North Korea's preparation for missile launch heats up, image shows
By Jamie Crawford
North Korea appears to be working toward its goal of launching a rocket later this month, with a new satellite image showing preparations continuing around the site.
The December 4 image provided to CNN by satellite imagery company GeoEye shows increased activity by workers on the launch pad, an imagery analyst told Security Clearance. The launch pad activity was not evident in an image from DigitalGloe taken three days earlier.
"I don't believe that a launch is imminently imminent, but what we are seeing is sort of what they call the beginning of the end of launch preparations," said Allison Puccioni, an analyst with Jane's IHS who writes about North Korean imagery for Jane's Defense Weekly. "Prior to this, we had not seen much in the way of rocket launch pad activity, but now we are seeing some significant stuff happening," such as additional work on the rocket launch tower, she said.
North Korea says it intends to launch a rocket it claims is for science and research purposes sometime between December 10 and December 22. The United States has condemned the test because the launch employs the same technology that would be used in a test of ballistic missiles. The launch would also be a violation of two separate resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council.
Puccioni, who analyzed images before North Korea's last launches last April and in 2009, tells Security Clearance the launch pad still lacks the massive numbers of vehicles and the amount of material that were present in photos in the 10 days preceding the last launches. Compared with images taken before those launches, it appears North Korea may still be as long as three weeks away from blastoff, Puccioni observed, with the rocket still apparently inside the assembly building near the launch site.
While that would fall outside of the North Korean timetable, it is still possible that North Korea could accelerate preparations and launch earlier.
"I like to say North Korea likes to say one thing and mean another, but they surprised me with their accuracy of their last launch window," Puccioni said. "I would not be surprised of it is within the window, especially" with the latest satellite image showing more preparation on the platform.
Glyn Davies, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, met with officials from South Korea and Japan in Washington on Tuesday. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Tuesday the meeting was called after the North announced its plans to launch a rocket.
"These are part of our regular trilateral meetings (in which we) discuss a wide range of regional and global issues, but certainly the focus here will be on North Korea," Toner said.
@natlsecuritycnn on Twitter
Oh my goodness! Incredible article dude! Thank you, However I am having problems with your RSS.
I don't know the reason why I am unable to
subscribe to it. Is there anybody else having similar
RSS problems? Anyone that knows the solution can you kindly respond?
Thanx!!
be funny if Dear Leader's Son {aka Fail Leader} was there and the Rocket blew up 50 feet above the launch pad
and Mission control screams in the loud speakers..."Bush's Fault Comrades"!!
I Bet $1.00 It Will Blow Up If You Hit It With A Bottle Rocket ! HAHAHA!!!!
It's time UN sends UN troops to protect South Korea. Let's say from Germany, Spain, Italy or another UN country. We have been there since the early 50's. Wan't to see Kim 2 self-implode? Start pulling US forces from S. Korea, let it be know that we have a couple of submarines parked on both sides of the N. Korean coast and start running a joint training operation near his dung hole country. He'll think that invasion is imminently imminent and do something really stupid. The perfect storm to end N. Korea.
There is a UN presence in S. Korea... And guess what? It's run by an AMERICAN GENERAL!!! General James Thurman is the head of the United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and the United States Forces Korea. Before you start spouting off your "wisdom" on how to handle North Korea, try living here first...
Lil Donged One must be trying to compensate for something!!!!!!! Hahaahaahahhaha
Seems you are the one trying to compensate for something.
Warning!!!...........Warning!!!!!!...........Warning!!!!!!.........Towel Head detected!!!!!!
Samir. Get your own jokes. BTW, your camel is double parked. Move it or it gets ticketed!!!! Hahahahahahaha
It seems the only people who fear the launch of a North Korean missile are the North Korean rocket scientists.
And those who live near the launch site and along the path of potential crash sites.
Fingers crossed for a premature explosion on the ground. Preferably nuclear.
i have a few estes rocket motors left over from summer if it would hepl move things along...
I think the use of estes motors is still a bit beyond N.K.'s current level of technical prowess. Give them a few decades, then maybe.
I bet the damn thing goes right in the drink again! I'm betting it's loaded with trash and this is NK's effort to dispose of all their old trash.
Very good sir.
I wonder if this is a more missilistic missile than the last one. And, will this this be a launchier launch?
They are still winding up the giant rubber band on that thing as we read this.
"imminently imminent" something tells me this reporter was a bit retarded
you mean the reporter is retardedly retarded, right?
Funny, blaming the reporter for quoting what somebody else said.
I say we should take it out with an SM-2 or SM-3 from an Aegis cruiser. Save some money on a test target. Demonstrate to "Dear Leader #2" and any potential customers that we can render this thing useless.
Yes, we should just go around attacking sovereign countries because we don't like something they're doing. Oh wait, we already do that.
Yeah! Let's go invade said country and depose leader #2! Regime change! It is a slam dunk! Oh wait, we tried that already and it left us in the economic mess that we are in.
Countries like North Korea and Iran look at what happened to Libya and Iraq, and it's obvious that those without nuclear weapons and means to deliver them will be destroyed. So they would be crazy not to protect themselves.
You hit the nail on the head, JCDavis. The bottom line is that if the United States would STOP with the harassment of various countries who we dislike, they would stop trying to get nuclear weapons. Right now, however they have SANELY realized that without nuclear weapons, they are open to the depredations of the United States government and military. Notice: Government and military there.
Most Americans were NOT happy that we went in Iraq and, now that we realize how manipulated even the intelligence on Afghanistan was, that country as well.
What you're describing is "blow-back'. And it's done intentionally. The military industrial complex antagonizes potential adversaries to illicit a response, which then becomes the rationalization to further grow the military industrial complex. General Eisenhower was right wasn't he?
I think 26 disregarded UN sanctions on the Iraqi government warranted military response. Lest the UNSC would never be taken seriously....wait a second....
No he really didn't hit the nail on the head since both countries had nuclear ambitions prior to the war in Iraq and the incursion in Libya. The pretext for going to war in Iraq was WMD so you think that North Korea and Iran saw that and said "hey lets develop nukes because that is going to stop a U.S. invasion even though they just invaded a country for WMD they surely wouldn't do the same exact thing to us".
maybe they should research how to grow more rice cakes. oh I know, they are researching which way the friggen sun rises. LOLOLOL. give me more cabbage. PLEASE.
imminently imminent – Isn't that superfluously redundant ?
Yeah I saw that and just had to roll my eyes.....
Never thought you could use the same word like that
that would be stupidly stupid
I see what you did there.
From information I obtained from NORAD, North Korea is going to use this missle to clear the skies for Santa's sliegh trip around the world.
I hear that Santa has trained his reindeer to poop on command. The heat from the droppings decoys the missiles away from the sleigh, sort of like the flares fighter planes drop.
North Korea's preparation for missile launch heats up...
But... but... "The ONE" TOLD Kim Jr. NOT to play with rockets and A bombs anymore.
You know "The ONE" who was going to make the sea jump back
You know "The ONE" who was going to cut the deficit in half in "HIS" first term
You know "The ONE" who was going to close GITMO
You know "The ONE" who was going to end blue state / red state and just have united states
You are a tard .
Get over it. Obama won. Move on with life.
Isn't the succession of Texas imminently imminent? Maybe you ought to work on that instead of worrying about boogiemen half a world away.
Their is no I in GITMO its spelled GTMO.
Hurray fror North Korea. A high light of the civilized world. One more problem for Obama top ignore.
Wah !,North korea must launch missile.
Well it will probably end up being grounded to the ground!
Odd how their range for a launch date falls within the 12/21/12 date.
Another attempted missle launch? North Korea should feed their hungry then play with rockets.
So should the United States!
Nice try but their is no comparison between North Korea and the United States. Every country on Earth has poor people but their is a big difference between being poor and hungry in the U.S. and being poor and hungry in North Korea, in the U.S. you need only to find a local soup kitchen like the one I volunteer at and you can get three hot meal a day while the same cannot be said about North Korea.
"immently immenent", thought i stumbled on "The Onion' horoscopes!
Looks like we finally found Saddam's WMDs.
Advancing their artificial reef launching skills, no doubt.
" imminently imminent" – Wow – and this person is an expert.... One would think communication skills would be important for an analyst. The remainder of that sentence isn't much better...
This is why I'm giving up on society.... When something becomes imminently imminent... We know that the apocalypse has come. I think her use of the english language is more catastrophic than any nuclear threat from North Korea could be.
Meaning : it was about to become imminent. A catastrophically catastrophic use of Englishy-type language speaking.
They are building rockets while people starve and dream of broiled chicken in camp 14. The thing will explode on the launchpad.
I hear a lot about how NK should not waste money on rockets and should instead feed their people... unlike the US right?... we have 46 million people below the poverty line and spent 700 billion on defense spending last year (more than the next 15 counties combined)... I dont think we have much room to talk
46 million people most with plasma televisions, cell phones and obese. You can't make that comparison.
So, if we spent zero on defense each of these 46 million would have received $13k. Most of that would have been spent on loto tickets and soda and at the end of the year we would have had no defense. Do you see any holes in your logic?
another upcoming flop
They're launching Willard Romney? Hahahahahahaha
This CNN page is the most stupid gimmick laden graphical layout published by any news site. It looks more like an Xbox game than a news site. CNN you can do better. Less gimmicks, more news please!
Reblogged this on thesurvivalplaceblog.
Reblogged this on World Chaos.
Not to worry.
This is just a test, sanctioned by the North Korean missile forces and the US Navy ABM system.