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North Korea Parades Hybrid 'Frankenmissile', Then Fails Yet Another Missile Launch Test (cnn.com)

First, an anonymous reader quotes Inverse: On Saturday, the North Korean military paraded an unprecedented array of weapons through Kim Il-sung Square in the center of Pyongyang... "We're totally floored right now," Dave Schmerler of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, tells the Wall Street Journal. "I was not expecting to see this many new missile designs." Schmerler tells The Journal that the large missiles -- the "frankenmissiles," as he calls them -- in the parade appear to be hybrids of the North Korean KN-08 and KN-14 missiles, both of which are ICBMs.
But at least one arms control expert noted that while the parade included ICBM-sized canisters, "what's inside is anyone's guess" -- and there's still mixed results for the country's missile program. "An attempted missile launch by North Korea on Sunday failed, US and South Korean defense officials told CNN... At this point, US military officials don't believe the missile had intercontinental capabilities, a US defense official told CNN." The official said there was limited data -- because the missile blew up so quickly -- prompting CNN.com to run the story under the headline "Show of Strength a Flop."

Update: Slashdot reader Dan Drollette is a science writer/editor and foreign correspondent for Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and contacted us earlier today to share his recently-published analysis "to delve into what has been happening lately...and to discredit some common tropes in the media, such as the idea that 'North Korea is about to collapse,' 'China has a lot of influence over North Korea,' 'North Korea can credibly threaten the United States right now,' 'North Korea has no reason to feel threatened,' or 'The North can be completely denuclearized.'"

2 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Hybrid! by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's nice that they are thinking of the environment and building hybrid missiles.

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    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  2. Re:Easter missile by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's an easter missile.

    You know... easter.. the day we celebrate where Jesus turned into a fluffy bunny and went around shitting out chocolates and colored eggs.

    Back in biblical times, reanimated zombies were not a joking matter. When the zombie control team rolled back the stone and found it gone, they new they had a new outbreak. It was all hushed up by couching things in terms of messiahs and apostles and fake magic tricks, but the select few knew and their ancestors went on to make zombie movies to prepare us.

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    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.