Wednesday, 7 October 2015
One of the things that amazes me is the concentration of news on the Middle East. If peace was ever important there, if the ingredients for world war horror were ever there, then the issues would have been solved eons ago. If Palestine or Israel were either of any importance, then those issues would have been resolved, but they aren't of any importance. Not many people like Palestine or Israel, and as time goes by both tend to stink the same. That's a fact. That's not going to change. Not many people are actually bound to help them, and that's a good thing. Self important wankers both. Biblical warring landlords both. Equally cunts.I would suggest we look to North Asia for the only place a war could ever really 'catch on' to the whole world. In that tectonic arena China is the only country working diligently to prevent war, and they are pretty bright, so I guess the world will be okay, really, for a long time to come. The Chinese, unlike the Americans and the British, and the heart-eating primitive Allah- Wasabi' Freedom Fighters of Syria, do actually know what they are doing, a good ten, maybe twenty years ahead of the Whacky Wanker Western curve of comprehension.
Apparently Australia's views on who are Moderate Rebels in the Syrian war includes those 'freedom fighters' who eat the beating hearts of their enemy in a blissful sexual hubris. That's who my country supports. I don't. Good luck Russia, doing a good thing. It's almost near impossible to do a good thing in this world. You are brave to try. I respect you a lot. As an Australian I do not support the sick fucking twisted pariah 'freedom fighters' of Syria in their Wahabi Wannabe Power Sex Hysteria ruling blitz. Who the fuck do these cunts think they are?
Go back to Saudi where your social values are cherished and enshrined in Law.
South, North Korean ships collide in east sea – KCNA A South Korean ship collided with and damaged a North Korean vessel in early October, according to report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published today.The article from DRPK state media and gives the name of the ships involved, the coordinates and claims the collision was not accidental. Historical tracking data shows the vessel did indeed pass near – though not exactly through – the coordinates given by the KCNA report. The 190-meter ship then continued on its journey. It is currently near Taiwan’s Kaohsiung city.
Monday, 5 October 2015
The week ahead in North Korea
The week ahead in North Korea
The ROK-US Summit: What our two Presidents should talk about
- KEI and the Hanmi Club will be meeting for a discussion with a distinguished group of visiting Korean journalists and political commentators on what Presidents Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama should talk about during the October 16 Summit.
- The event will take place at the KEI Conference Facility, Washington DC, between 2 and 4 pm on October 5.
- The discussion will feature contributions from Donald Manzullo, David Pong, Ahn Ho-young, Mi-sook Lee, Chan-soon Nam, Kang-duk Lee, William Brown and Mark Tokola.
- Seating is limited, RSVPs required.
- For more information and to RSVP click here.
Growth and Geography of Markets in North Korea: New Evidence from Satellite Imagery
- As part of USKI’s Emerging Voices Paper Series, a research mentorship program for young scholars studying the North Korean economy, Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein will present his research on the growth and geography of markets in North Korea, based on examination of satellite imagery.
- The presentation will take place at the Bernstein-Offit Building, Washington DC, from 12:30 to 2pm on October 5.
- RSVPs are required.
- For more information and to RSVP click here.
China and North Korea: Strategic and Policy Perspectives from a Changing China
- China and North Korea: Strategic Policy Perspectives from a Changing China is a book of essays by some of today’s leading Chinese experts on China’s foreign policy toward North Korea, the history of Beijing’s relations with Pyongyang, and North Korea’s politics and economy.
- The launch will be taking place at the Kenney Auditorium, Washington DC, from 12 to 2 pm on October 6. Participants include Carla Freeman, Shi Yinhong, Cheng Xiaohe, Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga and Bonnie Glaser.
- Lunch will be provided and an RSVP is required.
- For more information and to RSVP click here.
Assessing the North Korea Threat and U.S. Policy: Strategic Patience or Effective Deterrence?
- The Senate Subcommittee on East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy will meet on October 7th from 2:30 pm.
- Witnesses are Jay Lefkowitz, Dr. Victor Cha and Ambassador Robert Gallucci.
Korea’s Growing Role in Asia: Regional Cooperation and National Unification
- Wilson Center Global Fellow Dr. Park Jin will speak on Korea's growing role in Asia and what it means for regional cooperation and national reunification.
- The talk is scheduled for 4 - 5 pm on October 7th.
- For more information and to RSVP, click here.
Doing Business in North Korea
- Jang Jin Sung will be speaking at the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation for a talk on the challenges, opportunities and ethical issues surrounding investing in North Korea.
- The talk has been organised by the Asia Scotland Institute and the European Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea (EAHRNK), and will take place from 6 - 8 pm on October 8th.
- For more information and to register, click here.
Daily Life in North Korea: A Video Presentation
- Pastor Seung Eun Kim will present video clippings recorded from various settings, especially jangmadangs (open markets), taken in locations far away from Pyongyang.
- The event will feature a light meal, and will take place from 6:30 to 8 pm on October 8th at the SAIS Rome Auditorium.
- Reservations are required.
- For more information and to RSVP, click here.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and Korean War POW/MIAs
- This will be an opportunity to be updated on the operation of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Agency's perspective on Korean War POW/MIA issues.
- Speakers include David Davis, Michael Linnington, Congressman Charles Rangel, Congressman Richard Nugent, Richard Downes and Donna Knox.
- The event will take place at the Rayburn House Office Building between 1:30 and 3:30 pm on October 8th.
- Please RSVP to dwertz@ncnk.org.
South Koreans' Perception of North Korea Issues
- Professor Myoung-kyu Park will examine South Koreans' perception of North Korea-related issues: denuclearization, human rights, security, cooperation, and unification. Based on data from annual surveys conducted by IPUS during 2007-2015, Professor Park will discuss South Korean psychological attitudes, the generational gap, and general trends and policy orientation regarding North Korea.
- The talk is scheduled for October 9th,12:00 - 1:15 pm.
- RSVPs are requred by 5pm on October 7th.
- For more information please contact hjahn@stanford.edu. To RSVP, click here.
Anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea
- October 10th is the 70th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea.
- Party anniversaries are generally celebrated with parades and fireworks, though there has been speculation that the DPRK leadership will use this occasion to launch another rocket.
Sunday, 4 October 2015
Pointing the world’s largest bomb at North Korea
Pointing the world’s largest bomb at North Korea
The U.S. made bunker busting Massive Ordnance Penetrator developed with N. Korean, Iranian targets in mind
In 1991, during the first Gulf War, the U.S. military recognized a need for weapons that could pierce underground concrete bunkers and hardened facilities.
In three weeks military researchers fashioned a hardened steel bomb made from an artillery casing that could be dropped from a high altitude, pierce earth and concrete, and detonate inside underground bunkers.
The ability to crack open facilities that previously were resistant to conventional ordnance meant bunker designers had to dig deeper, wrapping important facilities in extra layers of concrete and burying them under mountains.
Few countries are better at protecting their facilities under layers of rock and concrete than Iran and North Korea, who began bunker-building programs so deep underground that even more advanced bombs would not damage them.
THE MOP
In 2008 Boeing and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) began work on a non-nuclear bunker-busting weapon that could reach even the most hardened facilities. After six years, several rounds of upgrades and $341 million in developing and purchasing costs, they came up with Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), the world’s largest conventional bomb.
At 15 tons and 20 feet long, the MOP is six times larger than the GBU-28 and GBU-37, which were previously the largest bunker busters in the U.S. inventory.
‘… one Pentagon official told Politico Magazine the MOP “boggles the mind”‘
The GPS guided bomb is dropped from 20,000 feet and approaches hypersonic speeds. It can burrow through 200 feet of earth and 60 feet of concrete before delayed smart fuses sense empty space and detonate.
No footage of the bomb’s tests have been released to the public, but one Pentagon official told PoliticoMagazine the MOP “boggles the mind.”
The weapon is so large that the USAF also had to alter their massive B2 stealth bombers to carry it. The B2 Spirit is the only aircraft that can carry the weapon, according to a report signed by J. Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation and obtained by specialist news site InsideDefense.com
The MOP’s development has been closely tracked by Inside Defense, who also acquired test documents from 2014 showing the MOP was upgraded and ready for use. The U.S. Air Force (USAF), however, commissioned further enhancements, and development continued as negotiations began with Iran to rein in its nuclear program.
Despite ongoing talks, Iran’s Furdow nuclear facility was high on the list of possible targets for the new ordnance. The nuclear fuel enrichment plant is built inside a mountain, and could require multiple hits even from weapons as large as the MOP.
NORTH KOREA DIGS DEEP
Iran was by no means the only target in mind during the MOP’s development, however. North Korea has a long history of concealing its facilities away from prying eyes.
“(The MOP) would enable a larger target set, particularly of hardened targets that are very difficult to destroy with existing ordnance … It gives you more options to be able to take out sites, particularly when countries like Iran and North Korea are hardening their targets to try and make it difficult for the U.S. to hit them,” Kenneth Katzman, a specialist in Middle Eastern affairs at the Congressional Research Service, told Inside the Air Force, in January this year.
Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta made similar remarks to the Wall Street Journal, earlier in the bomb’s development.
“It’s not just aimed at Iran. Frankly, it’s aimed at any enemy that decides to locate in some kind of impenetrable location. The goal here is to be able to get at any enemy, anywhere,” he said in 2012.
The U.S. military has for decades relied heavily upon air assets – including those of the U.S. Air Force as well as the other branches of the U.S. military – to conduct heavy bombardment of enemy territory and units.
Strategic bombers, which belong to the USAF, are used to fly at higher altitudes and conduct bombing runs targeting key military facilities and other strategic assets including infrastructure in enemy territory, especially during the early phases of a conflict.
The MOP being loaded onto a truck. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
During the Korean War, the DPRK was subject to heavy aerial bombardment by the U.S. military.
Much of the country was leveled by bombing and it was difficult for the North Korean and Chinese forces to maintain heavy equipment or operate major bases in the country, unless they were heavily protected or difficult for United Nations forces to locate. Both of these factors could sometimes be achieved due in large part to taking advantage of Korea’s mountainous terrain.
The North Korean military has learned from its own experiences in the Korean War as well as observation of other conflicts since.
First-hand reports by troops and advisors sent to assist an ally, such as in the Vietnam War, will have helped the DPRK understand the effects of aerial bombardment as well methods of mitigating them, particularly use of underground bunkers, tunnels and camouflage.
North Korea has made extensive use of tunnels and bunkers for the military and to hide and protect other sensitive facilities, likely including bunkers and underground complexes to which the leadership could flee during a crisis.
In 2003, the LA Times spoke to defectors who worked on underground facilities before escaping North Korea. Their accounts revealed construction projects so secretive the workers were never allowed to leave, and remained there their whole lives.
“This is how we hide from our enemies. Everything in North Korea is underground,” a defector identified as “K” told the LA Times.
OPTIONS
U.S. military planners looking to deploy the MOP in North Korea would certainly have no shortage of options to choose from. Even a cursory glance of North Korea researcher Curtis Melvin’s 2007 Google Earth “DPRK uncovered” overlay shows large numbers of underground facilities scattered all across the country.
Though estimates vary, analysts and North Korea watchers place the number at greater than 10,000.
One of the DPRK’s “thunderbird runways.” Image credit: Google Earth
“North Korea has many of its key military facilities underground. They may have a highly enriched uranium centrifuge facility underground – though this has not been verified … They also have aircraft facilities that are tucked inside of mountains for protection. Finally, some of their important command and control facilities are buried deep underground,” Bruce Bechtol, associate professor of political science at Angelo State University and president of the International Council on Korean Studies told NK News.
‘These (smaller) bunker busters can be really useful in neutralizing North Korea’s air superiority’
Nonetheless smaller, cheaper bunker busters might be sufficient to deploy against many of the more lightly protected facilities, in addition to artillery emplacements along the DMZ set into mountainsides.
“These (smaller) bunker busters can be really useful in neutralizing North Korea’s air superiority. To prevent their oil tanks being targeted by ROK-U.S. forces, North Korea hid its air fuel tanks under the ground. If we can identify their location, the GBU-28 can be used to penetrate those underground tankers,” Chung, a former ROK army officer who wished to remain anonymous told NK News.
“The ROK military’s No. 1 priority during wartime would be nullifying North Korea’s Long Range-Artilleries (LRA) hidden inside the mountains. Usually, ROK Air Forces are expected to demolish the facilities within 3-4 minutes prior to the first launch … we can (also) use GBU-28 to smash the entrances,” he added.
So far, given their high cost and deployment requirements the U.S. has only ordered 20 MOPs, so it seems likely they would only deploy them against high value, highly shielded targets.
While it is not publicly known if North Korea has any Furdow equivalent facilities, large structures, factories and roads built into mountainsides are in plentiful supply.
“I am unaware of any underground nuclear facilities in the DPRK – some sites have been targeted and inspected in the past with no results. Any such facility could be disguised as a mine or regular military base, of which there are thousands,” Melvin told NK News.
Despite the difficulties, some targets still appear relatively obvious. According to Melvin, the mountain behind the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces in Pyongyang could be a potential target, and a likely command and control center. Satellite imagery of the facility shows numerous entrances into the mountain.
Image credit: Google Earth
North Korea’s infamous “thunderbird runways,” aircraft strips which can be seen protruding through mountains in Wonsan and Onchon, are other possible targets.
“Also, there is an entire underground component under the Korean Worker’s Party complex 1 and 2 in downtown Pyongyang,” Melvin added.
These types of key facilities, along with air defenses and radars, are typically among the first targets for bombardment in the early stages of war, when a military force will seek to destroy an enemy’s command, control and communications network.
According to an article in Stars and Stripes on August 5, the U.S. military has mapped many of North Korea’s underground faculties. One of the reasons for such mapping is surely planning for aerial bombardment in the event of a conflict.
NORTH KOREAN ATTENTION
North Korea for their part, are not oblivious to the threat posed from new U.S. weaponry and the MOP, having released numerous articles on both U.S. and South Korean bunker busters in North Korean media.
The KCNA Watch data tool shows the North Korea’s primary media outlet began to mention the term “bunker buster” more frequently since the early half of 2010.
“The U.S. seeks to bomb the military and strategic targets of the DPRK all of a sudden by use of B-2 loaded with Bunker Buster in ‘contingency’ on the Korean Peninsula in a bid to disable them,” an article from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published in September 2011 reads, a date coinciding with when the USAF first took delivery of the weapons, prior to rounds of upgrades to make them more accurate and resistant to jamming and interference technologies.
While a Pentagon official told Politico that a credible threat to its nuclear programs will have helped bring Iran to the negotiating table, North Korea are probably just as likely to keep digging deeper.
Additional reporting: JH Ahn
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons
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