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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