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South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in says North Korean nuclear-tipped ICBM is a “red line” White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said he was pushing the U.S. administration to take a harder line on China trade and not put complaints against its trade practices in the backseat in hope that Beijing would help restrain leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea would be “crossing a red line” if it put a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile, South Korea’s president said on Thursday, but the United States had promised to seek Seoul’s approval before taking any military action. North Korea’s rapid...

North Korea likely can make missile engines without imports: U.S. Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea likely has the ability to produce its own missile engines and intelligence suggests it does not need to rely on imports, U.S. intelligence officials said on Tuesday. The assessment disputes a new study by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies that said that the engines for a nuclear missile North Korea is developing to hit the United States likely were made in factories in Ukraine or Russia and probably obtained via black market networks. The New York Times cited the study on...

North Korea’s Missile Success Is Linked to Ukrainian Plant, Investigators Say North Korea’s success in testing an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears able to reach the United States was made possible by black-market purchases of powerful rocket engines probably from a Ukrainian factory with historical ties to Russia’s missile program, according to an expert analysis being published Monday and classified assessments by American intelligence agencies. The studies may solve the mystery of how North Korea began succeeding so suddenly after a string of fiery missile failures, some of which may have been caused by American sabotage of its supply chains...

What the US Knew About North Korea's Second ICBM Launch Before It Happened U.S. military intelligence observed North Korea’s preparation for a second ICBM test from Mupyong-ni. By Ankit Panda July 31, 2017 The United States had anticipated North Korea’s July 28 test launch of the Hwasong-14/KN20 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from Mupyong-ni and also detected the launch pad used that day, The Diplomat has learned. According to a U.S. government source with knowledge of North Korea’s weapons programs who spoke to The Diplomat, the United States had been watching the site “for weeks and saw some of the preparations...

/begin my translation N. Korea's Rodong Sinmun "U.S. Mainland in Crisis of Life and Death; Wave your White Flag" Kwon Soon-wan 2017.08.03 11:34 On Aug. 3, N. Korean media threatened U.S., saying, “Every minute and every second, the new reality that U.S. mainland is on the knife's edge of life and death is forcing U.S. administration to wave a white flag and fundamentally change her N. Korea policy.” Rodong Sinmun, the ruling party's newspaper, carried an individual column titled "Heed the Warning of Juche Korea." The column claimed, "It is not the denuclearization of N. Korea but the security of...

An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base early Wednesday to test the weapon’s reliability to “defend against attacks on the United States and its allies,” the Air Force said. The Minuteman III missile was fired at 2:10 a.m. from the base northwest of Santa Barbara, according to the Air Force Global Strike Command. The missile, equipped with a single test reentry vehicle, traveled 4,200 miles to a test range near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The strike command said the test was “not a response to recent North Korean actions.” Rather the launch...

The United States conducted test of THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense unit in Alaska, the NBC television channel said on Sunday referring to military officials, Interfax reports. "The anti-missile defense agency and the 11th anti-aircraft artillery brigade from Fort Bliss (Texas) conducted a successful missile test using the THAAD system," the MDA said in a statement. It is noted that the launch of a ballistic missile was made by one of the US Air Force aircrafts, it was intercepted by the ABM system. At the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the test was called "successful." As reported, South Korea is deploying 4...

The surprise location of North Korea’s latest missile test is making the US and China nervous When North Korea launched its second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last week, of immediate concern was how far the missile traveled, and where it could have reached had it been sent on a lower trajectory (most of the US, as it turns out). But the launch location mattered, too. In a first, the missile took off from the northern Chagang province. Geolocation wizards quickly found the precise coordinates. That location will bother both the US and China. In a straight line on the map,...

The U.S. Department of Defense says the missile, which launched just before midnight local time, traveled roughly 620 miles — from the country's northern province of Jagang to the Sea of Japan, where it finally splashed into the waters off Japan's west coast. There have been no immediate reports of damage, and Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis says the North American Aerospace Defense Command "determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America." In response to the launch, the Pentagon announced that it had conducted a precision missile firing exercise with South Korea. President...

More than half the continental US is within range of latest North Korean missile test, defense experts say North Korea on Friday tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, which landed in the Sea of Japan. Defense experts say New York City and Boston could now be in range of North Korea's missile. "More of the continental U.S." is at risk, former CIA Korea branch chief Bruce Klingner said. Michael Sheetz | Jeff Daniels North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile Friday, which defense experts say could reach as far as New York or other U.S. East Coast cities. The most recent...

U.S. WOULD 'UTTERLY DESTROY' NORTH KOREA MILITARY, SAYS TOP ARMY OFFICIAL BY SOFIA LOTTO PERSIO ON 7/28/17 AT 4:31 AM The U.S. would “utterly destroy” the North Korean military in a war, the U.S. army’s top uniformed official said on Thursday. Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley warned, however, that war in the Korean peninsula would be “highly deadly,” bearing a high cost in terms of human life, infrastructure and economic fallout. “War in the Korean peninsula would be terrible, however a nuclear weapon detonating in Los Angeles would be [even more] terrible,” Milley said in a speech to...

Iran will soon have ICBMs armed with nukes by way of North Korea. Team Trump must act now By Harry J. Kazianis Published July 22, 2017 Fox News Here’s a prediction by yours truly that you can take to the bank: In just a few years Iran will have intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, that can attack targets all over the Middle East, Europe and the United States. And it might all be thanks to the rogue state the Trump administration has labelled the biggest national security threat of our time: North Korea. Oh, and to twist the knife...

North Korea’s July 4 ICBM Test: Propaganda Ploy or the Real Deal? By Uzi Rubin July 21, 2017 It would be more prudent, and more realistic, to treat the DPRK's claims as advertised The Hwasong-14 missile that arched over North Korea on July 4 was hailed by its leader as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), “capable of reaching anywhere in the world.” The announcement sparked headlines across the world, prompting frantic diplomatic activity and launching a flood of comment and analysis. This should not be surprising: while most of Kim Jong Un’s missile tests in the last couple of years...

The U.S. on Tuesday test-fired its THAAD anti-ballistic missile system from Alaska that successfully intercepted a target missile launched from an Air Force Cargo plane north of Hawaii. The drill was previously scheduled in June and comes a week after North Korea successfully test-launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of hitting Alaska. THAAD is used to intercept short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. It does not target intercontinental ballistic missiles. The U.S. has a perfect record on launches, hitting 14 out of 14 targets. "I couldn't be more proud of the government and contractor team who executed this flight test today,"...

Exertion of strong American leadership stands any chance of success in thwarting rogue regime's escalating ambitions. Must be backed up by credible threats of economic pressure on countries doing business with North Korea and use of military force President Trump vowed that North Korea’s possession of an ICBM capable of reaching the United States “won’t happen.” It just happened. The United States confirmed that North Korea successfully test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time, said to be capable of reaching as far as Alaska. North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un said the missile was “a gift” to “American...

Nikki Haley warns China on trade with North Korea if it wants U.S. trade UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned China on Wednesday that it risks its massive trade with the United States if its business with North Korea violates U.N. sanctions. In a hard-hitting speech at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council following Pyongyang's successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, she said that "the world has become a more dangerous place" and China has a key role in promoting peace and "preventing a catastrophe."

The New York Times issued a correction related to North Korea’s successful ICBM test on Tuesday in yet another series of embarrassing blunders. The Washington Free Beacon spotted the correction, which revolved around the New York Times citing a parody North Korea Twitter account: “Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article attributed incorrectly a Twitter statement to the North Korean government. The North Korean government did not belittle a joint American-South Korean military exercise as ‘demonstrating near total ignorance of ballistic science,’ that statement was from the DPRK News Service, a parody Twitter account.”

Ralph Peters: 'Messy, Bloody' Military Action Probably Required in North Korea Retired Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters said that dealing with North Korea's expanding nuclear missile program will probably require "messy, bloody" military action by the United States. Peters called the idea a "grand delusion" that China would choose the good will of the U.S. over what it sees as a very valuable alliance with North Korea. "We will never see Beijing remove that regime or even bully it to the point where it threatens to destabilize the regime. Period," the retired officer said. North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile...

The Pentagon said Wednesday that the ICBM fired by North Korea was a first-of-its-kind missile that the U.S. had not seen before and represented a dangerous escalation of the threat posed by the regime of Kim Jong Un. "This act demonstrates that North Korea poses a threat to the United States and our allies, and we remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies and to use the full range of our capabilities at our disposal against the growing threat from North Korea," said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

United Nations Security Council Meeting on North Korea The United Nations Security Council meets to discuss the latest developments in North Korea and efforts to prevent the government there from further development of its nuclear program.