North Korea

[rz3300]

Well I cannot say that I am completely surprised, but it certainly still is a disturbing piece of news. This regime seems to be just as volatile as the previous ones and really stick to the same tricks. It is just a matter of time before antics like this really become known and we all seem to worry a bit less. Who knows what is next, though, it should be interesting to see.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

China assists North Korea with new 300 mm rocket artillery system

Richard D Fisher Jr, Washington, DC - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
09 March 2016

North Korea revealed its new guided 300 mm multiple rocket launcher during its 10 October 2015 military parade. Source: Via KCNA
Key Points

• On 3 March North Korea fired six rounds from its new 300 mm MRL in a show of defiance against new UN Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang
• The system seems to owe much to Chinese technology

China has apparently contributed significant technology to North Korea's new 300 mm guided multiple rocket launcher (MRL).

Following China's late 2011 supply of six 16-wheel transporter erector launchers (TELs), North Korea's new 300 mm MRL, which was first revealed during Pyongyang's 10 October 2015 military parade, further illustrates the challenge in getting Beijing to comply with new tougher UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea, passed on 2 March this year.

On 3 March North Korean media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had "guided" the firing of a "new type large-calibre multiple launch rocket system". For the first time the North Korean report described the rocket as having a "controlled ordnance rocket warhead", probably meaning the rocket uses a satellite-based guidance system to achieve greater accuracy.

That same day South Korean government sources disclosed that North Korea had fired six of these new rockets, which they estimated had a range of 100-150 km - enough to reach well beyond the South Korean capital, Seoul. Kim has also attended previous tests of this rocket, which include one in May 2013 and four tests in 2014.

Images released on 4 March by North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newpaper website show that the system tested on 3 March was a slightly modified version of the new truck-mounted 300 mm MRL first seen in the 10 October 2015 military parade in Pyongyang; the latest images show a truck-based MRL featuring two side-by-side containers each holding four rockets each.

The new images help to confirm the Chinese origin of the system's truck, which is a modified version of the HOWO ZZ2257M5857A 6x6 truck produced by the China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Company (CNHTC), or Sinotruk.

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China assists North Korea with new 300 mm rocket artillery system | IHS Jane's 360

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Defense Alert North Korea

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has overseen the test of a new anti-aircraft weapon system Russia S-300 series, The latest Images shows in a series of missile trials as tensions run high on the divided Korean peninsula.

Over the past month the young leader has supervised several military drills, including the test-firings of medium ballistic missiles, a multiple rocket system and long-range artillery, in response to Seoul-Washington joint army drills south of the border.

The latest launch came as a two-day nuclear security summit was being hosted by Barack Obama in Washington, at which North Korea was the focus of the US president's talks with the leaders of China, South Korea and Japan.

Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency said Saturday Kim "guided the test of a new-type anti-air guided weapon system" to check its capability.

"Under his observation, AA rockets were fired to accurately hit mock enemy aerial targets", it said.
The South's defence ministry said the North fired an anti-air missile around 12:45 pm (0345 GMT) Friday from the eastern city of Sondok.

Kim "expressed great satisfaction over the successful test", calling it another striking demonstration of the the rapidly growing defence capability of the country, KCNA said.

Obama spoke Thursday of the need to "vigilantly enforce the strong UN security measures" imposed on the North after its fourth nuclear test in January and a subsequent long-range rocket launch.

Pyongyang's state media labelled the summit a "nonsensical" effort to find fault with the North's "legitimate access to nuclear weapons".

Existing UN sanctions ban North Korea from conducting any ballistic missile test, although short-range launches tend to go unpunished.
NorthKorea releases images of new KN-06 long range Surface-to-Air-Missile test - rpt based on Russia S-300 series - Defense News

 

[Scorpion]

It seems like Russia has leaked some tech to NK.

 

[Jeff Y.]

It seems like Russia has leaked some tech to NK.

Do you really think Russia and NK are working together? I don't see any benefit for the Russians to do that, other than to piss off the US.

 

[Jaeger]

North Korea is known to get some tech from the Chinese since both China and the North Koreans totally dislike South Korea and Japan. its well known China has signed agreements for license production of the S-300 so my best guess is the KN-06 has Chinese Technology.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

North Korea still a decade or more from an SLBM capability despite recent launch, says analyst
Ridzwan Rahmat, Singapore and Karl Dewey, London - IHS Jane's Navy International
20 July 2016

Key Points

• North Korea is still 10 years or more away from having a fully operational SLBM capability, despite recent tests
• Tests are likely to have been conducted from stationary launch platforms instead of submarines, according to an analyst

North Korea's navy is still at least 10 years away from having a fully operational submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) capability despite conducting another test launch earlier this month, a regional defence and security analyst told IHS Jane's .

According to a report from South Korea's Yonhap news agency, Pyongyang launched a ballistic missile from a "submerged submarine" off North Korea's east coast on 9 July.
http://www.janes.com/article/62436/...capability-despite-recent-launch-says-analyst

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

North Korea building secret ballistic missile submarine base

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks at a rocket warhead tip after a simulated test of atmospheric re-entry of a ballistic missile, at an unidentified location in this undated file photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on March 15, 2016. Credit: Reuters

• Peter Foster, and agencies

22 July 2016 • 4:08pm

North Korea is constructing a massive underground facility capable of sheltering ballistic missile submarine at a location on its east coast, new satellite images have shown.

News of the fortified submarine pens in the port city of Sinpo comes as tension spiked again on the Korean Peninsula following a series of recent missile and weapons tests.

Earlier this month North Korea tested a Pukgeukseong (Polaris) submarine-launched ballistic missile in waters off Sinpo in the Sea of Japan, deepening fears that Pyongyang is moving closer to obtaining a submarine-launched missile capability (SSB).

Factbox | North Korea's Musudan Missile

1) A ground-launched Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM), developed by North Korea, that could deliver a nuclear warhead.

2) The Musudan is based on the R27 missile, developed by the Soviet Union in 1983.

3) North Korea is believed to have sold the designs for the Musudan to Iran, which has produced its own variant known as the Shahab-4.

4) The Musudan's range is anywhere between 1,500 and 2,500 miles, meaning that North Korea could launch a nuclear attack on countries like South Korea, Japan or the US Pacific territory of Guam.

The new images analysed by IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly appear to show the base with two new 490ft (150m) pens under construction close to the Mayang-do Naval Base, near Sinpo.

“The massive investment North Korea is making into building the new submarine bunker at Sinpo suggests it will be used to protect its most prized naval asset – the SSB capability it is currently developing,” wrote Jane’s analysts.

Given that the pens are far bigger than required to house North Korea’s existing 250ft-long Romeo-class submarines, analysts have speculated that the pens are being built to house a new class of ballistic missile submarines still under development.


Currently North Korea has only one SSB, a 220ft (67m) Gorae-class boat that requires the missile to be fired though a launch tube that extends though the vessel’s sail.

In the event of war, it remains doubtful, however, that the new pens would withstand an attack by the 14-tonne deep-penetration GBU-57 “bunker-buster” bomb that is in service with the US Air Force.

However the pens could make it easier for a future class of North Korean SSB to put to sea undetected, the analysis concluded. “This uncertainty would in turn enhance North Korea’s strategic deterrent if the submarines were believed to be carrying nuclear-armed missiles,” it said.

The details emerged as Pyongyang conducted fresh missile firings on Thursday, only days after test-firing two Scud missiles and one intermediate-range Rodong missile in violation of existing UN resolutions.

This uncertainty would in turn enhance North Korea’s strategic deterrentJane's Defence Weekly
The widely-condemned tests - personally monitored by the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un - were aimed at simulating possible attacks on South Korean ports and airfields hosting US military targets, the North's state-run media said.

North Korea has threatened "physical action" in response to the recent agreement between Seoul and Washington to deploy the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD missile system in South Korea.

The recent missile tests were greeted with anger by activists who launched propaganda balloons at the South’s heavily-fortified border carrying 300,000 anti-North Korean leaflets.

The launches, which are guaranteed to rile Pyongyang, came as new figures from South Korea estimated that the North’s GDP had contracted at its sharpest rate for eight years on the back of a slump in commodity exports.

A photo provided by the activists showed a banner attached to one of the balloons reading: "All humanity condemns the nuclear-obsessed Kim Jong-un who squeezes the blood of his own people to fire rockets!"

Additional reporting Joe Heritage
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ding-secret-ballistic-missile-submarine-base/

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

N. Korea Relocates Missiles against THAAD
Write : 2016-07-22 10:12:59 Update : 2016-07-22 13:48:44

Anchor: South Korean military authorities believe that North Korea has now moved its intermediate-range Nodong missile launchers closer to the South. Experts say that Pyongyang is trying to penetrate the missile defense shield of THAAD, which Seoul and Washington decided to deploy in South Korea.

Our Kim Bum-soo reports.

Report: The Nodong missiles the North launched Tuesday were fired from Hwangju County, some 45 kilometers south of the capital Pyongyang.

Sources told KBS that the North moved the Nodong missiles closer to the front lines alongside its short-range Scud missiles.

British military intelligence provider Jane’s Yearbooks also analyzed the North’s one-thousand-300 kilometer-range Nodong missiles have been relocated closer to the border.

Experts like Moon Sung-mook at the Institute for National Security Strategy(INSS) told KBS that Pyongyang is trying to penetrate the missile defense shield of THAAD, which Seoul and Washington decided to deploy in South Korea.

[Sound bite: Moon Sung-mook - senior researcher, the Institute for National Security Strategy(Korean)]
“It is very unusual for the North to deploy forward a Nodong missile in Hwangju and fire it... the North may try to take unconventional tactics in operating missiles to maximize its goal considering various circumstantial changes."

When fired at a higher angle from the more southern location, the descending velocity of a missile can be accelerated. This could increase chances of striking targets in South Korea's southern regions, including the site for the planned THAAD deployment and port facilities, through which U.S. augmentation troops would arrive on the peninsula in the event of a contingency.

Shin Jong-woo, a researcher at the Korean Defense Forums, says that Pyongyang is also threatening Japanese territories that had been outside the striking range of its missiles.

[Sound bite: Shin Jong-woo - researcher, the Korean Defense Forums (Korean)]
“Because there is the military advantage of having all of Japan in its range and also to launch an EMP attack on South Korea using a steep-angle launch, a front line location near the Demarcation Line is the best for North Korea.”

Jane's Yearbooks said the North, meanwhile, has established a missile base near its border with China to position its KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missiles, which could reach the mainland U.S.

Military experts said that Pyongyang is seeking to protect the strategic weapons from U.S. preemptive strikes.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_Po_detail.htm?No=120576

 

[sarvar_preus]

http://www.janes.com/article/66389/north-korea-developing-long-endurance-uav-says-report
North Korea is developing a long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), Yonhap news agency quoted a South Korean defence ministry official as saying on 18 December.
"The North is building larger drones with greater range and with the capability to be flown remotely by flight controllers," said the unnamed source. While he declined to go into detail, he did say that Seoul had detected "numerous test flights" by such UAVs since early 2016.
The UAV that is undergoing flight testing is larger than those currently in service in the North, according to the source, although very little is publicly known about these.

 

[Khafee]

North Korea Conducts First Missile Test in Two Months
Nov 28 2017
By Tom Demerly

Missile Test Reported to have Landed in East Sea Between Korea and Japan.
Defense sources and the Japanese Prime Minister’s office have confirmed the launch of a new North Korean ballistic missile test. The test, which took place within the last several hours from South Pyongan Province early Wednesday Nov. 29 local time, is now being reported across international media.

“We confirm that we have detected a North Korean ballistic missile launch. The missile is still travelling towards the direction to the East Sea, as we are monitoring right now,” a South Korean military official told media in South Korea several hours ago. Other unconfirmed sources indicate the missile has since landed in the sea.

Sometime after the first mentions began to appear in Asian media the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office tweeted, “A missile was launched from North Korea which appears to have landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone. As soon as new information comes in, we will let you know.”

The Pentagon tweeted, “We detected a probable missile launch from North Korea. We are in the process of assessing the situation and will provide details when available.”

Several U.S. intelligence gathering aircraft were airborne during the test, including an RC-135S Cobra Ball.


The last North Korean ballistic missile test took place in September 2017. That missile was identified as a Hwasong-12, referred to in the U.S. as the KN-17. The Hwasong-12 has an estimated range of between 2,300 and 3,700 miles (3,700-6000 kilometers).

The type of missile in today’s test has not yet been reported.

Reports from earlier this week from U.S. intelligence sources to Reuters news agency suggested North Korea intended a missile launch test “within days”.

Today’s test is the first North Korean missile test since September 15, 2017. (Photo: Phoenix777)

This latest reported missile test is significant since it follows a brief period of relative calm in the region since the September 15, 2017 test that may have provided the opportunity for new back-channel communication via China in the interest of maintaining stability in the region.
Top image: File photo of previous North Korean missile test from 2017. (Yonhap)

https://theaviationist.com/2017/11/28/north-korea-conducts-first-missile-test-in-two-months/

 

[Lieutenant]

Where is North Korea going with us? Intimidating the US while surrounded by many US bases. In my opinion, It was wrong that the US put North Korea leader on the terror list. Both should have brought things on the table and sort this out for the good of the world. North Korea should acknowledge the mighty power of the US and stop launching missiles every other day.

 

[Khafee]

Where is North Korea going with us? Intimidating the US while surrounded by many US bases. In my opinion, It was wrong that the US put North Korea leader on the terror list. Both should have brought things on the table and sort this out for the good of the world. North Korea should acknowledge the mighty power of the US and stop launching missiles every other day.

The problem with weak leaderships is, that they need boogeymen to stay in power. A vicious cycle, that seems to have no end.

 

[UAE]

the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office tweeted, “A missile was launched from North Korea which appears to have landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone. As soon as new information comes in, we will let you know.”

Japan should consider this an act of war and bomb the hell out of North Korea.

 

[I.R.A]

Where is North Korea going with us? Intimidating the US while surrounded by many US bases.

In their minds they are preparing to counter the threats that surround them.

World has put North Koreans in isolation, all those sanctions and isolation has strengthened the dictator's rule. People remain cut off from the rest of the world and there only worry is to survive.