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North's ICBMs may have re-entry ability, says report (KOREA)
Daily Joongang Ilbo, South Korea ^ | 18 November 2020 | Joongang Ilbo Staff

Posted on 11/18/2020 6:47:39 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has assessed that North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) re-entry vehicles are likely to “perform adequately” if flown on a normal trajectory to mainland United States, according to an American think tank report Tuesday.

Concurrently, the U.S. Navy intercepted and destroyed an ICBM target using a ship-launched missile over the Pacific Ocean, northeast of Hawaii, announced the Missile Defense Agency Tuesday, part of the Pentagon’s move to build and test a layered missile defense system for the U.S. mainland.

The "2021 Index of U.S. Military Strength," an annual report released by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, concludes, “North Korea has developed a spectrum of missile systems that threaten the continental United States as well as U.S. forces and allies in Asia with nuclear weapons.”

It continues, “Although North Korea has not yet conducted an ICBM flight test that successfully demonstrated a reentry vehicle capability, the CIA has assessed that Pyongyang’s ICBM reentry vehicles would likely perform adequately if flown on a normal trajectory to continental U.S. targets.”

North Korea acquiring such re-entry technology means that it has finalized an ICBM able to deliver a nuclear attack on the United States.

On Nov. 29, 2017, North Korea tested its Hwasong-15 ICBM and declared that it had completed its nuclear force.

The Heritage Foundation report describes that in July 2019, the U.S. Forces Korea assessed that North Korea’s Hwasong-15 ICBM has a range of 8,000 miles and is capable of reaching anywhere in the U.S. mainland.

The report in its assessment of the global threat level found that North Korea uses nuclear and missile tests to enhance its global prestige, extract various concessions from the United States and improve its military posture.

It added that “U.S. and allied intelligence agencies assess that Pyongyang has already achieved nuclear warhead miniaturization, the ability to place nuclear weapons on its medium-range missiles, and an ability to reach the continental United States with a missile.”

North Korea was ranked as "high" in terms of threat level, the second highest on its five-tier threat assessment scale, alongside Russia, Iran and China, according to the military strength report.

North Korea ranked as “testing,” the third-level in a five-tier provocative behavior scale. It was ranked at the second-highest level of “gathering” out of five tiers for level of capability.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: icbm; mirv; nevertrumper; nkorea; northkorea
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Cold war 2.0


21 posted on 11/18/2020 9:25:08 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

True.


22 posted on 11/18/2020 9:49:58 PM PST by StoneWall Brigade (Live Free or Die)
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To: AmericanInTokyo

If they have it, our own Deep State Intel Community provided it to them.


23 posted on 11/18/2020 9:52:10 PM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: ConservativeInPA

But does not the recent apparent activity around Kangson (not Yongbyon we well already know about and the Norks offered to give up as a shill ) concern you? It’s a suspected uranium enrichment facility where Magnox type nuclear reactor and large enrichment facility with thousands of centrifuges are, it means that they have more uranium to use to increase yield of their nuclear bombs.


24 posted on 11/19/2020 1:52:09 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
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To: Amish with an attitude

But how about the Middlebury Reports last year? That’s British, not even US. Certainly up there these sites and other sites in question include operations producing vehicles, computer chips and computer numerical control (CNC) machines. They are each linked to the missile programs in one way or another and they are moving at breakneck speed. Your sources?


25 posted on 11/19/2020 1:52:24 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
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To: HollyB

Do you recall how close we came to war in early 2017 but the plan was pulled back at the insistence of DOD (then SecDev) and the State Dept? Pottinger was asked to prepare an option to strike and proceed by withdrawing US military families from Seoul? We came close to war then. The sources you site were actually a moderating force.


26 posted on 11/19/2020 1:54:49 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
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To: StoneWall Brigade

You sound like me. Where’d you get that? :-)


27 posted on 11/19/2020 1:54:49 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
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To: Grimmy; AmericanInTokyo

Erm no lay off the Q stuff bro.
DPRK’S missile tech and missile technology is all Russian for the most part Red China here and there and also some pakistani but mostly all Neo Soviet Communist Russia.
It’s no coincidence that the DPRK, restarted nuke testing and missile launches in 2006, a year after Sino Russian ties were restored while also the same year that the Islamic fascist Republic of Iran announced that they too wanted nukes and nuclear missiles weaponry. Nork’s whole WMD arsenal is to A. blackmail for a lot of incentives to keep the utopia afloat; with the end goal of forcing a peace deal that leads to u.s. soldiers, off the Peninsula in order to then invade with the strategic goal of forcing a unified Korean Peninsula, under the rule of the Kim regime. B. For Russian-China axis to have as a close ally regional proxy surrogate against the U.S. in helping them obtain regional power and hegemony with the overall strategic end goal of worldwide/dominance governance.
C. They’re also the middlemen for Iranian nuclear WMD’S program for the same exact reason of B they’ll also sell to Islamist terrorists for top dollar for C&B as Islamist terrorist are also part of it.
As are also the socialist nations of South America i.e.the Venezuelan regime.


28 posted on 11/19/2020 2:31:19 AM PST by StoneWall Brigade (Live Free or Die)
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To: HollyB; AmericanInTokyo

Can you gave an instance where Supreme Chairman Kim Jong un has faithfully implemented the agreements and the accords agreements between the DPRK and the ROK-U.S at all the summits between our nations? I can give you three where he hasn’t including the most recent brutal murder of a ROK maritime governmental.
Was it CFR /CIA Neocon war machines when they(The DPRK),shot him at point blank range then deposed the body lied about it refused to corporate with the investigation then lashed out by blaming the ROK and the U.S? Despite Kim’s eternal promise to end all maritime provocations?


29 posted on 11/19/2020 2:49:13 AM PST by StoneWall Brigade (Live Free or Die)
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To: AmericanInTokyo
It continues, “Although North Korea has not yet conducted an ICBM flight test that successfully demonstrated a reentry vehicle capability, the CIA has assessed that Pyongyang’s ICBM reentry vehicles would likely perform adequately if flown on a normal trajectory to continental U.S. targets.”

The CIA is quoted? They are as rabid an enemy of America as North Korea is.

30 posted on 11/19/2020 2:51:47 AM PST by Lazamataz ("We beat the Soviet Union, then we became them." - 2005, my quote. I never knew how prescient I was.)
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To: AmericanInTokyo; TigerLikesRooster

I learned from the best.
You and tiger have been God send with the mountains of articles, and posts with highly detailed in-deph analysis that has allowed me too further my understanding, of the DPRK North Korea and the ongoing security situation that effects not only Asia but also the entire United states.


31 posted on 11/19/2020 3:03:47 AM PST by StoneWall Brigade (Live Free or Die)
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To: Lazamataz

Come on Laz it’s not just the CIA go read the Japanese military defense white papers hell if anything the CIA, is being way too nice in underrating the Norks capabilities as usually is the case same also with the ROK intelligence and military analysis.


32 posted on 11/19/2020 3:09:23 AM PST by StoneWall Brigade (Live Free or Die)
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To: brownsfan

They already tried. Remember the Hawaii missile incident back in Jan/2018. It wasn’t a false alarm. There were witnesses.


33 posted on 11/19/2020 3:32:07 AM PST by Polynikes ( Hakkaa paalle)
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To: G Larry

Well, yes and no. You are right. None of that yet. In fact, South Korea’s deputy defense ministry spokesperson, Col. Moon Hong-sik, pointed out that North Korea has not conducted a real-range ICBM test necessary to prove its reentry capabilities. My point is, it is only a matter of time and they have been increasingly moving forward over the last four years, in addition to additional nuke warhead manufacturing. The SRBMs tests also provided valuable data.


34 posted on 11/19/2020 6:48:43 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
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To: StoneWall Brigade

Correct.


35 posted on 11/19/2020 6:48:43 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
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To: HollyB

Nevertheless, HollyB, even though the (new) Hwasong-15, which it seems they are trying to ready for MIRV capability, can hardly be considered operational after a single test flight, it is a real missile. Bearing GMD’s limitations in mind, if it were to become operational and be rigorously tested a relatively small number of Hwasong-15s with suitable warheads would represent a credible threat to you, and particularly to me (here in Asia). These are from multiple sources throughout the region. Japanese intelligence on this score is quite fine in my book. Australians have also been watching closely. What’s your take?


36 posted on 11/19/2020 6:48:43 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
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To: StoneWall Brigade

Arigato. I must have done at least 1,000 translations of articles and summaries here on Free Republic from either Japanese to English or Korean to English, and maybe TigerLikesRooster did twice as many—since 1999. Yep. Those were the days of real scholarly work here and group contribution of sourced material, OSINT and otherwise, to get to the bottom of what the damned North Koreans and that sonofabitch murdering Kim Jong Un was/is up to (same with Dad before him).


37 posted on 11/19/2020 6:48:43 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
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To: StoneWall Brigade
Good one. Japanese Defense White Paper (防衛白書) for 2020 which came out two months ago (I think there is an English version of this) brilliantly assessed the threat from North Korea to US and allies in the region, as well as to the mainland of the US. SRBM. IRBM, ICBM. SLBM. MIRV technology. Variable trajectory defeating US THAAD and PAC missile systems.This is quite independent of CIA or DIA. The NORTH has been on the march all this time.

https://www.mod.go.jp/e/publ/w_paper/wp2020/pdf/index.html

38 posted on 11/19/2020 6:48:43 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
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To: AmericanInTokyo

U.S. Aegis development of anti-ICBM capability is developing faster than N.K.’s offense.


39 posted on 11/19/2020 6:53:32 AM PST by G Larry (There is no merit in compromising with the Devil.)
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To: StoneWall Brigade

Uh huh.

Cool story, bro.

W


40 posted on 11/19/2020 6:54:22 AM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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