North Korean Missile Raised To Firing Position, Says US Official

An anonymous reader writes with this snippet from CNN: "North Korea has raised at least one missile into its upright firing position, feeding concerns that a launch is imminent, a U.S. official told CNN Thursday. This comes as the world continued to keep watch for a possible missile launch by the secretive government, and a day before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to arrive in the region. In the latest daily tough talk from the North, a government agency is quoted by the state-run media as saying that 'war can break out any moment.'"

Re:Wasnt /. supposed to be news site about compute

[glop]

News for Nerds. Missiles and "Wargames"-like situations fit the bill for me.

Re: Misfire?

[Anonymous Coward]

Huh? A few days ago? The Korean War was never resolved; they've just been in a temporary ceasefire since the fifties.

Re:The right thing to do...

[Anonymous Coward]

Have the missile successfully shot down over NK territory before it even enters S. Korea.

Sure. First, you have to invent a boost-phase interception capability.

Come back to us in 30 years.

Re: Misfire?

[dragon-file]

Actually they have, or had, an armistice since 1953. An armistice is actually a cessation of hostilities for the purpose of agreeing to a lasting peace. Cease fires, often confused with armistices, are usually the first steps in bringing around an armistice. The main difference between the two is that a cease fire does not have to include the intention of peace talks where as an armistice does. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice [wikipedia.org]

Re:And... it's gone

[phantomfive]

Comments like this just show your ignorance. Go research the topic. North Korea can not win the war, but they can inflict massive damage, with millions dead.

Re:And... it's gone

[cusco]

Seoul is within easy howitzer-range of a massive amount of very well dug-in artillery. They could be using WWI-era weapons and still tear the guts out of the South Korean economy in an hour. (I say 'economy', because no one in Brainwashington really gives a shit about the civilians, and the South Korean industry owners all live in Los Angeles and Honolulu.)

Re:And... it's gone

[AmiMoJo]

If you look at exactly what NK has said (not was what reported, what their actual statements correctly translated into English are) they have not threatened any more than the US has. They said they reserve the right to make a pre-emptive nuclear strike, just as the US does. They have not stated that they will actually attack the US, and have always maintained that their nuclear capability is for defence.

Although NK wants to reunite Korea they don't want to level the South or kill all its civilians. That would be counter-productive, effectively destroying what they consider to be part of their own country and their fellow countrymen. What they do want to drive out is the US and the South Korean government which is regarded as a puppet of the former.

The US has considerably military forces in that part of the world and every year runs war games just off the coast of the DPRK. Can you imagine for a moment if NK decided to play some war games in international waters off the US coast? Unlike NK the US has nuclear weapons in range of the mainland. I'm not saying that NK isn't aggressive or posturing, but you must try to see past the propaganda and consider what the enemies are doing too.

Re:And... it's gone

[AlecC]

Yes, NK could be flattened with conventional missiles. But they have enough artillery pieces lined up on the border (14,000, IIRC), with ammunition, to send up to half a million shells an hour into Seoul for a day or so. Before they were incapacitated, they could kill maybe ten million people is South Korea. Yes, it would be pointless slaughter, pure vindictiveness. But I am not prepared to say they wouldn't do it.

Re:And... it's gone

[OakDragon]

"our arms are ready to fire and the exact coordinates are input to the warheads. Once we push the button, it will be fired, and the strongholds of our enemies will be turned to a sea of flames.'' [voanews.com]

The official statement from Mr Kim's regime kept up the barrage of inflammatory rhetoric, telling "all foreign institutions and enterprises and foreigners including tourists" in South Korea to "take measures for shelter and evacuation". It added: "The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to a thermonuclear war due to the evermore undisguised hostile actions of the United States and the South Korean puppet warmongers." [telegraph.co.uk]

I have no idea if these are accurately translated.

Re:And... it's gone

[interkin3tic]

Although NK wants to reunite Korea they don't want to level the South or kill all its civilians. That would be counter-productive, effectively destroying what they consider to be part of their own country and their fellow countrymen.

This would be more convincing if the North wasn't currently killing its own civilians for imagined insults.

Re:And... it's gone

[Midnight_Falcon]

Working in healthcare-related technology, I can tell you that ObamaCare has NOT caused doctors to quit, etc. What it's done is make doctors more accountable through the creation of ACOs and rating the patient outcomes and risks. Some of the worst-performing doctors end up moving to different practices, but generally, they remain practicing medicine. The exception is if they are retiring -- in which case, it makes more sense to go into an earlyish retirement than have to shape up your game. We didn't want those doctors anyway -- would you want a cardiologist who's track record says 2x more of their patients die than other doctors with similar cases?

Please study the Affordable Care Act before making such bold declarations. Spending on medicare and medicaid is the largest portion of the federal government and savings need to be accomplished somehow. Some doctors might kick and scream, but their profession has been profiting handsomely from the existing system, and they know how to work it to maximize their income. For an older doctor, with a new system in place, it may not be worth re-learning how to 'game the system' if that's really what they've been doing.

I really think the medicare/medicaid "shared savings model" is helpful in the long term for healthcare expenditures, which are spiraling out of control with no end in sight.

I have never been, nor ever will be associated with either the Democratic or Republican parties if you're wondering.