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North Korean Missile Raised To Firing Position, Says US Official

Posted by timothy on from the hope-it's-not-the-one-for-austin dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this snippet from CNN: "North Korea has raised at least one missile into its upright firing position, feeding concerns that a launch is imminent, a U.S. official told CNN Thursday. This comes as the world continued to keep watch for a possible missile launch by the secretive government, and a day before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to arrive in the region. In the latest daily tough talk from the North, a government agency is quoted by the state-run media as saying that 'war can break out any moment.'"

27 of 636 comments (clear)

  1. And... it's gone by earlzdotnet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sounds like a perfect excuse for a preemptive strike

    1. Re:And... it's gone by jadv · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Preemptive strikes are only allowed on targets approved by the Halliburton Company.

    2. Re:And... it's gone by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

      Raised position ....
      Preemptive strike ....

      MUST NOT!

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    3. Re:And... it's gone by emho24 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Worried? No
      Tired of war? Yes
      Tired of hearing the rhetoric? Yes

      --
      You must gather your party before venturing forth.
    4. Re:And... it's gone by X0563511 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, detonating nukes nextdoor to China - what could possibly go wrong?

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    5. Re:And... it's gone by X0563511 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Al Qaeda: actually attacked us.
      Iraq: no comment. I think this one was stupid as well.
      North Korea: China's autistic little brother.

      Surely you might see why blowing up NK might not be a wise choice...

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    6. Re:And... it's gone by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Insightful

      North Korea acted like this three years ago, five years ago, seven years ago, fifteen years ago....this is how they act. It's not about war weariness in the US.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    7. Re:And... it's gone by PraiseBob · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No. Intelligence reports suggest that they can't fit a nuclear warhead on any kind of missile with decent range. Plus, their missile tests are falling way short of reaching anywhere but South Korea, China, and maybe Japan, and their test success ratio has been low.

      There is basically no scenario in which North Korea can start a war and "win". The regime can kill a bunch of people at the cost of their own lives, but that is something only religious fanatics do. They are bluffing to get sanctions lifted, and clearly trying to bluff the US into a pre-emptive strike, in order to paint themselves as a victim. It won't work, but they don't realize it because their analysts work for a totalitarian regime and can't provide the unvarnished truth to the leadership.

      It's a sad situation all around. I mostly just pity the north korean people for their inept leaders.

    8. Re:And... it's gone by Dancindan84 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Any war with them with missiles would be concluded before you heard about it on Slashdot.

      Maybe, but I bet someone would point out they saw it on reddit the day before.

      --
      "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde
    9. Re:And... it's gone by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you look at exactly what NK has said (not was what reported, what their actual statements correctly translated into English are) they have not threatened any more than the US has. They said they reserve the right to make a pre-emptive nuclear strike, just as the US does. They have not stated that they will actually attack the US, and have always maintained that their nuclear capability is for defence.

      Although NK wants to reunite Korea they don't want to level the South or kill all its civilians. That would be counter-productive, effectively destroying what they consider to be part of their own country and their fellow countrymen. What they do want to drive out is the US and the South Korean government which is regarded as a puppet of the former.

      The US has considerably military forces in that part of the world and every year runs war games just off the coast of the DPRK. Can you imagine for a moment if NK decided to play some war games in international waters off the US coast? Unlike NK the US has nuclear weapons in range of the mainland. I'm not saying that NK isn't aggressive or posturing, but you must try to see past the propaganda and consider what the enemies are doing too.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    10. Re:And... it's gone by AlecC · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes, NK could be flattened with conventional missiles. But they have enough artillery pieces lined up on the border (14,000, IIRC), with ammunition, to send up to half a million shells an hour into Seoul for a day or so. Before they were incapacitated, they could kill maybe ten million people is South Korea. Yes, it would be pointless slaughter, pure vindictiveness. But I am not prepared to say they wouldn't do it.

      --
      Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
    11. Re:And... it's gone by lgw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      All politics is local. As I see it, the son is making these ever-more-silly threats as moves on an internal-politics chessboard, trying to retain the power his dad accumulated.

      If you think his rants are being ignored, I'd say that's missing his actual objective. People around him are judging him by his rants, and the outside world isn't really the audience for them.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    12. Re:And... it's gone by Somebody+Is+Using+My · · Score: 5, Insightful

      At least not until North Korea is defeated and South Korea is left with the unhappy task of trying to integrate their economies and cultures.

      Germany faced a similar problem when the Communist Bloc collapsed and East and West Germany were re-united, but at least that unification didn't start with open warfare and didn't require them to undo three generations of increasingly strident anti-Seoul propoganda. Plus, they still had Poland as a buffer between them and Russia (which was facing its own set of problems at the time, too). But it's economy was weakened and pushed into a deep recession before it finally recovered

      A unified Korea, though, will have all sorts of problems in the beginning. It might end up - in twenty years - as an amazing economic superpower but the interim is likely to be quite painful. At least the Germany's economies were similar (both were highly industrialized). What does North Korea have to offer South Korea except for problems? Millions of untrained, starving peasants bred to hate their cousins? A decaying infrastructure that will soon be a century out of date? A border with the century's next superpower? Such a task might not just ruin the south's economy; it might push it over into an abyss causing enough chaos from which alternatives like the Kim's long regime seem sane in comparison.

      I don't envy South Korea, I really don't. Their options seem equally shitty at the moment: either live with an increasingly unpredictable madman to the north, or junk their economy for half a generation. And sadly, no matter which they way they chose, it still seems as if they may face a massive loss of life. I imagine at this point their sole hope is that Kim family gets thrown out and replaced by a more sensible group who are willing to gradually integrate the two countries into a unified natio Alas, the likelihood of that happening - especially without the massive loss of life - seems increasingly slim.

    13. Re:And... it's gone by interkin3tic · · Score: 5, Informative

      Although NK wants to reunite Korea they don't want to level the South or kill all its civilians. That would be counter-productive, effectively destroying what they consider to be part of their own country and their fellow countrymen.

      This would be more convincing if the North wasn't currently killing its own civilians for imagined insults.

    14. Re: And... it's gone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Comparing us to NK? You're a moron. We aren't acting like psycho nut jobs threatening other countries.

      What, you mean by forcing other countries to adopt your absurd copyright laws? Tying your foreign aid to making sure people don't get birth control? Sending Monsanto crop as food aid and telling people they can't keep see to plant another crop? Installing a new dictator because he claims to be friendly to the US but still treats the citizens like shit? Refusal to abide by WTO rulings that goes against you and claiming it's not legitimate, but using it to suit your own purposes? The whole Iraq war which has been proven to have been started for fabricated reasons? Spying on other countries? Extraordinary rendition whereby people are kidnapped out of countries without any oversight? Bombing civilians and calling it cost of doing business? Generally acting like assholes like Americans are want to do?

      Sorry pal, the US may not be quite as beligerant as NK, but you're hardly keeping your fingers out of pies.

      Sorry, but American foreign policy has been on the edge of 'psycho nut job' for decades now. The tendency to treat everyone else on the planet as subservient to yourselves, and lots of other things.

      Individually, America has some really nice people. Collectively, America is full of assholes. It ends up causing an awful lot of people to decide "fuck you guys".

      Somehow you have an expectation that the rest of the world is here to support US interests when you refuse to acknowledge the interests of other countries.

      You're the moron.

    15. Re:And... it's gone by Midnight_Falcon · · Score: 5, Informative
      Working in healthcare-related technology, I can tell you that ObamaCare has NOT caused doctors to quit, etc. What it's done is make doctors more accountable through the creation of ACOs and rating the patient outcomes and risks. Some of the worst-performing doctors end up moving to different practices, but generally, they remain practicing medicine. The exception is if they are retiring -- in which case, it makes more sense to go into an earlyish retirement than have to shape up your game. We didn't want those doctors anyway -- would you want a cardiologist who's track record says 2x more of their patients die than other doctors with similar cases?

      Please study the Affordable Care Act before making such bold declarations. Spending on medicare and medicaid is the largest portion of the federal government and savings need to be accomplished somehow. Some doctors might kick and scream, but their profession has been profiting handsomely from the existing system, and they know how to work it to maximize their income. For an older doctor, with a new system in place, it may not be worth re-learning how to 'game the system' if that's really what they've been doing.

      I really think the medicare/medicaid "shared savings model" is helpful in the long term for healthcare expenditures, which are spiraling out of control with no end in sight.

      I have never been, nor ever will be associated with either the Democratic or Republican parties if you're wondering.

  2. boner by Black+Parrot · · Score: 5, Funny

    'nuff said.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:boner by Endo13 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Came expecting juvenile penis references. Left satisfied.

      --
      There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
    2. Re:boner by SJHillman · · Score: 5, Funny

      You may not want to publicly advertise that juvenile penises make you come... or even that they satisfy you at all.

  3. Re:Wasnt /. supposed to be news site about compute by glop · · Score: 5, Informative

    News for Nerds. Missiles and "Wargames"-like situations fit the bill for me.

  4. Re:Wasnt /. supposed to be news site about compute by schivvers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I believe this would fall under the "stuff that matters" part of the slogan.

    --
    Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally wo
  5. should've quoted down more by rjejr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here's the paragraphs further down the page - "After the raising of the missile Wednesday, it was not clear to U.S. officials why the North Korean government did not proceed with the firing. The U.S. official cautioned that the raising of the missile could have been just a trial run to ensure the equipment works or an effort to "mess" with the United States and the allies that are watching for a launch at any time." This happened yesterday. If it was important there would have been at least 1 big explosion by now.

  6. Re:yawn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If the missile stays raised in the firing position for more than four hours, Kim should call a doctor.

  7. No sources quoted - none. by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't it awesome that we have entire news stories telling us we're on the precipice of war - without one single person quoted? CNN doesn't even bother to include a tag like "quoted on condition of anonymity" anymore - they just take their directions from the White House press office and fill in "official" wherever it would have made sense to have a real person substantiating a dubious claim.

  8. Re:Wasnt /. supposed to be news site about compute by dragon-file · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gentlemen! Please...!

    You cant fight in here! This is the War Room!

    --
    Whenever a player quits EVE to go play WoW, the Average IQ of both games increase.
  9. North Korea... by ZankerH · · Score: 5, Funny

    What a bunch of seoulless, warmongering scum.

  10. Re: Misfire? by dragon-file · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually they have, or had, an armistice since 1953. An armistice is actually a cessation of hostilities for the purpose of agreeing to a lasting peace. Cease fires, often confused with armistices, are usually the first steps in bringing around an armistice. The main difference between the two is that a cease fire does not have to include the intention of peace talks where as an armistice does. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice

    --
    Whenever a player quits EVE to go play WoW, the Average IQ of both games increase.