Time bomb (North Korea is the absolute craziest place on earth – MUST READ article)

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | July 12 2003

[dead]

Time's running out for North Korea. Its weapons are old and its people are worn down. Any attempt to cordon off its ships may be all the provocation it needs for a last-ditch nuclear strike. Hamish McDonald reports.

Across North Korea at 7am each day, loudspeakers come to life and blare a rousing song titled 10 Million Human Bombs for Kim Il-sung and, according to recent visitors, it is common to see people of all ages singing along fervently. That Kim Il-sung has been dead for nine years does not seem to have diminished the song's appeal.

Kim was the communist guerilla leader who, with the help of Soviet occupation forces, founded the North Korean state in 1945. From being the isolated nation's "Great Leader", Kim has now been promoted to "Eternal Leader". In ceremonies last week, on the anniversary of his death, he was extolled by state propaganda as the "greatest statesman of the 20th century".

With his late wife, the senior Kim has been elevated into a trinity along with their son, the current leader Kim Jong-il, in what some regard more as a state religion than just a bizarre ideological variant of Marxism-Leninism: it even has its own nativity scene, set in a mountain-top log cabin during wartime Japanese rule.

North Korea's Juche or self-reliance doctrine borrows these and other elements of Christianity and combines them with the patriarchism of the ancient Chinese sage Confucius and a millenarian Korean sect called Chondogyo. Kim Jong-il is the chief shaman or priestly miracle worker in this quasi state religion.

"It's a lot worse than even George W. Bush thinks it is," says a senior Western diplomat who frequently visits Pyongyang. "It is something very depressing to the human spirit. They want everyone to think the same thing at the same time, and they are close to getting it. That's what makes it horrible." The tight grip of this leadership cult, and the suicidal militancy expressed in the song, make this and many other observers in the region wonder whether the Bush Administration really understands the beast it is now tackling through hardline diplomacy and tightening inspections of North Korean export shipments. "The idea that this is a ... state that only needs a prod to collapse is false," the diplomat said.

Despite North Korea's failed economy and the misery of most of its 22.5 million citizens - trapped in poverty and decayed housing and ravaged by malnutrition and periodic famine, power blackouts and diseases such as tuberculosis and cholera - its core belief still burns bright in the country's self-isolation from the world. The cult tells North Koreans they are a special people who evolved separately to other humans, according to neolithic "discoveries" by North Korean archaeologists. They learn that they are ruled by special leaders and that the hardship is merely the prelude to an early paradise that will come through a sudden convulsion.

Elites at the top of a social ranking divided into 54 classes - from Kim Jong-il's inner circle down to hereditary class enemies and collaborators - are, meanwhile, kept quiet with privileges and supplies denied the ordinary population. "They are very eager to keep the regime in existence," says Choi Jin Wook, a senior researcher at Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification. "If it fails, it's the end of their privileges."

Also fully keyed up is the formidable war machine:

• The 1.2 million-strong Korean People's Army (KPA) poised along the Demilitarised Zone, the 50-year-old truce line with South Korea;

• The heavy industry that backs this force; and

• The rapidly advancing missile and nuclear laboratories that make the only North Korean products anyone wants to buy.

In the past two months, Kim Jong-il has intensified his "army first" doctrine in which the KPA has effectively replaced the Communist Party as the key structure in the regime. This may signal that advocates of economic liberalisation in the trade and light industry ministries and the committees dealing with Asia-Pacific relations and flood rehabilitation have already lost out to the old-guard military-heavy industry camp.

But a clock is ticking in this war machine. The newest artillery, tanks and aircraft were supplied in the last days of the Soviet Union, and are more than a decade old. The struggle to shield heavy industry from North Korea's overall economic decline is getting harder. Even the human quality of the KPA is shrinking: the height requirement for new recruits is now 1.3 metres, reflecting the effects of nearly two decades of malnutrition.

"There is a critical crossover point some time in the future - which we don't know and which we can't know - where the North Koreans calculate they won't be able to fight the Americans and win," the diplomat said. The idea of a "use it or lose it" deadline for North Korean conventional war capability adds a frightening new dimension to the crisis over the US-led effort to eliminate Pyongyang's nuclear threat.

Another incalculable element is the extent to which the KPA's top generals share the widespread expectation that the millenarian event will be the reunification of the two halves of Korea, under the Kim dynasty. Some may have their private doubts, but the KPA's doctrine is based on quick and massive attack and counter-attack, hoping to replicate its rapid dash towards southern Pusan in 1950 after catching the American garrison and South Korean military off guard. That drew a counter-invasion by the US general Douglas MacArthur from Japan. MacArthur later requested permission to use nuclear weapons when China entered the war (and was refused and sacked by President Harry Truman). The increasing reliance of the present-day US military on precision air strikes and its unwillingness to carry casualties is said to be encouraging some KPA generals to think they could prevail, helped by Korea's difficult terrain and weather.

There is deep unease in South Korean political and military circles at the realignment of the 37,000-strong US force in South Korea, particularly the planned shift of the 15,000 frontline troops from the Joint Security Area of the DMZ, which directly defends Seoul, to a base further south. They worry about removing the reassuring "tripwire" which has long meant that if any war starts, the US is immediately involved and taking heavy casualties. The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, says this is obsolete thinking and that the redeployment will allow US forces to respond more effectively to attack.

A further unknown deadline, which may be the real restraint on the KPA, is the point at which North Korea is able to deliver nuclear weapons. A report compiled for the White House, Nuclear Posture Review, and leaked in 2001, indicated that the US could use nuclear weapons on non-nuclear adversaries in a wide range of contingencies. It may have been that review, far more than Bush's later "axis of evil" rhetoric, that provided the impetus for Pyongyang to speed up and diversify its nuclear weapons effort so that it would have a counter-deterrent.

Experts don't dispute that North Korea had collected enough plutonium to make one or two bombs by the early 1990s. This week's report by South Korea's intelligence chief that the North had conducted 70 tests of the non-nuclear trigger of a bomb - the conventional explosive that sharply compresses the plutonium core and sets off nuclear fission - is new only in the number. Such tests have been going on since 1983. How many have occurred recently would have been far more interesting, but that was not revealed.

Some South Korean analysts think any bomb may yet be an unwieldy, untested device that could not fit the 1000-kg maximum payload of the North's proven medium-range missiles, which could hit US bases in Japan. But one expert, a Swiss nuclear physicist and nuclear proliferation analyst, Andre Gsponer, thinks this underestimates the extent to which North Korea can use published data on nuclear weapons. "North Korea has displayed excellent technical skills in building long-range missiles, something much more difficult than building atomic bombs," Gsponer said. "I would think that the weight of the North Korean plutonium-239 bombs would be in the range of 500 kg to 1 tonne, at most."

North Korea made its open claim to have nuclear weapons during talks with US and Chinese officials in Beijing in April. That galvanised China into ever-more-intense efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis which had begun the previous October when Pyongyang privately confessed to the US that it was building a second path to nuclear weapons - centrifuge enrichment of its plentiful uranium reserves.

Until then, the Chinese had believed Pyongyang's nuclear rhetoric was bluff, aimed at getting Washington to deliver the power stations and other aid promised in the 1994 "framework" agreement in return for a cap on North Korea's nuclear programs. Aside from a small oil contribution, that aid never arrived: the Clinton administration had made the promise expecting the Pyongyang regime to collapse before it had to be delivered.

The new Chinese leadership under President Hu Jintao has fewer sentimental ties to North Korea than Beijing's old guard. Further, a nuclear North Korea threatens Chinese interests because of its potential to provoke a lurch to the right by Japan, which has eight tonnes of plutonium in storage and the capacity to go nuclear within weeks.

In March, Beijing turned off the spigot on its oil pipeline into North Korea for three days to reinforce a warning against resuming ballistic missile tests. Since then, the Chinese Communist Party's "leading group" on North Korea, formed in February and chaired by Hu himself, has studied all options to head off a Korean war because it would be ruinous to China, too. China's tearaway 7 to 8 per cent annual growth is founded on massive trade and investment links with the US and its strategic partners. Even China's trade with South Korea totalled $US44 billion ($67 billion) last year, and is expected to reach an annual $US100 billion in five years. As well as cutting this off, a Korean war would force the closure to international shipping of all Chinese ports north of Shanghai, including the major export outlets of Qingdao, Tianjin and Dalian.

As revealed this week in the Herald, these studies included the feasibility of China's People's Liberation Army conducting a lightning strike to disarm North Korea. The conclusion was that the PLA did not have the logistics capability to reach the DMZ fast enough to prevent the North Korean military attacking south to engage US troops. Hence a frantic Chinese drive to get the Americans and North Koreans back to a second round of talks.

China's changed attitude is revealed in a directive recently issued to the Chinese media by the central propaganda directorate: "Regarding the DPRK [North Korea] nuclear crisis, China and DPRK now have divided opinions on many issues, so we require media not to play on this nuclear issue and stick to the Xinhua [official news agency] version only."

The intensifying economic blockade of North Korea by the US and its allies - with the notable exception of a reluctant and worried South Korea - brings new threats of military conflict. Japan's recent deployment of squads of safety inspectors to check North Korean shipping has effectively blocked a sizable flow of cash and high-tech goods provided by pachinko (pinball) operators and other donors in the pro-Pyongyang camp of Japan's ethnic Koreans.

The "proliferation security initiative" discussed by the US, Australia, Japan and several European nations at this week's Brisbane meeting threatens a more critical cut. A naval cordon around North Korea would threaten Pyongyang's major source of hard currency if it stopped its $US600 million-a-year ballistic missile exports to the Middle East and Pakistan.

The Prime Minister, John Howard, seems to be backing away from Canberra's earlier enthusiasm for such a blockade. And such a blockade could have some "nasty consequences", the senior Western diplomat warned this week. "It is entirely likely that those ships in the blockade will be attacked by North Korea."

He pointed out that North Korea's small navy wielded some potent weapons and its vessels were crewed by fanatical regime supporters willing to carry out suicidal missions. Indeed, a modified North Korean fishing boat, seized after a recent clash with Japan and put on public display, included a secret missile compartment and extra-powerful engines. This recalls German raiders of World War II, such as the Kormoran, which sank the Australian cruiser Sydney with all hands in a close-range encounter in 1941.

The prospects of an early diplomatic solution are not good. At the Beijing talks in April, the North Koreans asked for a non-aggression pact and some $US3.5 billion in economic aid. They promised to respond with unspecified nuclear concessions once it started flowing. The Americans wanted a complete and verifiable closure of all nuclear programs before they would even discuss aid. A formal non-aggression treaty would have no hope of ratification by the US Senate.

"The situation is very different from 1994," said the Seoul unification institute's Choi, referring to the deal that ended the last North Korean nuclear crisis. The US is holding back, watching to see if North Korea crosses a "red line" by resuming reprocessing of its spent nuclear fuel stockpile to extract more plutonium. Pyongyang has meanwhile shown much of its hand.

"They do not have any more cards," Choi said. "Unless they escalate." But a dramatic move, such as reactivating the reprocessing plant or even conducting an underground bomb test, might convince Washington that containment was more realistic than diplomacy, and China might see its long-term interests as being in co-operating with a quarantine of its awkward ally.

Those who know the North Koreans say they are in a corner. "Do nothing and eventually they will collapse," the senior Western diplomat said. "Open up and they draw into question their social stability which is dependent on complete isolation. The conundrum is the reason why there are different factions arguing over how to go forward. The problem for all of them is that this regime cannot survive a breath of fresh air."

[Ronin]

One well-placed bomb, a couple of bullets....

Great idea, but we have tried decapitation by bomb attack three times in my memory -- Libya, Aghanistan and now Iraq -- and it hasn't worked very well.

Kadaffy is still alive and kicking, Bin Laden is releasing tapes and now Saddam is too. OK, you can say the tapes are fakes, but how can you prove it? It takes a body with multiple holes in it these days to prove a man is dead.

That brings us to the couple of bullets.

How you going to get a hitman close enough? In North Korea? If we have a single illegal on the ground there I would be utterly amazed. Spies go in, and they don't come out -- ever.

A coup-de-etat is possible, I guess but Kim Jong Il is a very paranoid and experienced survivor. If he wasn't he would be dead already.

There is no simple solution to these problems. If there was it would have been found by now. The end of the regime may be coming soon -- but it is not going to be pretty when it does.

[Alamo-Girl]

Ah! Thanks for the information!

[Mr.Clark]

A great career choice for young people would be a Korean speaking socialogist or psychologist. When these thing falls, it's going to be one of the most fascinating examples of human indoctrination ever seen.

[sarasmom]

Tactical nukes are by no means the only option.
MOABs are infinately more attractive.
Many weapons in our arsenal are very usefull against large ground force concentrations.

[AmericanInTokyo]

DPRK "Regime Change" through assassination is in fact a scenario that has been planned in intricate detail already, along with many many other scenarios and combinations of scenarios. At this point, it appears the North Koreans are going to "cross over the red line" in plutonium rod reprocessing, which is a very unfortunate thing indeed.

One way to destabilize would be to hit a soft target with limited civilian damage, such as the very elaborate Kim Il Sung mausoleum in P'yang, where Papa's body is on ice. Combined with a bombing or sabotage strike on that facility, backed immediately with a rumor operation within the country that a shadowy anti-Kim Jong il organization did it and more can be expected, and then a ramp up the said vitriol with Korean language broadcasts about the attack in Korean to the Korean people through all kinds of media, might be enough to start the downfall. China and or Russia would also have to declare an open refugee zone on the North's border and that fact would have to trickle down to North Korea's population as a magnet to deflate the country from it's human resources and create chaos. With nukes already in place, though, we would have to work with countries to stabilize and recover the assets very quickly. This is as sensitive an operation at this time as separating twins joined at the head, IMHO. Very risky, but also very risky at this point not to do anything.

[AmericanInTokyo]

alerting you here

[AmericanInTokyo]

My own counter argument to the above is the minute there was a covert provocation by the Free West with amazing results within the heart of the beast in P'yang, no doubt the word would go out to sleeper cells in place in S. Korea and throughout Japan to start acts there. Our troops would probably be the first threatened or targeted with WMD. I myself think the the DPRK has the capability, and may be waiting, to unleash a WMD attack internally in those two countries with is provacateurs already firmly in place and probably possing WMDs (chems/bios).

[AmericanInTokyo]

Furthermore, an economic blockade would be quite limited in effect I believe. Corrupt dynamic exists between Japan and North Korea (yakuza/pachinko/bought off politicians), with a corrupt political system in place in Japan (LDP) which would strangely, suicidally allow it, for money transfers to be established through some other new routes and the eco blockade of the North would just be "gone around".

[Steel Wolf]

Exactly as the PRC would wish; a situation where the Western left are nipping at the heels of Bush, while our pathetic excuse for the right become supporters of the actions of Communist Red China (and the Russians) as they convert the DPRK from a covertly aided crypto-ally into an overtly occupied satellite!

In all fairness, we would be lucky to turn North Korea into an overtly occupied satellite. One of the Immutable Laws of FR, 'North Korea is a puppet, China pulls the strings', is dead wrong. The DPRK is a loose and deadly cannon. The North Korean people may fare no better than Tibet under Chinese rule, but that's a lot better than what they have now. It would also be safer for the neighbors, and ultimately, safer for us.

The article misses the mark about the PLA needing to make it to the DMZ before a DPRK attack on the South. They don't need to do that at all, they only make it to the DMZ before we can break their lines and push north into Pyongyang.

China wouldn't be able to hold onto them for long, anyway. Pressure from South Korea and Japan would threaten their economic prosperity, which is far more important to the Chinese than holding on to less than worthess real estate. They will want to grab it, but to give it back under their own terms.

What China doesn't want is a successful U.S. lead war that brings us to the Yalu, possibly for a long, long time. If they were able to sieze North Korea, and make it's return dependent upon U.S. forces leaving South Korea, then they'd have some real leverage. Many South Koreans would leap at the chance to get rid of us. With the threat from the DPRK gone, we'd have no reason to warrant such a large presence.

[Guillermo]

So much for the concept of "limited war."

Thanks Harry Truman, the most overrated President in American history.

[Guillermo]

Who exactly welcomes an invasion of the South by the North?

Although I have seen may "get our troops out" posters, I have never seen anyopne wish for an actual invasion.

S Korea has twice the population and 50 times the economy of the North. Let THEM defend themselves.

American blood should not be spilt to defend people who despise us.

[Steel Wolf]

It would be a bloodbath, no doubt about it. The North Koreans don't have the fuel to back up an armored assault. Even if they did, the T-55's and T-72s that still run wouldn't make it far. They have no air support, and they'll be stuck on the roads (or in the mud, depending on the time of year).

Infantry, well, they could either die on the roads, or spend a few weeks walking over those hills. Except that they don't have weeks worth of food, water or ammo. Once they leave their bunkers, that will be the end of their resupply. 800,000 infantryman need a lot of food, and they won't be scavenging jack out of what they just shredded with artillery.

Their air force and navy will be swiss cheese by day 3. Their army will be able to inflict a huge opening shock, but they'll run out of steam very quickly.

[DoctorMichael]

Good assessment and scorecard of the current situation.

Although..........The US is holding back, watching to see if North Korea crosses a "red line" by resuming reprocessing of its spent nuclear fuel stockpile to extract more plutonium........

Recent news report shows they HAVE!

Bump.

[kabar]

"It's a lot worse than even George W. Bush thinks it is," says a senior Western diplomat who frequently visits Pyongyang. "It is something very depressing to the human spirit. They want everyone to think the same thing at the same time, and they are close to getting it. That's what makes it horrible." The tight grip of this leadership cult, and the suicidal militancy expressed in the song, make this and many other observers in the region wonder whether the Bush Administration really understands the beast it is now tackling through hardline diplomacy and tightening inspections of North Korean export shipments. "The idea that this is a ... state that only needs a prod to collapse is false," the diplomat said.

Those who know the North Koreans say they are in a corner. "Do nothing and eventually they will collapse," the senior Western diplomat said. "Open up and they draw into question their social stability which is dependent on complete isolation. The conundrum is the reason why there are different factions arguing over how to go forward. The problem for all of them is that this regime cannot survive a breath of fresh air."

The Aussies are not exactly the sharpest knife in the draw when it comes to political analysis. This article obviously supports the Clinton administration's policy of engagement and succumbing to blackmail. Who can forget Albright in Pyongyang smiling and toasting this monster and appearing at a stadium to witness a propaganda spectacle worthy of Hitler and Stalin. I don't believe for a moment that everyone in NK thinks and walks in lockstep. Information gets into the country in many different ways, as we found out with the fall of the Berlin wall. Once Kim il-Jong is gone, we will witness an amazing transformation. We need to remain tough with the regime. It will give support to those who want to rid the country of Kim and pay dividends afterwards.

I lived in Poland during martial law and Solidarnosc. Reagan's characterization of the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" was welcomed and gave heart to those who started the dominos falling ending in the breakup of the Soviet Union. Now is not the time to go wobbly.

[Paul Ross]

You're welcome! Some additional info:

Aerotech News and Review

Journal of Aerospace and Defense Industry News

Nov. 8th, 2002

Business News

---

High-energy laser destroys artillery projectile in flight

Shootdown marks dramatic technology breakthrough
Until today, nothing could stop an artillery projectile once it was fired.
Now, in a world's first, a high-energy laser, developed by TRW for the U.S. Army and the Israel Ministry of Defense, has intercepted an artillery projectile and caused it to explode harmlessly in the air.
The shootdown took place during a live-fire test of the TRW-built Mobile Tactical High- Energy Laser testbed, conducted by the U.S. Army, at its White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
"This shootdown shifts the paradigm for defensive capabilities. We've shown that even an artillery projectile hurtling through the air at supersonic speed is no match for a laser," said Lt. Gen. Joseph M. Cosumano, Jr., commanding general, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Army Space Command. "Tactical high-energy lasers have the capacity to change the face of the battlefield."
The shootdown occurred as part of a new series of tests to determine MTHEL requirements and demonstrate the system's capabilities against a wide range of airborne targets. In earlier tests during 2000 and 2001, the testbed - then called the THEL/Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator - focused on the threat of artillery rockets and succeeded in shooting down 25 Katyusha rockets, fired singly and in salvos.
"TRW's THEL technology is now proven against both short-range rockets and artillery projectiles. With this test, MTHEL further substantiates its potential to protect soldiers and key assets against attack by a variety of air threats," said Tim Hannemann, president and CEO of TRW Space & Electronics.
TRW developed the MTHEL testbed under contract to the U.S. Army, for the joint US Army and Israel Ministry of Defense THEL ACTD program. "We look forward to producing a prototype of a truly mobile version and operational tactical laser weapon as the MTHEL program gets underway."

---

Previous  Home  Forward

---

Page B3 ---------- AEROTECH News and Review ---------- Nov. 8th, 2002

[ AEROTECH Home Page and Previous Issues ]

And also this tidbit is interesting:

Home >>Web Only News

	Zapping Short-range Threats By Kerry Gildea, Contributing Editor United States, Israel developing a mobile laser to defend against everything from rockets to mortar shells 7 November 2002—You can take it with you. At least, that’s how the U.S. Army hopes its forces will use a high-power laser it’s developing. It plans to bring such weapons to future fights and knock out low-flying targets seconds before impact, when the speed of light may prove more effective than the alternative—an intercepting missile’s speed of flight. The laser knocked down an artillery shell for the first time on 5 November. The Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL) system, as the laser is called, is the charge of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command (Arlington, Va.) and the focus of a cooperative program with the Israeli government. While missile-based defense systems like the Patriot defend against longer-range threats such as Scud missiles, tactical directed-energy systems are designed to intercept and destroy—in a matter of seconds—lower-flying, short-range threats. These could include rockets, artillery shells, and cruise missiles, says Timothy W. Hannemann, president and CEO of TRW’s Space & Electronics Group, the division of TRW Inc. (Cleveland, Ohio) that is building THEL, the stationary test version of MTHEL. Because photons in effect take no time to reach their targets, lasers are perfect for intercepting and destroying such last-minute threats. "It’s pretty hard to run from a laser," says Hannemann. The weapon, which has a US $118.5 million, five-year budget, comprises three major subsystems: a command, control, communications and intelligence system, which includes an Israeli-provided fire control radar for acquisition and tracking of a target; a pointer-tracker system that controls the position of the laser beam; and a deuterium fluoride laser. "The real advantage of lasers is the potential for precision engagement," said Dan Wildt, TRW’s program manager for new projects who has worked with laser technology development for 20 years. For example, he explained, laser operators can adjust the power levels of a laser to deliver more nearly the exact amount of energy necessary to destroy different types of targets. Middle East motivation The Army started testing high-energy laser against short-range rockets in the early 1990s, but at the time had to use very large laser systems, Hannemann said. In 1996, the United States and the Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) began developing a nonmobile THEL solely for Israel’s defense against the short-range Russian-built Katyusha rockets being fired over its northern border. However, the geopolitical dynamics shifted when Israel pulled out of Lebanon. That opened up more potential targets within Israel for Katyushas so a mobile system made more sense than the single static THEL placed on the border. The Israeli government decided to hold off on deploying THEL there until a smaller, more maneuverable version of the laser system could be built. Today that original THEL system, camouflaged to melt into the desert background, sits on a concrete platform at the Army’s High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF, White Sands Missile Range, N.M.). There, in addition to its recent victory over artillery, it has knocked down 25 of 25 Katyusha rockets to date. In such tests, a Katyusha is fired from a rocket launcher several kilometers from the laser. Seconds later the laser system detects the launch with its fire control radar and tracks the streaking rocket. The THEL laser optics are mounted on a large gimbaled assembly that swivels to track the target and keep the chemical laser beam directed at it. Within seconds of being struck by the laser beam, the 3-meter-long Katyusha explodes. The Army has touted the success of the system in a series of flight tests, but won’t disclose the specifics of the Katyusha’s velocities and range. Until this past summer, the Army’s interest in the system appeared purely one of improving the accuracy of directed-energy laser technologies. Then, as Israel became more intent on developing a mobile version, the Army started rethinking its own plans, eyeing mobile THEL as a countermeasure for troops on the move. Along with other branches of the military, it is now considering mounting the laser on helicopters, ground vehicles, and destroyers. [For the China Sunburn missile problem, eh? ] On top of making it mobile, the Army is expanding THEL’s repertoire, according to Josef Shwartz, TRW’s program manager for THEL programs. The service needs a terminal defense system to protect troops and assets in the field from short-range missiles, artillery, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, rockets and mortars, he said. The Army expects an MTHEL demonstrator up and running in 2006 or 2007. This article has been updated.
	For past Web Only News articles, please visit our archives.

Home | Search | Table of Contents | IEEE Job Site | Advertising | Top

Copyright | Terms & Conditions | Privacy & Security | Subscription Problems | Contact

URL: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org (Modified: 31 October 2002)

 

 

 

[Focault's Pendulum]

My own counter argument to the above is the minute there was a covert provocation by the Free West with amazing results within the heart of the beast in P'yang, no doubt the word would go out to sleeper cells in place in S. Korea and throughout Japan to start acts there. Our troops would probably be the first threatened or targeted with WMD. I myself think the the DPRK has the capability, and may be waiting, to unleash a WMD attack internally in those two countries with is provacateurs already firmly in place and probably possing WMDs (chems/bios).

I concur with your assessment....but have a question.

If the Nk's responded as you suggest....wouldn't the fact that the initial provacation was covert in nature, force them to be seen as the aggressor.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for the articles! IMHO, laser technology is crucial to future defense shields.

[Focault's Pendulum]

FYI

We'll go to war if we must (Australian PM)

[Amelia]

Thanks so much for the assessment. Very thoughtful and well-written. I really appreciate it.

I especially agree with your last sentence.

[Amelia]

Thanks for the analysis.

The 'axis of evil' comments seem more & more apt as time goes along, don't they?