. North Korea clearly is the aggressor in these scenarios, and our president would do well not to be deterred by the rogue nation’s posturing.
Last week, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said the U.S. intended to “vigorously enforce” U.N. sanctions against North Korea. To prepare for aggressive action, our country sent the U.S.S. John McCain to intercept the Kang Nam (pictured above) off the coast of China. The Associated Press reports that the flagged ship may be sailing toward Myanmar with banned weapons.
Could this be true? President Barack Obama actually admitted, on tape, that a defiant and nuclear-ambitious North Korea is a grave threat to the world? (Source)
Speaking yesterday at a press conference in the Rose Garden, Obama said the U.S. and its allies will play sanctions hardball with North Korea.” We are more than willing to engage in negotiations to get North Korea on a path of peaceful coexistence with its neighbors, and we want to encourage their prosperity. But belligerent, provocative behavior that threatens neighbors will be met with significant and serious enforcement of sanctions that are in place.”
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak listened at his own podium. His expressed confidence that North Korea could be contained, especially if the U.S. is determined to do so.” They will think twice about taking any measures that they will regret.”
North Korea conducted a nuclear test and launched at least five short-range missiles last month. Despite condemnation, the rogue state threatened more tests and launches. The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea called South Korea “puppets” for taking North Korea’s actions seriously and sending warships to the maritime border along with ours.
The U.N. Security Council’s recommended sanctions against North Korea include an arms embargo and ship searches. North Korea has threatened war if its ships are stopped and searched.
The U.S. has confirmed that North Korea “probably” conducted an underground nuclear test last month before it launched short-range missiles. After the U.N. Security Council issued a resolution to impose sanctions, North Korea said it would begin enriching uranium for nuclear weapons.
President Barack Obama will order the Navy to inspect North Korean ships that might be carrying weapons. The rogue state has already threatened war if its ships are stopped for inspection.
The New York Times reports that these proposed inspections are “the most confrontational approach taken by the United States in dealing with North Korea in years” and likely would raise tension; however, North Korea is doing that all by itself with defiant nuclear tests and missile launches. The U.S. should focus on stopping North Korea in its tracks and not worry about “escalating tensions.”
The president will spend today with South Korean president Lee Myung-bak to discuss North Korea’s actions. The U.S. will also work with China, Japan, and Russia to keep North Korea in check.
Calm down, everyone. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says North Korea’s nuclear testing and missile launching are nothing to be alarmed about. (Source)
This week, North Korea conducted a nuclear test and fired at least five short-range missiles. Kim Jong-Il is flouting the U.N. Security Council’s resolutions, and President Barack Obama’s response has been restrained at best and nonchalant at worst. Now Gates is downplaying North Korea’s hostile acts.
“I don’t think that anybody in the administration thinks there is a crisis,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “What we do have, though, are two new developments that are very provocative, that are aggressive, accompanied by very aggressive rhetoric.” He added: “I do not think there is a need for us to reinforce our military presence in the South. Whatever responses there are have to be multilateral.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. and South Korea have raised alert levels. (Source) Earlier this week, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea called South Korea “puppets” for taking the rogue state’s actions seriously and sending warships to the maritime border along with ours.
North and South Korea called a truce after the Korean War, but the two countries have never signed a peace treaty. Given North Korea’s defiance, they likely never will.
Today North Korea threatened the U.S. and South Korea, whose warships are near the maritime border, an act that North Korea considers aggressive. (Source)
The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea issued a statement, which reads in part: “Now that the South Korean puppets were so ridiculous as to join in the said racket and dare declare a war against compatriots,” North Korea is “compelled to take a decisive measure.”
The U.S. and South Korea are acting in response to North Korea’s defiance, but it’s obvious the rogue state will threaten escalation no matter how we respond. If North Korea is testing the new administration’s mettle, Kim Jong-Il must be mighty pleased that George Bush has left office.
Russia is taking North Korea’s actions seriously, more so than Barack Obama, it seems. Russia sees nuclear war on the horizon. A source told Reuters that “The need has emerged for an appropriate package of precautionary measures. We are not talking about stepping up military efforts but rather about measures in case a military conflict, perhaps with the use of nuclear weapons, flares up on the Korean Peninsula.” (Source)
On Monday, North Korea conducted a nuclear test and fired three short-range missiles. Yesterday, the country test-fired two more short-range missiles and threatened to launch more today.
The Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano writes about the nuclear threat. As Barack Obama seeks to appease countries and reduce our ability to protect ourselves, more nations are developing nuclear weapons.
Mohamed El-Baradei, soon-to-be-former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, describes a sort of monkey-see/monkey-do scenario. As countries develop nuclear weapons, other countries will do likewise. Therefore, we should get rid of nuclear weapons. Wrong, says Carafano:
“When the Cold War ended in the 1980s, the United States stopped modernizing our nuclear arms and began to reduce our inventory. America has been on the road to zero for a generation now. And what has this ‘leading by example’ accomplished? Today more, not fewer, countries possess atomic arms.
“Yet, El-Baradei still holds up the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a model for solving the problem. It is a solution that has been tried and found woefully wanting…If the United States continues to cut its arms and let its existing inventory become outmoded and unsafe, it will only foster a new nuclear race. That’s because it will be increasingly easy for other nations to field a credible nuclear force against a rapidly deteriorating U.S. inventory. We’ll wind up back where we started – living in a ‘MAD’ (mutually assured destruction) world once again.
“Happily, history offers evidence about what does work. Over the years, countries with nascent nuclear weapons programs – Brazil, Libya, South Africa, South Korea and Taiwan – have abandoned their atomic ambitions. All did so only because they believed their security would be enhanced by not having the weapons.”
Maintaining a strong missile defense system is an effective way to keep the world safer, not disarming ourselves. As Carafano points out, our president seems to disagree. He’s cutting about 15 percent from the missile defense budget, even as North Korea defies the world by conducting nuclear tests and test-firing missiles. North Korea certainly isn’t living in a fantasy world, and neither should we.
“We need a serious debate over how to make the world – and America’s place in it – safer. Policies that put disarmament before security will put us on the road to ruin.”
North Korea also launched a ship called the Kang Nam, suspected of carrying banned weapons. After our country launched the U.S.S. John McCain to intercept the ship, the Kang Nam reversed course and return to where it set sail.
>> 
The U.S. has confirmed that North Korea “probably” conducted an underground nuclear test last month before it launched short-range missiles. After the U.N. Security Council issued a resolution to impose sanctions, North Korea said it would begin enriching uranium for nuclear weapons.
Calm down, everyone. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says North Korea’s nuclear testing and missile launching are nothing to be alarmed about. (
Today North Korea threatened the U.S. and South Korea, whose warships are near the maritime border, an act that North Korea considers aggressive. (
The Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano writes about the nuclear threat. As Barack Obama seeks to appease countries and reduce our ability to protect ourselves, more nations are developing nuclear weapons.