You’re right. Personally I think drumming up this hysteria helps the US defence industry.
Though going by your own Info why would DPRK develop an ICBM. There is only one target for pure revenge. Thats why US is a bit nervous and rightly so.

It is not too difficult to find in open source, imagery of the Safir (Iranian 2nd stage) and the DPRK TD-2 3rd stage of sufficient resolution to compare their similarities. A useful idiot will accept this as prima fascia evidence of the DPRK’s space launch intentions. It is more likely that the test objective was to correct the problems in the TD-2 1st stage that lead to the 2006 failure. The whole 3rd stage assembly may merely have been a mass to gauge the throw-weight potential of a TD-2 1st stage and Scud C combination, configured to look like the Iranian Safir space launch on 2 February. If the 2nd stage landed within the area the DPRK cordoned of in their pre-launch notice, one must assume that the test results are within the specified margins.

Kyon

A little objectivity from you would help. What does Pakistan and ISI have anything to do with this North Korean Missile launch? Please stop looking at everything through your India centric lenses and keep your Indo-Pak obsessions out of these discussions.

Missile technology is pervasive now. The base technology of Nodong/Taepodong missiles comes from Soviet hardware of the 80s and 90s. This technology has been exported (under MTCR restrictions) to many countries. Blaming everything on the China angle is a disservice to objective analysis of the situation.

Thank you.

Mr. Oelrich’s point that the target would move quickly out of range is true if there were only one Aegis ship. The Navy hasn’t practiced BMD in that fashion for 2 years. What Mr. Oelrich fails (or refuses) to realize, is that BMD is a world wide integrated network of sensors and weapons. Nothing will be out of range.

A wise man is one who knows what it is that he doesn’t know. You Mr. Oelrich, are far from a wise man.

Kyon

Is that still the case ( if it ever was)?

I encourage you to reference this with any dictionary of your choosing.

REPLY:
Captain BBQ is not exactly right but he has identified exactly the problem. A rocket is a device that propells itself by shooting its contents out at high speed. It is a warhead plus guidance that makes it a missile. A missile (and I use the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary) is “A destructive projectile that is self-propelling and directed by remote control or automatically.” So no one every refers to Katyusha “missiles” but to Katyusha rockets because they do have warheads but are unguided. But the question about naming emphasizes why we should be worried about the NK satellite launch. Taking a warhead off and putting a satellite on top may change the name from “missile” to “rocket” but it does not change the thing itself. What the North Koreans tested is what they tested regardless of what we or they call it. A low Earth orbit communications satellite does not wash but what they tested is exactly what they would use as a long-range missile.

At the end of Aug 1998 the North Koreans attempted to launch a satellite as part of their country’s 50th anniversary celebration. The rocket was fitted with fail-safe self-destructs in case it got out of control, and carefully launched due East over the sparsely inhabited ocean straits between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido of Japan.

Although American spy planes were monitoring the launch, the American government inexplicably says it is caught by surprise, and labels the North Koreans “unpredictable” and “aggressive”. On Aug 31 ’98 the Pentagon tells Americans that the North Koreans have tested an ICBM, aimed eastward at America. This is published as front-page news, and used over and over again to scare the American public. Eventually it leads to over $100B in increased spending at the Pentagon.

On Sept 15 ’98 the Pentagon quietly reclassifies the rocket as a failed satellite launch. This news is buried in the back of the papers.

Scientists should let people know that primitive satellites have to be launched due East.

The current conflict will never be resolved until key facts are brought to light:

1. Starting July 1952, America launched an extermination program against the North Korean population. Napalm was dropped on civilians, resulting in the deaths of somewhere between 200,000 and 500,000 women and children. It is not necessary to go into how horrifying and disrespectful it is to have your wife or your child treated like a leftover piece of deep-fried chicken, so we won’t go there.

2. Mr. Kim was 10 years old at this time–old enough to witness this first-hand. The Politbureau members were older. To them, this is personal history.

3. The current problem solutions are neither military nor political (these have been ineffective). They are in the realm of psychology and counseling. Instead of its best military officers, America should get its best psychologists over to North Korea, and actually listen from first principles to what’s going on. Start with meta-communication.

4. Transformational healing comes through giving people a clear chance to tell their story and have it be actually heard. Nelson Mandela’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission was effective in bringing about a transformation of South Africa. North Korea’s stories of unfairness have never been seriously listened to. Until America understands and respects where North Korea is coming from, its story will continue to self-perpetuate and metastasize. Lack of trust and understanding on both sides perpetuates the need for hostile positioning, which is wasteful and dangerous. To say that Americans do not understand where North Koreans are coming from is a starting point and an understatement that practically all can agree with.