U.S., Japan, Keep Watch on Possible North Korea Missile Moves
June 1, 2006 :: AP :: News
The U.S. and Japan have detected signs that North Korea is almost ready to test-launch a Taepo-dong-2 long-range ballistic missile. According to the Japanese Sankei newspaper, the U.S. has dispatched a spy plane and Japan has sent a destroyer with advanced reconnaissance equipment and an attack aircraft loaded with radar-jamming electronics to gather information. The report also quoted a South Korean intelligence official as saying that his agency learned of Pyongyang’s preparations for a missile launch through sources other than satellite photos. Two weeks ago, Japanese media reported that North Korea had moved a “missile-like object” over 30 meters in length to a test site in the North Hamgyong Province. The missile was most likely the Taepo-dong-2, which is 32 meters long and has a range of between 4,300 and 6,000 km. (Article, Link)
» May 19, 2006: Activity Reported at North Korean Taepo-dong Missile Site
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Activity Reported at North Korean Taepo-dong Missile Site
May 19, 2006 :: News
North Korea has transported a Taepo-dong missile to a base in northeastern North Korea, reports Japan’s Kyodo news agency. U.S. and South Korean satellites captured movements of trailers carrying a “missile-like object” over 30 meters in length to a test site at Musudan-ri, Hwadae-gun, in the North Hamgyong Province. The missile is said to be most likely a Taepo-dong-2, 32 meters long with a range of between 4,300 and 6,000 km. There is the possibility that the missile could be the longer-range Taepo-dong-2 upgrade that could be capable of striking Alaska. The Kyodo report quotes Japanese government sources as saying that a test launch could be imminent, but other sources have expressed both doubt and uncertainty. (Article, Link)
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» Missile details: Tien Chi, Tien Ma 1
Dinerman on U.S.-Japan Defense Alliance and the Shifting Asian Balance of Power
April 11, 2006 :: The Space Review :: Analysis
Taylor Dinerman argues in TheSpaceReview.com that the U.S.-Japanese missile defense alliance is changing the balance of power against North Korea and to a lesser extent against China. Today, were the U.S. were to deploy a substantial number of Patriot-Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptors along with several Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors, they would be able to shoot down half of North Korea’s 100 or so Nodong-1 and 2 missiles. A few years from now, when Japan deploys its PAC-3s and SM-3s, the missile threat from Pyongyang “will be reduced to insignificance.” Similarly, China’s ability to strike the U.S. homeland is diminishing as the U.S. continues to deploy its missile defenses. As the effectiveness of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System (GMD) and the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) increases, the cost to China of maintaining its capability will increase as well. Dinerman adds that if the U.S. were to develop and deploy a space-based system similar to Brilliant Pebbles, China would lose “most of its nuclear options against the U.S. homeland and perhaps against Japan as well.” (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Analysis, China, Japan, North Korea
Admiral: U.S. Monitored North Korean Launch of Three Missiles
March 16, 2006 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
The U.S. knew in advance about North Korea’s plan to launch three short-range surface-to-surface missiles on March 8, and was able to quickly confirm the actual launch, reports Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, who testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 14.
Sources indicate that the three North Korean missiles tested were of modest range and capbility, with ranges of approximately 120 kilometers, which could however reach the South Korean city of Pyongtaek where U.S. military installations are located.
Last week, General Burwell Bell, head of U.S. forces in Korea, said the launch demonstrated that North Korea has made a “quantum leap forward” in its technology, having greatly improved accuracy and mobility. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: North Korea, Testing - Foreign
General Bell to Armed Services: North Korea Preparing Three Stage Taepo Dong
March 8, 2006 :: Kyodo :: News
North Korea continues to develop a three-stage Taepodong missile that could target the contintental U.S. In written testimony for the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Burwell Bell, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, stated Tuesday that this new missile “could be operational within the next decade.” He noted that Pyongyang maintained a “fairly active program” to develop and test the missile up through the late 1990s, although there has been less activity in recent years. However, Bell added that “there’s no doubt in my mind that they have the capability to begin more technological investigation and to begin a regiment to lead to testing and potentially to lead to fielding.” (Article, Link)
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North Korea Fires Two Short Range Surface to Air Missiles
March 8, 2006 :: Kyodo :: News
North Korea fired two surface-to-air missiles near its border with China on Wednesday, reports Kyodo. The news agency cited unidentified sources as saying that Pyongyang launched the missiles by mistake “in the direction toward China,” although there is speculation that the launches were intentional tests. According to a Western military source, the short-range missiles were test-fired from North Korea’s eastern coast toward the Sea of Japan. The exact time of the launches remains unknown, although the missiles are believed to have landed in North Korean territory. (Article, Link)
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Exile Group: Iran Hiding Missiles
March 8, 2006 :: News
Iran is hiding more than 300 long-range ballistic missiles in two towns, reports an Iranian exile group. As quoted in the Associated Press, the National Council of Resistance of Iran added that North Korean experts in guidance systems, warhead production, missile fuel systems, and explosion and blast systems are working with Iranian officials at the Hemmat Missile Industries Complex, northeast of Tehran, to develop a new missile with a range of 3,000 km (1,900 miles). (Article, Link)
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North Korea Paper Slams U.S. Missile Defense Tests, Imperial Ambitions
November 28, 2005 :: BBC Worldwide Monitoring :: News
A North Korean newspaper carried an article today slamming the United States for researching small “bunker busting” nuclear weapons technology and for pursuing ballistic missile defenses, both as a means to acquire worldwide military hegemony. The text was carried in the Pyongyang Nodong Sinmun as commentary by Choe Hak-chol, and late broadcast on the Pyongyang Broadcasting Station and the Korean Central Broadcasting Station. Some excerpts:
The US warmongers are running amok with more frenzy to realize the ambition to dominate the world militarily. This is intensely expressed by the fact that the US Senate has recently passed a bill that permits relevant institutions to dispense tremendous amounts of money for the expansion of nuclear weapons programme, that the US Department of Defence [DoD] established a plan to deploy anti-ballistic missiles in Eastern European countries as part of building a missile defence system, and that [DoD] perpetrated the test-firing of an anti-ballistic missile in the waters off Hawaii.
…The US imperialists plan to deploy a missile defence system in the East European countries and deliver the newest-type equipment, the same kind mobilized for the establishment of their own country’s missile defence system. This is to militarily bring the neighbouring countries under control and realize military hegemony.
It is merely a deception that the belligerent US classes profess that the manoeuvres to establish a missile defence system for Eastern European countries, such as Poland and Czech Republic, are “to protect all of Europe.”
The US imperialists’ manoeuvres to establish a missile defence system are clearly being perpetrated with the criminal purpose to seize control of military hegemony and to militarily attack other countries. That the US imperialists intend to establish a missile defence system in Eastern European countries is part of a sinister design to form an aggressive missile network throughout the world. In other words, they hope to carry out missile strikes on any region in the world by deploying missiles on the ground, in the sea, and even in space. The US warmongers have already deployed ground-based anti-ballistic missiles in Alaska and California, and are now buckling down to the new deployment of the newest surveillance device “X-band radar” in Japan. In addition, they are planning to begin, in the next several years, the development of satellites equipped with anti-ballistic missiles to terminate imaginary ballistic missiles. The criminal goal of the US imperialists’ satellite development plan lies in attempting to realize their ambition to conquer the world with absolute military superiority by covering the world with a missile network through the installation of missile bases in space, not to mention on the ground and in the sea. This is related with the fact that the belligerent US classes attempt to prospectively incorporate the anti-ballistic missiles deployed in space as part of a unified missile defence system. It is crystal clear that if the US imperialists established a missile defence system in Eastern European countries, they would not stop there, but continue to expand it to other regions.
Full text of article: (More »»»)
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North Korea Said to Aid Iranian Missile Projects, Including Ghadr
November 21, 2005 :: UPI :: News
The UPI news agency quotes an Iranian dissident group on the continued aid to Iran’s missile programs from such sources as North Korea. The official cited mentions both the Shahab-3 and the longer range Ghadr ballistic missile programs.
Tehran is building nuclear-warhead capable missiles with help from North Korean experts in a vast underground complex, Iranian opposition sources said Monday.
The project was initiated at the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1989. The plan involves dozens of immense tunnels and facilities built under the mountains near Tehran.
“North Korean experts have cooperated with the Tehran regime in the design and building of this complex,” said Alireza Jafarzadeh, president of Strategic Policy Consulting, and a former representative of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. “Many blueprints of the site have been prepared by North Korean experts.”
Hemmat Industries Group Factory, the most important branch of Iran’s Aerospace Industries Group is currently building Shahab-1, Shahab-2, Shahab-3 and Ghadar missiles, according to Jafarzadeh. Shahab-3 and Ghadar missiles have nuclear warhead capability.
“Shahab-3 missiles are being manufactured in large numbers, and are already part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards arsenal,” Jafarzadeh told United Press International. The Ghadar missile is still in the production stage, and is 70 percent complete. Shahab-3 has a range of 1,300 to 1,900 km (800-1,100 miles) and Ghadar has a range of 2,500 to 3,000 km (1,150-1,850 miles).
Working in utmost secrecy Hemmat Industries Group have been allocated code numbers. Movahed Industries, codenamed 7,500, builds the body of the missile and does final assembly. Karimi Industries, the most secretive part of the program, codenamed 2500, builds the warhead.
This group is located in the largest tunnel at the Khojir complex deep inside the Khojir and Bar Jamali Mountain. The tunnel is about 1,000 meters (yards) long, 12 meters wide. Iran has refused to allow U.N. inspectors to visit the military sites where much of the nuclear weapons work is reported to be conducted.
Information obtained by Jafarzadeh from source in Iran indicate that A.Q. Khan traveled to Iran in 1987 where he met with three top commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards who were working at the time on nuclear research. The IRGC delegation was headed by Brig. Gen. Mohammad Eslami.
(Article, Link)
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Japan Suspects North Korea-Iran Link
June 30, 2005 :: News
Japan is worried that Iran has leaked high-tech cruise missile technology to North Korea, reports the Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun. At issue is a shipment of Kh-55 cruise missiles that Iran received from the Ukraine in 2001. The Kh-55, which was developed in the late 1970s in the former Soviet Union, has a range of 3,000 km (1,864 miles), enough to threaten all of Japan if deployed by North Korea. Japan is concerned that Iran has transferred the technology to North Korea, which might be able to arm the Kh-55 missiles with nuclear warheads. Sankei Shimbun quotes a Japanese Defense Ministry source as saying about Iran and North Korea, “They are linked by a network beneath the surface regarding the development of weapons of mass destruction.” (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Cruise Missile Defenses, Iran, North Korea, Proliferation
