Kim Jong Il is one leader missing a chromosome or two.
Image from thefoilhat.com
Report: N. Korea May Fire ICBM Toward Hawaii
North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.
The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles, would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan's top-selling newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites.
The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, given the North's propensity to launch on U.S. holidays. July 8 is also the anniversary of former leader's Kim Il Sung's death.
As of late Wednesday night, however, there was no satellite imagery suggesting North Korea had yet stacked or staged a Taepodong-2 missile at either the Dongchang-ni site on its northwest coast or at its Musudan-ni facility on its northeast coast.
Trains are regularly running from North Korea's Tongnim missile factory to both the northwest and northeast launch pads, but there is speculation by South Korean officials that some may be empty and designed to confuse foreign intelligence agencies which the North knows are watching from the skies.
While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit Hawaii's main islands, which are about 4,500 miles from the Korean peninsula.
A spokesman for the Japanese Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service — the country's main spy agency — said they could not confirm it.
Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has spiked since the North conducted its second nuclear test on May 25 in defiance of repeated international warnings. The regime declared Saturday it would bolster its nuclear programs and threatened war in protest of U.N. sanctions taken for the nuclear test.
U.S. officials have said the North has been preparing to fire a long-range missile capable of striking the western U.S. In Washington on Tuesday, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it would take at least three to five years for North Korea to pose a real threat to the U.S. west coast.
As an Israeli living in the US, I'm watching this situation with horror - as I consider how Obama is treating Israel, Iran, Syria and the Palestinazis. One edge of this shaky world is strongly connected to the other, as Obama backs the wrong side in Iran - as the IAEA enables further decline towards a nuclear holocaust - I'm simply horrified at what might come next.
I know I've written through out the years several warnings of "this might lead to WW-III", and thank goodness none have come true (yet). I'll mention in that regard that between 1967 and 1973 many times in Israel people have warned that a horrible new war is coming and Israel better be prepared. In the end, on the eve of Yom Kipur, those warnings have become unimpressive and the guards were let down. At the wrongest of moments - Israel let her guards down, and the enemies struck as they observed such carelessness.
I'm not saying WW-III is coming. I am saying the potential for such horror is upon us. It is becoming more and more viable as these threats intensify. Just because it is said again and again - doesn't make it less dangerous. The world is at peril. Take heed.
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