North Korea Defies Trump With Missile Test

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North Korea Defies Trump With Missile Test

Tan KW

Publish date: Sun, 16 Apr 2017, 03:45 PM

by Kanga Kong More stories by Kanga Kong
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Justin Sink More stories by Justin Sink

‎April‎ ‎16‎, ‎2017‎ ‎7‎:‎09‎ ‎AM‎ ‎+08 ‎April‎ ‎16‎, ‎2017‎ ‎3‎:‎25‎ ‎PM‎ ‎+08

Ballistic missile explodes almost immediately after launch
Test comes after parade for anniversary of regime’s founder

North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile on Sunday morning that exploded almost immediately after launch, defying warnings from the Trump administration to avoid any further provocations.

Hours after the test, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Osan, south of Seoul, for a previously planned trip to Asia. U.S. and South Korean military officials are conducting further analysis of the launch, which took place at Sinpo on North Korea’s eastern coastline.

“The president and his military team are aware of North Korea’s most recent unsuccessful missile launch,” U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said in a statement. “The president has no further comment.”

The incident occurred a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw an elaborate military parade in the center of Pyongyang as the world watched for any provocations that risk sparking a conflict with the U.S. Kim’s regime has test-fired ballistic missiles five times this year in his quest to develop a device that can carry a nuclear warhead to North America.

North Korea’s activities “are a threatening demonstration against the entire world,” South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “We have to warn again that if this leads to a strategic provocation of a nuclear or ICBM test, the North will face strong punitive measures that it will find hard to endure.”

Japan also strongly protested the test, saying it violated United Nations Security Council resolutions, Kyodo News reported, citing the Cabinet Secretariat.

Warship Fleet

President Donald Trump this month dispatched a warship fleet toward the Korean Peninsula as the U.S. weighed retaliation for any missile or nuclear test. Trump has threatened to act unilaterally if China -- North Korea’s main ally and benefactor -- fails to do more to curb its neighbor’s activities.

China’s government had no immediate reaction to the latest test. As tensions mounted last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday urged all parties “to stop provoking and threatening each other and not to make the situation irretrievable."

Graphic: Kim Jong Un’s Big Nuclear Push Is Closing In on America

Kim showed off a range of long-range missiles at the parade on Saturday, including submarine-launched ballistic missiles for the first time and what appeared to be a new intercontinental ballistic missile, South Korea’s Yonhap News reported. In 2012, North Korea unveiled long-range missiles that some arms analysts dismissed as fake.

‘Annihilating Strike’

“If the U.S. provokes recklessly, the revolutionary forces will take an annihilating strike,” Choe Ryong Hae, a senior regime official, said in a speech at the parade. North Korea is ready for a nuclear or full-scale war if the U.S. wants it, he added.

Kim has launched dozens of projectiles and conducted three nuclear tests since he came to power after his father’s death in 2011, and claimed in January to be in the final stages of preparations to test-fire an ICBM.

North Korea Missile Launches, Nuclear Detonations: Timeline

Two new ICBM launchers were the most striking weapons on display at the military parade, according to Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. It also suggested that North Korea has two different ICBMs under development in addition to the KN-08, a liquid-fueled road-mobile missile capable of reaching the U.S.

“We saw more new systems for the first time in this parade than ever before,” Lewis said. “The North Koreans are committed to deploying a credible nuclear deterrent that is capable of deterring an attack and ‘repelling’ an invasion.”

Pence Trip

While the White House said Pence will mostly be dealing with business issues on a 10-day swing through Asia, administration officials said Thursday that he will also discuss economic sanctions and military options for North Korea if a provocation occurs. He will meet with Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is looking after the South Korean government before an election to choose a successor to the ousted Park Geun-hye.

Candidates for the May 9 vote were quick to condemn the latest missile test. The frontrunner, Moon Jae-in of the left-leaning Democratic Party of Korea, called it “reckless,” according to a spokesman. A representative for his main rival, Ahn Cheol-soo of the centrist People’s Party, said there is no justification for North Korea to escalate tensions on the peninsula.

While not publicly defining its plans, the White House has said that all options are on the table to prevent North Korea from acquiring the ability to strike the U.S. with a nuclear weapon. Despite the saber rattling, Trump has found little support -- publicly or behind the scenes -- from friends in the region.

Any U.S. military strike risks leading to a war that may devastate South Korea and Japan, two American allies in striking range of retaliatory attacks. China has backed North Korea since the peninsula was last at war in the 1950s, in part to prevent having an American ally on its border.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-15/north-korea-likely-conducted-failed-missile-test-south-korea

Discussions

Be the first to like this. Showing 17 of 17 comments

nekosan

Let the game begin

2017-04-16 18:06

shortinvestor77

Then let the world stock markets down .

2017-04-16 18:24

shortinvestor77

Nuclear Test is coming lah. The world is shaky.

2017-04-16 18:37

tiger86

So that's mean tomorrow KLSe will rebound??

2017-04-16 18:55

suregain

Rebound? Trump anytime can atack... Who dares to chase high high?

2017-04-16 18:58

tiger86

Suregain, I just wish my stock can move up to the price when I bought only..

2017-04-16 19:00

stockmanmy

ypu think the kid will drop the mother of all bombs on Pyongyang?

I don't think so.

2017-04-16 19:16

tiger86

stockmanmy, so u think tomorrow KLSE will rebound??

2017-04-16 19:21

cheoky

well you got to believe manny on when north korea will drop a bomb or not, cos manny mindset is at the same ranking with north korea leader. 100% same. hahaha

2017-04-16 19:29

chinaman

waste money & time for USA to focus on North Korea witho zero resources. both japan and South Korea only purposely dramatise the issue out of proportion to gain political advantage during current GE. after GE in south korea, this issue will suddenly dies out. -south korea also very good in WAYANG nowadays. many nations Pakistan, India, Isreal also own nuclear in big way..why double standard with no concern by USA, Japan, South Korea?

2017-04-16 19:38

greatful

i personally think that JP afraid of US close to CN, so create this tension to pull US attention to show JP still worth value to US. Possible?

2017-04-16 19:48

chinaman

Japan afraid USA intended to close down USA troop base in Okinawa which face great opposition from both local USA and Okinawa local itself. So, must create tension to maintain USA high presence in Japan. Shinzo Abe should get best Oscar award. Shinzo has evil motive to change from pacifist to expansionist foreign policy, so must find big excuse with threats-non existent- from north korea and China...

quote***
The U.S. is over-burdened militarily and effectively bankrupt financially, but Washington is determined to preserve every base and deployment, no matter how archaic. Such as the many military facilities in Okinawa, which risks sinking under the plethora of American installations, runways, materiel, and personnel. No wonder the Okinawan people again voted against being conscripted as one of Washington’s most important military hubs.

The Ryukyu Islands once were independent, but in the late 19th century were formally annexed by Imperial Japan. Okinawans suffered terribly in April 1945 from the so-called “Typhoon of Steel” during the American invasion. The U.S. held onto the territory afterwards, filling it with bases before finally returning Okinawa to Japan in 1972. Even now the Pentagon controls roughly one-fifth of the land, including several beautiful beaches.

Opposition to the overpowering American presence crystalized nearly two decades ago after the rape of a teenage girl by U.S. military personnel. Gov. Masahide Ota led the campaign to downsize America’s presence and large numbers of Okinawans turned out in protest. However, political activism eventually ebbed. The national government in Tokyo continued to pacify and pay off as many Okinawans as possible, while promoting various schemes to rearrange the local burden.

The bases remain because no one else in Japan wants to host American military forces. Thus, Tokyo politicians have every incentive to keep the U.S. presence (about three-quarters of base area and more than half of 47,000 military personnel) concentrated in the most distant, least influential, and poorest prefecture. After a decade of negotiation Tokyo and Washington agreed in 2006 to move some Marines to Guam and shift Futenma airbase to the less populated Henoko district of Nago city. Few Okinawans were satisfied.

Three years later the Democratic Party of Japan took power and promised to address Okinawans’ concerns. The party also advocated a more equal bilateral security partnership. But the Obama administration proved to be as intransigent as its predecessor, thwarting the efforts of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who eventually resigned.

Since then Tokyo has attempted to implement the relocation agreement, despite strong local opposition, with about 80 percent of Okinawans against the Henoko scheme. Last year Tokyo gained the support of Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima. However, last month Naha Mayor Takeshi Onaga defeated Nakaima on an anti-base platform, declaring: “The new military base will not be built.”

2017-04-16 19:55

greatful

@chinaman, in summary we have the same thought. Japan needs US more than US needs Japan.

2017-04-16 20:02

chinaman

North Korea sub-marine with nuclear is just a concept-still at testing process with no threat at all. Kimchi-Kim Jong Aun like to show off but many time with embarrassing missile test failure. Japan is the real tiger but pretend timid mouse. Kimchi is the real mouse but pretend tiger. Very funny both try to playing in this real life movie. Both play different characters for own political survival or cari makan only....

2017-04-16 20:05

stockmanmy

but the world do not need a kid as President of USA.

by greatful > Apr 16, 2017 08:02 PM | Report Abuse

@chinaman, in summary we have the same thought. Japan needs US more than US needs Japan.

2017-04-16 20:06

stockmanmy

I didn't say.

If the market had wanted to go up....it will go up and nobody even gives a shit about NK and Syria.

This kind of thing is a day in the office......happens every day.

tiger86 > Apr 16, 2017 07:21 PM | Report Abuse

stockmanmy, so u think tomorrow KLSE will rebound??

2017-04-16 20:08

stockmanmy

I am 100% certain the kid will not drop the MOAB on North Korea.

The kid don't dare

by cheoky > Apr 16, 2017 07:29 PM | Report Abuse

well you got to believe manny on when north korea will drop a bomb or not, cos manny mindset is at the same ranking with north korea leader. 100% same. hahaha

2017-04-16 20:16

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