North Korea gains US military attention as assets have now been deployed by the Pentagon to the South Pacific.
PAJU, SOUTH KOREA – APRIL 04: The sun sets near a barbed-wire checkpoint near the border village of Panmunjom on April 4, 2013 in Paju, South Korea. Still 400 South Korean remain in the joint industrial park fearing they can not get back there once return to South. In recent weeks North Korea have threatened to attack South Korea and U.S. military bases, with South Korean and American intelligence identifying what is believed to be an intermediate-range missile being moved by North Korea to its eastern coast, in preparation for a planned strike. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
by Shepard Ambellas
Intellihub.com
April 4, 2013
PYONGYANG — North Korea has now relocated what has been reported to likely be a “mobile missile known as the Musudan” to its East coast. The Pentagon has taken appropriate action by strengthening defenses in the United States territory of Guam as announced earlier this week.
While missile movements are typical in North Korea, South Korea’s Defense Minister announced Thursday that an “intermediate range” missile has been deployed to North Korea’s East coast causing concern for some.
Residents in South Korea fear that the young North Korean leader is likely to press to far, as anything could happen at this point.
CBC News reports that, “Experts say North Korea has not demonstrated that it has missiles capable of long range or accuracy. Some suspect that long-range missiles unveiled by Pyongyang at a parade last year were actually mockups.
“From what we know of its existing inventory, North Korea has short- and medium-range missiles that could complicate a situation on the Korean Peninsula (and perhaps reach Japan), but we have not seen any evidence that it has long-range missiles that could strike the continental U.S., Guam or Hawaii,” James Hardy, Asia Pacific editor of IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, wrote in a recent analysis.
Kim Kwan-jin said that if North Korea were preparing for a full-scale conflict, there would be signs including the mobilization of a number of units, including supply and rear troops, but South Korean military officials have found no such preparations.”
North Korean TV continues to air anti-US propaganda as they have now “formerly informed” the White House” of their intentions.
Stealth fighters are being moved into the area, warships are also present. President Obama is reportedly exercising caution with the situation.
In an interview with CNN eairlier this week Pentagon Spokesman George Little stated, ”The North Koreans — even before those exercises started — had undertaken provocative steps, and they’ve conducted underground nuclear tests, they’ve conducted missile tests outside their international obligations. So they have a track record now over the past few months of provocative behavior,”…
“We are in the business of ensuring our South Korean allies that we will help defend them in the face of threats,” Little said in response. “So I don’t think it’s a contradiction. I think that North Koreans have engaged in certain actions and have said things that are provocative. We are looking for the temperature to be taken down on the Korean Peninsula.”
On another front, it has also been reported that hackers have waged war against North Korea. An article excerpt from NationalPost.com reads, “The North’s Uriminzokkiri Twitter and Flickr accounts stopped sending out content typical of that posted by the regime in Pyongyang, such as photos of North’s leader Kim Jong-un meeting with military officials.
Instead, a picture posted Thursday on the North’s Flickr site shows Kim’s face with a pig-like snout and a drawing of Mickey Mouse on his chest. Underneath, the text reads: “Threatening world peace with ICBMs and Nuclear weapons/Wasting money while his people starve to death.”
Another posting says “We are Anonymous” in white letters against a black background. Anonymous the amorphous hacker collective born out of the political wing of the 4chan message board. Anonymous has picked many different political (and less political) causes over the years and often adopts the iconography of the 2005 movie adaptation of V for Vendetta.
A statement purporting to come from the attackers and widely circulated online said that they had compromised 15,000 user records hosted on Uriminzokkiri.com and other websites. The authenticity of the statement couldn’t be confirmed, but the North’s official website did not open Thursday.”
The situation continues to be volatile.
Sources:
^http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/04/04/north-korea-us-threats-missile.html
^http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/04/20134415354828652.html
^http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/04/politics/koreas-u-s-/index.html
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Shepard Ambellas is the founder & director of Intellihub.com (a popular alternative news website), researcher, investigative journalist, radio talk show host, and filmmaker.
For media inquires, interviews, questions or suggestions for this author email: shepard@intellihub.com
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North Koreas Maneuvers Missile to East Coast as Pentagon Prepares Defenses
