Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
September 17, 2008
Pg. 10
By Choe Sang-Hun
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea carried out a rocket engine ignition test for a long-range ballistic missile at a previously unknown missile launching site this year, according to unconfirmed reports in South Korean news media on Tuesday.
The engine test did not mean that a missile test was imminent. But it showed that North Korea was defying a United Nations resolution by continuing to develop its Taepodong missile series.
When those missiles are fully operational, they would apparently be capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States.
It is unclear whether North Korea has mastered the technology needed to arm its rockets with nuclear warheads. Its last Taepodong missile test, conducted in 2006, was considered a failure, with the rocket fizzling out 40 seconds after blastoff from the North’s east coast.
It is also unclear whether the North Koreans know how to shrink a nuclear weapon enough to fit it on a Taepodong warhead.
Jane’s Defense Weekly reported last week that North Korea was building a larger missile base on its west coast, near the border with China.
The base is about a year from first-stage completion, Jane’s said, quoting analysis from commercial satellite images.
Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s largest newspaper, quoted an unidentified South Korean government official on Tuesday as saying that an American satellite had detected the testing of the Taepodong engine at the site on North Korea’s west coast.
Yonhap, South Korea’s leading news agency, quoted an unidentified official as saying that the engine test occurred in May or June.
On Tuesday, The Associated Press carried a similar report, quoting an anonymous American official.
The State Department and the South Korean government declined to confirm the reports.
“Any ballistic missile tests of the kind reported would not be permitted under 1718,” Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, told reporters, referring to the United Nations resolution condemning North Korean tests of ballistic missiles and components. The Security Council adopted the resolution after North Korea set off an underground nuclear explosion in October 2006.
Meanwhile, Bush administration officials said they were still trying to determine the severity of the stroke that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il, apparently suffered in August.
September 17, 2008
Pg. 10
By Choe Sang-Hun
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea carried out a rocket engine ignition test for a long-range ballistic missile at a previously unknown missile launching site this year, according to unconfirmed reports in South Korean news media on Tuesday.
The engine test did not mean that a missile test was imminent. But it showed that North Korea was defying a United Nations resolution by continuing to develop its Taepodong missile series.
When those missiles are fully operational, they would apparently be capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States.
It is unclear whether North Korea has mastered the technology needed to arm its rockets with nuclear warheads. Its last Taepodong missile test, conducted in 2006, was considered a failure, with the rocket fizzling out 40 seconds after blastoff from the North’s east coast.
It is also unclear whether the North Koreans know how to shrink a nuclear weapon enough to fit it on a Taepodong warhead.
Jane’s Defense Weekly reported last week that North Korea was building a larger missile base on its west coast, near the border with China.
The base is about a year from first-stage completion, Jane’s said, quoting analysis from commercial satellite images.
Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s largest newspaper, quoted an unidentified South Korean government official on Tuesday as saying that an American satellite had detected the testing of the Taepodong engine at the site on North Korea’s west coast.
Yonhap, South Korea’s leading news agency, quoted an unidentified official as saying that the engine test occurred in May or June.
On Tuesday, The Associated Press carried a similar report, quoting an anonymous American official.
The State Department and the South Korean government declined to confirm the reports.
“Any ballistic missile tests of the kind reported would not be permitted under 1718,” Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, told reporters, referring to the United Nations resolution condemning North Korean tests of ballistic missiles and components. The Security Council adopted the resolution after North Korea set off an underground nuclear explosion in October 2006.
Meanwhile, Bush administration officials said they were still trying to determine the severity of the stroke that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il, apparently suffered in August.