Posted on 07/06/2006 7:32:32 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
Asiana Plane in Close Shave as North Launches Missile
--North Korea Launches Two Rounds of Missiles --N.Korea’s Missiles Right on Target --Missile Launch to Chill Inter-Korean Ties --Unwelcome Fireworks for U.S. Independence Day --South Koreans Angry at N.Korean Missile Shock --A Bad Misjudgment From North and South --N.Korea May Try Launching Another Long-Range Missile --N.Korea’s Missile Launch ‘Part of Regular Drills’ --Seoul’s Late Response to Missile Launch Draws Flak --An Urgent Problem, a Leisurely Response
Some 10 minutes before North Korea test-fired its fist missile early Wednesday, an Asiana Airlines passenger plane crossed the missile’s future trajectory above the East Sea, it emerged Thursday, highlighting Pyongyang’s recklessness in firing the rockets without warning. The first missile was fired at 3:32 a.m. Asiana says flight OZ 235 from Chicago to Incheon International Airport flew across the area above the East Sea between 2:30-3:10 a.m. The track chart confirms the story.
The airline says there is no way of knowing how dangerous the situation was since it has no information about the flight time and altitude of the missile. But chances are that a planeload of passengers had a close shave.
North Korea gave no warning before test-firing altogether seven missiles on Wednesday, saying there was no point since spy satellites have been monitoring its every move for a month.
But its failure to give fair warning could have endangered airplanes or ships and does violate international law. North Korea is obliged to give advance notice of any missile it fires to the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization. When it test-fired a Taepodong-1 missile in 1998, the North also ignored that obligation and was given a warning by the UN Security Council.
What’s worse, the North did nothing to protect fishing vessels from South Korea, Japan and Russia in the East Sea while giving secret notice to its own vessels to stay out of the waters since July 3. The Japanese government said some 280 fishing boats were out around the time the missiles were fired close to areas where missiles fell.
Local governments and fishermen in Japan have slammed their central government for issuing an emergency evacuation order at 8:53 a.m., a full five hours after the first missile was launched.
South Korea issued no such order, even though it admits it intercepted the North Korean warning to fishing boats as early as July 3. Seoul believes it has done enough by closely watching whether the North would actually fire the missiles and postponing the foreign minister’s overseas trip. In short, the government knew but did not tell the public of the danger ahead.
Government officials say they kept the lid on classified information concerning national security since they were unsure whether the North would go ahead with the launch, but would have confidentially warned airlines and told fishing businesses to stay clear after the missiles were launched.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
Again, the DPRK not intending nor having any realistic capability to actually directly hit, or close collision or endanger a Shuttle, but being able to create a huge media stink with their timing, and a mindset in the drama department, (which is why they launched on 4 July a few minutes away from the Shuttle launch)--this is possible. Kim Jong il is a movie director, a creator of secenarios. Nobody can predict what is in his brain, but I think this could be one of his scenarios the week after next.
What I suspect they are doing is now readying another Taepodong-2 launch for the day the Shuttle returns mid-month, yes.
We did have a shootdown of a KAL as you remember by the Soviets. I think we are in the same tense mode right now. This is disrupting commerce, oil rates, movement of people, everything right now. Everything KJI is doing is destabilizing.
You can't be serious. There is ZERO chance. You'd have a better chance bringing down a 747 with a BB gun a mile or two away from an airport than they would have hitting the POS shuttle.
Well, I said I was completely clueless about both missiles and shuttles.....but the reply above from AmericaninTokyo makes sense that they would still do it just as a PR stunt.
However, what they CAN do is time a transpacific launch of a Taepodong-2 at the same time the Shuttle returns, for PR effect--the same day, same hour, what not.
It wouldn't make sense, but Kim Jong il is insane. Dictators are often incapable of understanding basic science (they deal in fear, not logic). It is possible that some NK "scientists" are being told to bring down the shuttle.
Exactly. When dealing with someone as crazy as a sh*thouse rat, one must think like a sh*thouse rat.
Kim Jong-il is out to up the ante until everybody else gets scared and gives in. Shooting missiles recklessly, and taking away Chinese trains for their use. It just shows that the N. Korean regime is starting to break apart.
I think that is certainly possible. Scaring people is what he does best. However, if he really does it to Space Shuttle, this will be probably his last stunt.
NK has a good location to disrupt a shuttle landing. While the big-sky-small-plane theory minimizes the chances of a direct missile strike, the possibility still exists and should be addressed by NASA. Also, what if NK intentionally destroys a missile to "shotgun" the flight path of a shuttle? What if they decide to test their first nuke on a missile launched "close enough"?
Just how mad is NK's dictator?
He is doing this, most of all, to shore up his domestic base, yes, and keep the bombers and snipers at a safe enough distance from himself, considering how weak his power hold is becoming. Can you believe the DPRK TV news today? I don't know if you saw a clip. Hilarious. The announcer needed to have an assistant wipe up his drool, he was so excited to announced The Republic's launch of these missiles for self defense, and also issue a threat of war while he was at it. Prime Time Pyongyang TV at its best.
Better to drool than face slow painful death at a gulag. He had better outperform Baghdad Bob.
If it ever got that bad--which I doubt it could get--I am sure the shuttle trajectory could be altered by NASA to keep them clearly away from that part of the northern pacific. I think all KJI wants is a media splash. He saw how the US media (CNN, etc. which he watches in his fortified bunker) tied his launch to the Shuttle Launch....and he must have had a big, fat chuckle. With that kind of sick mindset, me thinks he is timing the next Taepodong-2 to 16 July just for more fun.
I agree, a random missile hit would be rare indeed. But since I witnessed a "near miss" several years ago over the Grand Canyon area, commercial flying can still give me the willies, even given the enormous statistical safety boons.
How near was it? It buffeted our plane (Southwest Airlines, Phoenix to Sacramento), when another jet airliner flew directly underneath in a near t-bone (west to east) angle. Only myself and one other passenger, who was also window gazing, even saw the other plane streak by. All the other passengers, including at least one flight attendant I talked to, just assumed we had hit a pocket of air turbulence. Scary...that cross-path (west to east) plane looked bigger'n Dallas approaching in the portside window.
If they didn't want to reveal their intelligence intercept capabilities, that's one thing, but to reveal them now without any benefit in advance...well...
--"Let's not talk about what Clinton did, let's talk about how Bush has failed."
If the above quoted, carefully coifed, empty headed, 'talking Head' can say that and get away with it, one may assume that Fox is trending Left. Perhaps Fox's owner is more partial to the Left and the Dems than was assumed by many.
The North Korean missile launching area should be nuked. And we shouldn't wait for the UN's "permission".
The long range missile was evidently in flight for more than seven minutes before it was destroyed. The night of the launch all the dems on Larry King's show kept saying it was in the air for mere seconds, then failed. That's why we didn't have to blow it up. But it seems the rocket was in the air far longer than first thought. Maybe we did take it out and just aren't saying.
IMO, given the track record of the South Korean "leadership" this timidity about sounding the alarm is more about not wanting to upset their cozy relationships with the North (slave labor for the chaebol) than anything else.
Certain of Fox's shows have indeed been trending left. Mornings tend to be leftish; Gibson and Hume a bit more to the right, which isn't to say they favor the right, just more of a balance.
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