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China-Japan-Koreas
Japan threatens to shoot down North Korean rocket
2012-12-03
[ABC.Net.AU] Japan is threatening to shoot down a North Korean rocket that Pyongyang says it could launch next week.

Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the hereditary potentate of North Korea...
's regime insists the rocket, which it says will fly south over the Philippines and Australia and into orbit, is carrying a communications satellite.

But the United States, South Korea and Japan all say that the launch is really a ballistic missile test, with North Korea trying to master the technology to fire long-range missiles capable of one day carrying a nuclear warhead.

The last North Korean rocket launch ended in ignominy in April, when the rocket broke up and splashed into the Yellow Sea just a minute or so after take-off. After that debacle, there were rumours throughout Pyongyang that a couple of rocket scientists had disappeared.

Japan's prime minister Yoshihiko Noda is threatening to shoot down the next rocket if it manages to stay airborne and threaten Japanese territory.

"The defence minister has today issued orders to prepare for the interception and defence against ballistic missiles," he said. "If they do indeed go ahead with the launch, then it is indeed very regrettable.

"Not only our country, but the entire international community must take strong measures to deal with this."

The launch window runs for 12 days from next Monday - a period in which South Korean voters will be going to the polls to elect a new president.
Posted by:Fred

#2  Nah - pull a "SPECTRE" and hijack the command channels, turn it around and drop it on the launch site where all the Nork Bigwigs are gathered.
Posted by: mojo   2012-12-03 13:32  

#1  Once again - SSSSSHHHHH..CCCCCC read, CHINA.

FYI Beijing is repor mulling a counterresponse to Japan's Abe's call to use retired JMSDF warships to patrol the Senkakus/Diaoyus, which itself was tit-for-tat per an earlier Chinese plan.

* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > ANALYSIS: CHINA'S PLA MAY NEED TO STRIKE JAPAN FIRST, TO INCLUDE USE OF LRBMS AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS, DESPITE THE PLAAF PRESENTLY OSSESSING A MINIMUM 4:1 NUMERICAL ADVANTAGE AGZ THE JASDF. CHINA'S AIR ADVANTAGE OFFSET BY THE HIGHER QUALITY OF JAPAN'S FIGHTER AIRCRAFT, PILOT TRAINING, AND GROUND-BASED ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSLES.

China was more willing to compromise back when integration + reunification efforts wid Taiwan were progressing seemingly fine - IT WANTS TO SEE DE FACTO INTEGRATION, NOT JUST PCORRECT DIPLOMATIC, MSM RHETORIC FULL OF SOUND-N-FURY SIGNIFYING NOTHING, I.E. "EMPTY TALK".
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-12-03 00:37  

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