Found this article in the Wall Street Journal

Japan Prepares for North Korea Missile Launch

Article

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

What's nice is the US has its anti-missle frigates out there waiting for this missile launch. Any shenanigans and its shot down

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

N. Korea Launches Rocket, Defying World Pressure
N. Korea launches rocket, defying world pressure; Security Council to hold emergency session
By JEAN H. LEE Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea April 5, 2009 (AP)

North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230GMT) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean and U.S. governments said. The multistage rocket hurtled toward the Pacific, reaching Japanese airspace within seven minutes, but no debris appeared to hit its territory, officials in Tokyo said.

The U.N. Security Council approved an emergency session for Sunday afternoon in New York, following a request from Japan that came minutes after the launch.

The South Koreans called it "reckless," the Americans "provocative," and Japan said it strongly protested the launch.

The launch was a bold act of defiance against President Barack Obama, Japanese leader Taro Aso, Hu Jintao of China and others who pressed Pyongyang in the days leading up to liftoff to call off a launch they said would threaten peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

South Korea's presidential Blue House said the launch poses a "serious threat" to stability on the Korean peninsula and that it would respond to the provocation "sternly and resolutely." President Lee Myung-bak ordered the military to remain on alert, the Blue House said.

"We cannot contain our disappointment and regret over North Korea's reckless act," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told reporters Sunday. He said the launch of the long-range rocket "poses a serious threat to security on the Korean peninsula and the world."

North Korea claims its aim is to send an experimental communications satellite into orbit in a peaceful bid to develop its space program.

The U.S., South Korea, Japan and others suspect the launch is a guise for testing the regime's long-range missile technology — one step toward eventually mounting a nuclear weapon on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond.

They contend the launch violates a 2006 resolution barring the regime from ballistic missile activity.

Obama said Friday the launch would be a "provocative" move with consequences. State Department spokesman Fred Lash said late Saturday in Washington that the U.S. will "take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that it cannot threaten the safety and security of other countries with impunity."

He called the launch a clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted five days after North Korea carried out a nuclear weapons test in 2006.

Japan's U.N. mission has asked for a meeting of the 15-nation council Sunday, spokesman Yutaka Arima said. Mexico's mission to the United Nations set the meeting for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), spokesman Marco Morales said. Mexico holds the 15-nation council's presidency this month.

U.N. diplomats already have begun discussing ways to affirm existing sanctions on North Korea against its nuclear program and long-range missile tests.

In Japan, chief Cabinet spokesman Takeo Kawamura said it was not immediately clear if the rocket was mounted with a satellite as North Korea has claimed.

North Korea calls its "space launch vehicle" Unha-2, but the rocket is better known to the outside world as the Taepodong-2, a long-range missile that can be mounted with a satellite or nuclear armament.

"Even if a satellite was launched, we see this as a ballistic missile test and we think this matter should be taken to the United Nations Security Council," Kawamura said. "We are highly concerned by this matter."

"We strongly protest this launch," he said.

The first stage of the rocket dropped about 175 miles (280 kilometers) off the western coast of Akita into the waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula. The second stage was to land in the Pacific at a spot about 790 miles (1,270 kilometers) off Japan's northeastern coast, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said in Tokyo.

Japan said it would convene a security panel meeting later in the day to discuss what further measures can be taken. Kawamura said Japan would work closely with Washington and with the U.N.

"Our primary concern is to confirm safety and gather information," Aso told a news conference at his Tokyo office Sunday.


North Korea shocked Japan in 1998 when it launched a missile over Japan's main island. Japan has since spent billions of dollars on developing a missile shield with the United States and has launched a series of spy satellites primarily to watch developments in North Korea.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=7254961

North Korea tried and failed to loft satellites in 1998 and again in 2006.

Western aerospace experts said the new North Korean rocket appeared to be fairly large — much bigger than the one Iran fired in February to launch a small satellite, and about the same size as China launched in 1970 in its space debut.

No More sanctions, they just don't work.

North Korea celebrates launch, makes new threat

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean soldiers on Wednesday celebrated the nation's defiant launch of a rocket in a mass rally, while Russia's foreign minister said any new measures to punish Pyongyang could be counter-productive.

The United States, Japan and South Korea said the North's launch on Sunday was a disguised test of a long-range missile designed to carry warheads to U.S. territory and deserved punishment because it violated U.N. resolutions.

North Korea warned the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday it would take "strong steps" if the 15-nation body took any action in response to the launch. On Wednesday, the Communist-ruled country gathered its top party and military officials for a celebration of the launch broadcast on its state TV and monitored in Seoul.

The reclusive state has threatened to boycott six-nation nuclear disarmament talks and restart a plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium. It also warned on Wednesday of military action if anyone tried to retrieve debris from the rocket.

U.S. and South Korean military officials said the missile, known as the Taepodong-2, crashed into the Pacific Ocean and that no satellite was deployed during its 3,200 km (2,000 mile) flight over Japan, as Pyongyang has said.

The North's KCNA news agency quoted a military spokesman as saying Japan's attempt to find booster stages off its coasts was "an intolerable military provocative act of infringing upon its (North Korea's) sovereignty" and would prompt a response.

DEADLOCK AT U.N.

Diplomats in New York said negotiations on a Security Council response to the launch were deadlocked. The five permanent council members -- United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- and Japan have failed to break the impasse in several meetings.

The United States and Japan would like a legally binding resolution expanding existing financial sanctions and an arms embargo against North Korea. Critics have said the sanctions lacked enforcement.

But U.N. diplomats say the Chinese would prefer that the council either do nothing or issue a non-binding statement to the media that stops far short of condemning the launch. Japan and the three Western powers have rejected that idea.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters on Wednesday "there are some differences of opinion" when asked why the Council had not yet responded to the launch.

"It's going to take time," he said about the negotiations in New York. "I can't put a timeframe on it."

Concerned about the stability of its unpredictable neighbor, Beijing has said any U.N. reaction must be "cautious and proportionate." China is sometimes viewed as North Korea's only major ally.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the threat of sanctions against North Korea was "counter-productive."

North Korea said it had the right to deploy a satellite, which it says is circling the globe playing revolutionary songs, as a part of a peaceful space program.

Analysts said North Korea went ahead with the launch knowing it would not suffer serious repercussions, while its leader, Kim Jong-il, would see an enormous boost at home for the defiant act.

"The successful launching of the satellite ... is not a mere fruition of wisdom and talent but a fierce confrontation with those who disliked it," KCNA said in a separate report.

Kim is expected to ride a wave of patriotic fervor generated by the launch at the annual meeting of the North's rubber stamp parliament on Thursday.

The Supreme People's Assembly meeting, where a new pecking order for communist party cadres will be unveiled, is expected to show that Kim, 67, has recovered from a suspected stroke and is fully in control of Asia's only communist dynasty.

In its only previous missile test in 2006, the rocket exploded seconds after launch. Despite a technical failure the recent launch showed that the impoverished North had greatly increased the range of its missiles but may be years away from building one to threaten the United States, analysts said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUST26328320090408

North Korea celebrates launch, makes new threat

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean soldiers on Wednesday celebrated the nation's defiant launch of a rocket in a mass rally, while Russia's foreign minister said any new measures to punish Pyongyang could be counter-productive.

The United States, Japan and South Korea said the North's launch on Sunday was a disguised test of a long-range missile designed to carry warheads to U.S. territory and deserved punishment because it violated U.N. resolutions.

North Korea warned the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday it would take "strong steps" if the 15-nation body took any action in response to the launch. On Wednesday, the Communist-ruled country gathered its top party and military officials for a celebration of the launch broadcast on its state TV and monitored in Seoul.

The reclusive state has threatened to boycott six-nation nuclear disarmament talks and restart a plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium. It also warned on Wednesday of military action if anyone tried to retrieve debris from the rocket.

U.S. and South Korean military officials said the missile, known as the Taepodong-2, crashed into the Pacific Ocean and that no satellite was deployed during its 3,200 km (2,000 mile) flight over Japan, as Pyongyang has said.

The North's KCNA news agency quoted a military spokesman as saying Japan's attempt to find booster stages off its coasts was "an intolerable military provocative act of infringing upon its (North Korea's) sovereignty" and would prompt a response.

DEADLOCK AT U.N.

Diplomats in New York said negotiations on a Security Council response to the launch were deadlocked. The five permanent council members -- United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- and Japan have failed to break the impasse in several meetings.

The United States and Japan would like a legally binding resolution expanding existing financial sanctions and an arms embargo against North Korea. Critics have said the sanctions lacked enforcement.

But U.N. diplomats say the Chinese would prefer that the council either do nothing or issue a non-binding statement to the media that stops far short of condemning the launch. Japan and the three Western powers have rejected that idea.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters on Wednesday "there are some differences of opinion" when asked why the Council had not yet responded to the launch.

"It's going to take time," he said about the negotiations in New York. "I can't put a timeframe on it."

Concerned about the stability of its unpredictable neighbor, Beijing has said any U.N. reaction must be "cautious and proportionate." China is sometimes viewed as North Korea's only major ally.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the threat of sanctions against North Korea was "counter-productive."

North Korea said it had the right to deploy a satellite, which it says is circling the globe playing revolutionary songs, as a part of a peaceful space program.

Analysts said North Korea went ahead with the launch knowing it would not suffer serious repercussions, while its leader, Kim Jong-il, would see an enormous boost at home for the defiant act.

"The successful launching of the satellite ... is not a mere fruition of wisdom and talent but a fierce confrontation with those who disliked it," KCNA said in a separate report.

Kim is expected to ride a wave of patriotic fervor generated by the launch at the annual meeting of the North's rubber stamp parliament on Thursday.

The Supreme People's Assembly meeting, where a new pecking order for communist party cadres will be unveiled, is expected to show that Kim, 67, has recovered from a suspected stroke and is fully in control of Asia's only communist dynasty.

In its only previous missile test in 2006, the rocket exploded seconds after launch. Despite a technical failure the recent launch showed that the impoverished North had greatly increased the range of its missiles but may be years away from building one to threaten the United States, analysts said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUST26328320090408

a few notes to brother KIM
1. Of course North Korean Soldiers celebrate - just like they did when they ALMOST took over the Democratic SOUTH - and watch out Russia - you are seen as capitalistic - they could change the trajectory of future launches to pass over the Kremlin.
2. Since when has North Korea given a diddly squat about any treaty or even the U.N. It's warning is like some of the stuff that came out of Europe many years back - LOTSA NOISE and DARN LITTLE MUSCLE.
3. Would those strong steps include a declaration of war on the Security Council? Maybe they can impose an embargo on trade to the rest of the world who oppose their celebrations. That's fine - saves the effort to do it through the U.N. - at least the embargo would be Bi-Lateral.
4.- 5. Boycott all they want - do they consider themselves a nuclear power ALREADY - or are they smoke-screening their REAL INTENTIONS. If their rocket junk falls on other soverign or even international territory OH WELL! Finders - keepers - losers weepers. Why not make sure the darn thing works first - IF THEY CAN AFFORD THAT.
6. THINK CAREFULLY about a response to Japan - if history is a judge - THEY - ( COMMIE KOREA) WILL LOSE! Germanic tribes kicked Roman hinder parts and The Japanese cleaned Korean clocks before - I say NK shouldn't push their luck.

So much for the Reuters - as for the Deadlock Part - I can only ask WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM POLITICIANS? And where does the statement come that North Korea is the only communist dynasty in Asia? I haven't noticed the Chinese Tiger turning into a Maine Coon. Imagine - now we can listen to broadcasts about world revolution from space compliments of NK. Like we really NEED more revolutions and wars.CHEEZE - they cant even feed their own people and we should subscribe to this? The rest of it I attribute tyo methane poisoning.

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Classic WU= 7,237 Classic Hours= 42,079