North Korea Threatens US Warships With “Thunderbolt Of Fire”
FOX:
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s military on Thursday threatened immediate retaliation if “even the slightest effort” is made to intercept a long-range rocket it has begun fueling and that it plans to launch in the next few days.
President Barack Obama warned the liftoff would be a “provocative act” that would generate a U.N. Security Council response, but North Korea’s military threatened those who opposed the launch with a “thunderbolt of fire” if they interfered.
A Korean Central News Agency report made a veiled threat against the U.S. In an apparent reference to American warships that have reportedly set sail to monitor the launch, the Korean-language version of the report said: “The United States should immediately withdraw armed forces deployed if it does not want to receive damage.”
An unidentified senior U.S. military official said Pyongyang has started to fuel the rocket, a move that indicates final preparations for the launch. Experts say the missile can be fired about three to four days after fueling begins.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted unidentified officials as saying the North had moved a squadron of MiG-23 fighter jets to a base near the launch site in what appeared to be a response to Japan’s deployment. Seoul’s Defense Ministry declined to confirm the reports.
An English version said the U.S. forces could be hit in a retaliatory strike against Japan.
North Korea says it will send a communications satellite into orbit on a multistage rocket sometime from Saturday to Wednesday. The U.S., South Korea and Japan think the reclusive country is using the launch to test long-range missile technology; they’ve warned the move would violate a Security Council resolution banning the North from ballistic activity.
Regional powers have also begun to deploy ships to monitor the launch, and Japan is preparing to intercept any debris that might fall if the launch goes awry — moves that have prompted several threats of retaliation from Pyongyang, including one Thursday.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said the U.S. and Japanese governments have not confirmed that fueling has begun. South Korea’s Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report.
Obama denounced the planned launch as “a provocative act” and a breach of the U.N. resolution while speaking with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in London on Wednesday, according to the White House Web site.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged the North to reconsider the launch, saying: “There will obviously be consequences if they do proceed with this.”
The North countered with its own warnings against any efforts to intercept the rocket, take the issue to the Security Council or even monitor the launch. It says its armed forces are at a high level of combat-readiness.
The North has said debris from the rocket could fall off Japan’s northern coast, so Tokyo has deployed battleships with anti-missile systems to the area and set up Patriot missile interceptors. It says it has no intention of trying to shoot down the rocket itself.
“If Japan imprudently carries out an act of intercepting our peaceful satellite, our people’s army will hand a thunderbolt of fire to not only interceptor means already deployed, but also key targets,” said a report Thursday by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency that quoted the general staff of its military.
In what appeared to be a reference to American warships that have reportedly set sail to monitor the launch, the Korean-language version of the KCNA report said: “The United States should immediately withdraw armed forces deployed if it does not want to receive damage.”
An English version said the U.S. forces could be hit in a retaliatory strike against Japan.
On Wednesday, the North threatened to shoot down any spy planes that intrude into its airspace.
South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo daily reported Thursday that North Korea has redeployed newer fighter jets along its east coast in a possible indication that the regime was serious about the threat. The report, which had no other details, cited an unnamed government source. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it could not confirm it.
The rocket issue is expected to be a key topic at Obama’s talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday. Lee has sought to drum up support from world leaders in London for punishing its neighbor if the launch goes forward.
In Washington, U.S. lawmakers are urging Obama to shoot down the rocket if it endangers the United States or its allies.But U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a TV interview aired Sunday that the U.S. had no plans to intercept the rocket but might consider it if an “aberrant missile” were headed to Hawaii “or something like that.”
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Scenario: NK does launch a satellite rocket, but it’s bait. Japan shoots it down giving KN the excuse to launch multiple missiles at Japan, SK, China and Hawaii.
And then Hillary and Obama pledge to rebuild China, and apologise to the world for the misunderstanding…further proof they care not for the United States of America, but prefer to minimize it, and drag it as low as possible
obonzo
“you better not shoot that rocket thing or Ill tell the U.N.”I WOULD BE SHAKING IN MY TOUPE.
Kim Jong Il
“Barak, Barak! You bustin’ mi bawls! I tewl you I down’t have any weapons a mass destwuction!”
Here is a clip our signal intel captured of the little dictator making his threat during a cabinet meeting!
http://www.rosswalker.co.uk/tv_sounds/sounds_files_20081223_9801173/looney_toons/magic_helmet.wav
This is clearly the behavior of the obstreperous child seeking to be a center of attention rather than allowing the news to focus on other, more salient events.
What Kim baby needs is someone to take away his Hennessy cognac (let him drink soju) and spank his backside.
(sung in the voice of Kim Jung Il from Team America)
Thunderbolt and lightning-very very frightening me-
Galileo,galileo, Galileo galileo Galileo figaro-magnifico-
But Im just a poor boy and nobody loves me-
Hes just a poor boy from a poor family-…
Are you snowed in?LMFAO
He would have to be stupid to even suggest that. Oh wait…
OOOHHHH Mig 23’s…wait do we still have any flyable F-4 Phantoms to intercept them or maybe we could dig up some A-4 Skyhawks so its a closer match.
Yeah my thoughts exactly, “newer fighterjets” yeah newer than the mig 19 maybe, but seriously anybody seriously wants to dogfight against the USN pilots or USAF????
lets see if he realy brings it, the coward chink, i doubt it
what is up with this guy
Little dick syndrome.And I mean little
What does he mean by “Thunderbolt of Fire”?
Am I not understanding something? Or is this some unknown part of Kim Jong Il’s imagination?
In speaking to a close friend in the USAF, who is involved with our nuclear arsenal, he’s explained that it’s beneficial to the US to watch the launch and let it happen so that we can truly understand what the North Korean’s capabilities are.
We will be taking all kinds of ‘measurements’ (for lack of better word at this hour of the day) and gathering assorted intel as the launch happens.
I know I m not explaining this very well: I m tired with little sleep: but bottom line is— we have nothing to fear from this launch.. and much to gain from it.
It’s a double edged sword. Yes we would like to monitor the launch and gather as much data as possible. However, we also want to deny the N. Koreans of that same data as well as the propaganda value a successful launch would give them.
The major driver for a test of this nature is to evaluate the marriage of the various missile components with the payload. If the payload is a simulator for a warhead (same weight etc.) then the performance of the test missile is a predictor of s future weapon system.
However, there is much more to integrating a warhead with a launch vehicle than just physically attaching it. That is the data we seek to deny the North. Such information places them one big step closer to having a functional weapon … something they are likely to share with Iran and something they are likely to use to intimidate South Korea and Japan.
Oh-No not the ThunderBolt of Fire, Please any thing but that.WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
I think this guy was put on earth to amuse us.
Oh-Yea and to starve the fuck out of his country.
P.S. I wish this guy would give me my work overalls back I have to go clean out the bilges.