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TheEnforcer
03-04-2003, 03:08 PM
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200...17272311970.htm (http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200303/kt2003030417272311970.htm)

`NK Missile Warhead Found in Alaska’



By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
The warhead of a long-range missile test-fired by North Korea was found in the U.S. state of Alaska, a report to the National Assembly revealed yesterday.

``According to a U.S. document, the last piece of a missile warhead fired by North Korea was found in Alaska,’’ former Japanese foreign minister Taro Nakayama was quoted as saying in the report. ``Washington, as well as Tokyo, has so far underrated Pyongyang’s missile capabilities.’’

The report was the culmination of monthlong activities of the Assembly’s overseas delegation to five countries over the North Korean nuclear crisis. The Assembly dispatched groups of lawmakers to the United States, Japan, China, Russia and European Union last month to collect information and opinions on the international issue.

The team sent to Japan, headed by Rep. Kim Hak-won of the United Liberal Democrats, reported, ``Nakayama said Washington has come to put more emphasis on trilateral cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States since it recognized that the three countries are within the range of North Korean missiles.’’

According to the group dispatched to the U.S., American politicians had a wide range of opinions over the resolution of the nuclear issue, from ``a peaceful resolution’’ to ``military response.’’

Doves, such as Rep. Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and co-chairman of the Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation, called for a peaceful settlement of the current confrontation, by offering food, energy and other humanitarian aid to the poverty-stricken country, while urging the North to give up its nuclear ambitions.

Rep. Markey also said the North should return to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the U.S. should make a nonaggression pact with the communist North.

Hardliners, however, warned that the North’s possession of nuclear weapons will instigate a nuclear race in the region, provoking Japan to also acquire nuclear weapons. Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, an Illinois Republican, said the U.S. might have to bomb the Yongbyon nuclear complex should the North try to export its nuclear material to other countries.

Over the controversy concerning the withdrawal of U.S. forces stationed here, most American legislators that the parliamentary delegation met said U.S. troops should stay on the peninsula as long as the Korean people want, the report said.

Carrie
03-04-2003, 03:44 PM
1st thought: Nuke the moose!

2nd thought: Hmm... wonder if this will make the Canadians sit up and take notice?

Mike AI
03-04-2003, 06:51 PM
I read that article- I would like to know more, see if its really legitimate.

If it is, I am with Carrie. That is a violation of our airspace with a weapon - trying to intimidate us. I would be prepairing to slap N. Korea down very soon after Iraq.

TheEnforcer
03-04-2003, 07:38 PM
I haven't heard about it anywhere else though so i have to wonder if it's true or not but if it is true North Korea is in a world of shit! :kapow:

Mutt
03-04-2003, 07:46 PM
this gook.........er............kook is really starting to scare me. so far everybody seems to think he's just acting up to get a big fat handout from Uncle Sam but jesus if he's really crazy and can hit Hawaii, California and possibly anywhere in the United States........... how do you press a guy like that to the wall when he has nukes and you think there's a chance he'd use them?

World is close to going right off the deep end, it's all getting a bit surreal.

sarettah
03-04-2003, 07:50 PM
Well, I googled it through google news and that story comes up, but no repeats of it anywhere else....

Lots of references though to a statement by someone in the CIA that "North Korea has the ability to reach Alaska or Hawaii"

So, I wonder if someone just screwed up what they read when they repeated it, or if it is a little So. Korean propoganda, or what....

Zebra
03-04-2003, 09:51 PM
A few weeks ago CNN had the story about N. Korean nukes being able to hit Hawaii so I think that bit of the story is true at least. I remember they had some Pentagon official talking about ranges of the missles and saying Hawaii was in reach just barely.

Carrie
03-05-2003, 01:11 AM
Now the questions in my mind are... how long would it take a missile launched from North Korea to reach Hawaii?
How long ago did anyone know about NK's ability to do this, and in the time span that has passed, could they have improved the missile so that it could hit California?
If they plopped a nuclear warhead on Alaska, what impact would that have ecologically? Would it be enough to send glaciers breaking apart into the ocean, would there be enough heat to cause a significant melting? How far into Canada and possibly the US would the fallout drift?

Is the eve of destruction at hand? *sigh*

MissEve
03-05-2003, 01:45 PM
http://adn.com/front/story/2719687p-2767626c.html

Newspaper says N. Korean missile pieces found in Alaska
Officials puzzled, say closest one splashed down hundreds of miles off coast


By Tom Kizzia
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: March 5, 2003)
An unsubstantiated report from South Korea on Tuesday, claiming fragments of a North Korea missile warhead had been found in Alaska, left state, federal and military officials here puzzled.

The Korea Times, a major Korean newspaper, said a delegation from South Korea's National Assembly had released a new report on the region's current showdown over nuclear weapons and missiles. The newspaper quoted a former Japanese foreign minister's words in the report that "the last piece of a missile warhead fired by North Korea was found in Alaska."

The Japanese official, Tara Nakayama, cited a U.S. document as his source.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Tuesday he's never heard of such a thing. Neither had Chris Nelson, the state's missile defense coordinator.

Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency, said the report probably referred to a three-stage missile tested by North Korea in 1998.

"It splashed in the water hundreds of miles from Alaska," Lehner said. "I've never heard of any piece of a missile landing in Alaska from that test or any other test."

The South Korea legislators used the claim to note that Washington and Tokyo have "underrated Pyongyang's missile capabilities," according to the newspaper. Given the Bush administration's political efforts to promote national missile defense, it's hard to imagine why the United States would have kept such a discovery secret.

U.S. and Korean military analysts have said North Korea is probably developing a two-stage missile with a range of 3,700 miles, making it able to reach Anchorage. A three-stage version of that missile might be able to reach the West Coast of the United States, defense officials have testified.

These ranges remain hypothetical, though North Korea has recently said it may restart its missile testing program. North Korea agreed to a test moratorium with the Clinton administration.

The August 1998 test of a three-stage Taepodong-1 missile was an unsuccessful effort to launch a satellite, according to U.S. intelligence officials. The first stage splashed down in the Sea of Japan, while the second stage flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific, U.S. officials said. The fate of the satellite stage has not been reported.

"The third stage malfunctioned, and it didn't go as far as it could've gone," Lehner said.

Carrie
03-05-2003, 06:25 PM
Someone's pumping out some misinformation somewhere. (Nothing new.)
Either North Korea is trying to rally their people, or the US is trying to keep their people calm.
Anyone want to take bets on which it is?

cj
03-05-2003, 07:13 PM
i'm betting there's a healthy serve of both ....

how was this rather significant event not reported 5 years ago? or maybe it was and we didn't really care then ;/


this is freakin scary

>>U.S. and Korean military analysts have said North Korea is probably developing a two-stage missile with a range of 3,700 miles, making it able to reach Anchorage. A three-stage version of that missile might be able to reach the West Coast of the United States, defense officials have testified.

Now we know why blair has been obsessed with finishing off north korea after iraq is history

Torone
03-07-2003, 09:02 AM
I didn't say this...

Remember the other day, when it was announced that we had moved additional troops and ships into range of NK? We had previously warned China to either control NK, or we would balance the situation. The reinforcements just happen to be nuclear-capable... :nyanya: