Posted on 03/07/2013 10:39:04 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. is fully capable of defending itself against a North Korean ballistic missile attack, the White House said Thursday, after Pyongyang threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States.
The threat from the North Koreans came ahead of a unanimous vote in the U.N. Security Council approving its toughest sanctions yet on the North in response to an atomic test last month.
North Korea has escalated its bellicose statements this week as the tightening of U.N. sanctions loomed. It has also threatened to scrap the cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
"I can tell you that the United States is fully capable of defending against any North Korean ballistic missile attack," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
North Korea has now conducted three nuclear tests. In the past year, it has made strides toward its goal of having a nuclear weapon that could threaten the U.S. although experts doubt it yet has the capability to hit the U.S. with a ballistic missile or miniaturize a nuclear device to mount on such a missile.
However, the North possesses hundreds of shorter-range missiles that could hit U.S. bases in Japan and South Korea, said Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
It is difficult to know how capable U.S. missile defense is, should it be required.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
The thread at post #2 is from Feb 8, 2013.
Time to nuke Il Jong’s palatial mansion into ashes. Getting a little cocky and arrogant like his ole dad. Unless Il Jong was chosen to lure us into a trap so that other allies would jump to his aid and attack the U.S. all at once. I’m sure they would try to paint us as the aggressor and turn more nations against us.
I suppose they have some kind of a plan.
Yes, we know this, you jug-eared clown. The question is WILL YOU?
Now they occupy the White House and say we can defend ourselves....
My,...how things change!
Good question!
Same to you,...and I am calling it a Day,....11:20 pm here on the west coast,....but I go up early this morning,
I read the threat as nuclear attack, not ballistic missle... I am far less concerned with the ballistic missile scenario (launched from North Korea) than I am of an EMP attack launched from just outside international boundaries From Barges floating in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. I am not confident our missle defenses will pick those up, and if they do, will they still do the same thing anyway, their missles may never get high enough to be out of the EMP effective range? Never really been a conspiracy theorist, but I am relatively sure there have been a couple test shots fired that have been called something else by the Obama administration. One I saw personally and could visably see propelant burning from behind the streak and official word was a meteor. I think N. Korea knows full well, all they need to do is start the snowball rolling... America is ripe to unravel in anarchy quite quickly because we are well into the entitlement generation, can you imagine a nationwide electrical outage and no government assistance hitting the mailboxes (read: electronic cards not getting reloaded) for awhile, Most vehicles down, no groceries getting delivered to stores... most Americans have become too reliant on all their electronics and electrical luxuries (like a/c), right down to all vehicles made in the past 30 years! Not to mention, Beyond those living off the government teat, a substancial percentage have no idea how to provide food for themselves (without weekly trips to the grocery store)
The White house is fully prepared to defend against a surprise nuclear attack on the North American west coast; Obama has laid in a huge supply of body bags.
They were intended for victims of the coming DHS purge of conservative Americans, but they’ll do in a pinch if North Korea attacks with nuclear missiles.
Meanwhile, our Fearless Leader dithers over tours of the White House and plays golf.
Gee, I’m surprised that the massive budget cuts haven’t obliterated our ability to protect ourselves.
He’s full of shit. The U.S. has a rudimentary capability to to intercept a very limited North Korean attack, and Obama is doing all he can to undercut that limited capability. It is far from a robust and reliable defense.
Oh....wait.....we already have that.
Never mind.
The USN and Japanese Navy (self defense force) both have Aegis BMD (SM3 shooters) ships deployed close enough to the Norks to take down a ballistic missile during boost phase.
There are also BMD sites in Alaska and the West Coast to take shots during terminal phase. These are less proven and effective than the Aegis ships are, so it would be a game of odds.
That’s assuming that the Norks have a warhead light enough to put on top of an ICBM, one with a decent guidance system. Which they don’t have.
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