Via Spook86, the Financial Times is reporting that the North Koreans plan to test a missile with enough range to hit the Continental United States:

Test preparations are far more advanced than on previous occasions when North Korea appeared to be gearing up for a launch. The Taepodong-2 is a two, or three, stage “integrated” missile. The three-stage version consists of a solid-fuel booster rocket strapped atop a Scud missile attached in turn to a short-range Nodong missile.

The US is monitoring the launch site to see if North Korea starts final assembly of the missile. If North Korea fuelled an assembled Taepodong-2, it would increase the probability of a test, since the move is difficult and dangerous to reverse.

Sure, the missile sounds like jury-rigged mess...but when equipped with a nuclear warhead, it is a dangerous jury-rigged mess. From the Spook: "Some analysts have speculated that NK may be using the preparations to gain attention from the U.S. and South Korea. With no substantial progress in the six-party nuclear talks, Kim Jong-il may attempt to restart the process--on his terms--by reminding the other parties that he has nuclear weapons, and with the TD-2, a mechanism for striking targets well beyond the peninsula."

I think that can be summarized as nuclear blackmail. And it points up why we need to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis before it reaches the same stage.

Posted by: cbjohnson at 06:01 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Watch these vidoes. Try not to cry. Do get angry. Despite being the world's number one recipient of food aid, millions continue to starve in the gulag that is North Korea.

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Posted by: Rusty at 05:11 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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