News Story: Can North Korea shoot down a US military aircraft?

North Korean KN-06 Surface-to-Air Missile System

By: Mike Yeo

MELBOURNE, Australia — At a news conference in New York on Monday, North Korea’s foreign minister accused U.S. President Donald Trump of declaring war via Twitter, and the minister threatened to shoot down U.S. Air Force bombers conducting flights near the Korean Peninsula.

Ri Yong Ho told reporters that his country “reserves the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they’re not yet inside the airspace border of our country.” His comments come in the wake of a war of words between both countries over North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons program.

The conference came after a Sept. 23 flight over international waters “east of North Korea” by U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers, escorted by F-15C jets, that U.S. Pacific Command said was the “farthest north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) any U.S. fighter or bomber aircraft have flown off North Korea’s coast in the 21st century.”

According to South Korean media citing sources from the country’s intelligence services, the route of the B-1Bs took them approximately 90 miles from the North Korean port city of Sinpo and the Punggye-ri nuclear test site at its closest point but beyond the range of known long-range, ground-based air defense systems. The bombers’ flight path was also well beyond the North’s self-declared, 50-mile military boundary zone, which is not recognized by the United States.

At these distances, it would be a significant challenge for the North to effectively target any U.S. overflights. Like much of its conventional forces, North Korea’s air defense network is large in quantity but of questionable quality due to obsolescence, as the country is barred from importing military capabilities due to a United Nations arms embargo.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Trump ignores pleas to calm North Korea tensions

By Andrew BEATTY, with Thomas Watkins in New Delhi and Kelly MacNamara in Seoul

Donald Trump on Tuesday accused North Korea of torturing a captive US student "beyond belief," spurning pleas from allies and foes in east Asia to tone down his warlike rhetoric.

Trump urged nations to "isolate the North Korean menace" as his administration introduced new sanctions and warned that its "nuclear weapons and missile development threaten the entire word with unthinkable loss of life."

The comments, in the White House Rose Garden, came after the US Treasury announced sanctions on eight North Korean banks and 26 executives.

Earlier, for the first time, Trump also publicly accused Pyongyang of abusing the late 22-year-old Otto Warmbier, an allegation likely to heighten tensions between the two nuclear powers.

Last June the Ohio native was sent home in a coma after more than a year in prison in North Korea. He died a few days later.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: (S Korea) Ruling party lawmaker calls for efforts to persuade U.S. not to consider military options against N.K.

SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea should try to persuade the United States not to take military action against North Korea because it would to lead to full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula, a ruling party lawmaker said Wednesday.

Rep. Woo Sang-ho, a former floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party, also said in a radio interview that military tensions on the peninsula are at the highest-level since the Korean War and the recent U.S. flying of U.S. B-1B Lancer bombers near the North fueled the tensions.

"We have to stop the U.S. from exercising military options because that would open up the possibility of a full-scale war," Woo said. "Should the U.S. launch a preemptive strike against North Korea, it would spark a full-scale war between the South and the North."

Such a war may not affect the continental U.S., but it would devastate the peninsula, he said.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Report: USS Ronald Reagan Supercarrier to Conduct Exercises Off Korean Peninsula

The US Navy has announced that the nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan will be deployed to the Korean Peninsula to participate in joint exercises with the South Korean Navy as part of a continued American military buildup in the region as it faces off against North Korea.

The entire USS Ronald Reagan strike group, which includes four destroyers and two submarines, will be participating in exercises alongside South Korean ships in late October. The Pentagon claims that the exercises have been in the works for a long time, and are not a response to current tensions with Pyongyang.

On Friday, the 100,000-ton Reagan conducted drills with Japanese warships south of the Korean Peninsula as a response to the twin North Korean ballistic missile tests in August and September.

Then on Saturday, a pair of US B-1B Lancer strategic bombers flew within miles of the North Korean border. North Korea did not issue an official response to the mission, leading South Korean intelligence to claim that Pyongyang only found out about the bombers when the Pentagon told them.

News Report: New Korean Conflict Would Kill At Least 20,000 South Koreans Daily - US General

Hours after it was revealed South Korean President Moon Jae-in sanctioned supersonic US B-1B Lancers to fly north of the demilitarized zone off the North Korean coast, a former US general said the Pentagon estimates 20,000 people would be killed per day in South Korea should war break out on the peninsula, CNBC reports.

US President Donald Trump vowed the US would “totally destroy” North Korea in an armed conflict, but the profile of that conflict created by analysts within his own DoD finds it wouldn’t be like the invasion of Iraq or Afghanistan, or the combat operation to remove Muammar Gaddafi from leadership in Libya, where armed opposition to US forces was meek.

"It wouldn’t remotely resemble" those conflicts, retired US Air Force Brig. Gen. Rob Givens told the Los Angeles Times Monday. According to Givens, internal Pentagon forecasts put the death toll at 20,000 per day in South Korea; the figure that does not include casualties inflicted upon North Korea’s population of 27 to 28 million people.

News Report: North Korea Claims US Has Declared War

Margaret Besheer

UNITED NATIONS — North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said Monday the United States has declared war on his country and Pyongyang would take counter-actions if threatened, including shooting down American war planes in the region.

Ri directly linked U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments Saturday night on social media platform Twitter to the threat.

In a tweet late Saturday responding to Ri’s United Nations General Assembly speech earlier in the day, Trump wrote: “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!”

On Monday, North Korea's foreign minister responded:

“Given the fact that this comes from someone who is currently holding the seat of United States presidency, this is clearly a declaration of war," Ri told reporters outside his New York hotel. "All the member states participating in the United Nations and the whole world should clearly remember that it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country."

The North Korean foreign minister added, "we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down the United States strategic bombers, even when they are not yet inside the airspace border of our country,” he warned.

News Story: White House says U.S. has not declared war on DPRK

NEW YORK, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The United States has not declared war on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the White House said on Monday, in response to remarks of the DPRK's top diplomat.

"Last weekend, Trump claimed that our leadership wouldn't be around much longer. He declared a war on our country," Ri Yong-ho, the DPRK foreign minister, told reporters earlier in New York.

"The whole world should clearly remember it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country," Ri said, referring to Trump's tweet message on Saturday.

In response, the White House denied that the United States had declared war on Pyongyang.

"We have not declared war on North Korea and frankly the suggestion of that is absurd," White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders told a regular briefing in Washington.

"Our goal is still the same. We continue to seek the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," she said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Conservative parties renew speculation over 'Korea passing'

B-1B Lancer bomber (Image: Wiki Commons)

SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- Conservative parties on Monday raised speculation that South Korea was bypassed by the United States in the latter's decision to fly a fleet of bombers and fighters near North Korea's east coast in the latest show of force against the wayward regime.

Although the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said the rare flight on Saturday night followed the allies' prior coordination, the parties demanded President Moon Jae-in explain the situation and craft measures to prevent what they term "Korea passing."

Escorted by F-15 fighters from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, U.S. B-1B Lancer bombers from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam carried out the mission, which Washington said underscored "the seriousness with which we take (the North's) reckless behavior."

The flight came after U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un traded barbs. During a U.N. speech last week, Trump called Kim a "Rocket Man on a suicide mission," threatening to "totally destroy" the North. Kim, in turn, cast Trump as "mentally deranged."

"The U.S. independently carried out an unprecedented military operation to fly its bombers and fighters north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) for the first time since the Korean War (1950-53)," Chung Woo-taik, the floor leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, said during a party meeting. The NLL is the de facto inter-Korean sea border.

"Cheong Wa Dae and the government have to explain to the National Assembly and citizens why such a military operation just short of a war came with South Korea being excluded from it, and what kind of cooperation there was on that matter between Seoul and Washington," he added.

Critics here noted that the flight of U.S. warplanes might signal that Washington could stage unilateral military operations without consulting Seoul first in the case of a major North Korean provocation.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Report: North Korean Nuclear Weapons Means of Self-Protection - Foreign Minister & DPRK Says Nuke Launch at US "Inevitable"

North Korean Nuclear Weapons Means of Self-Protection - Foreign Minister

UNITED NATIONS, September 23 (Sputnik) — North Korean nuclear weapons are means of self-protection with Pyongyang striving for the balance of power with Washington, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said on Saturday.

"The possession of nuclear deterrence by the DPRK is a righteous self-defensive measure taken as an ultimate option, pursuant to this principle… Our national nuclear force is, to all intents and purposes, a war deterrent for putting an end to nuclear threat of the US and for preventing its military invasion; and our ultimate goal is to establish the balance of power with the US," the minister said in his address to the UN General Assembly.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

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DPRK Says Nuke Launch at US "Inevitable"

Pyongyang claimed on Saturday that launching ballistic missiles toward the US is "inevitable all the more" due to US President Donald Trump's labelling of DPRK leader Kim Jong-un as "rocket man".

Just hours after USAF B-1B nuclear-weapon-capable bombers flew close to the northern nation, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho in his statement to the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday said that Pyongyang's launch of missiles toward the US was "inevitable all the more," although he did not specify more details.

News Story: US B-1B bombers fly off N. Korea's eastern coast in show of force

B-1B Lancer (Image: Wiki Commons)

SEOUL, Sept 24 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers flew in international airspace off North Korea's eastern coast in the latest show of force against the isolated country, officials said, amid an escalating war of words between Pyongyang and Washington.

The strategic bombers deployed from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam flew with F-15C air superiority fighters from Kadena Air Base on Okinawa on a mission meant to send a clear message that the United States has many military options to defeat any threat from North Korea.

"This is the farthest north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) any U.S. fighter or bomber aircraft has flown off North Korea's coast in the 21st century, underscoring the seriousness with which we take (North Korea's) reckless behavior," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement.

"We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies."

The U.S. has warned that all options, including a military strike, are on the table over North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Report: Mattis - No Need to Shoot Down North Korean Missiles Yet

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the U.S. has not yet shot down any North Korean missiles because they have not posed a threat to the United States or its allies.

In remarks to reporters at the Pentagon, Mattis said Monday that if the missiles were perceived as a threat, "that would elicit a different response from us.''

Asked what that response is likely to be, Mattis refused to elaborate.

Earlier this month, North Korea tested what it described as a thermonuclear weapon suitable for mounting on an intercontinental ballistic missile.

At the beginning of this year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced plans to develop a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile that can target the U.S. mainland.

On Monday, almost a dozen U.S., Japanese and South Korean warplanes armed with live weapons flew over the Korean Peninsula in what the U.S. military is describing as a "sequenced bilateral show of force" in response to North Korea's latest missile launch.

News Story: U.S. to send aircraft carrier to Korea next month - ministry

SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- The United States plans to send an aircraft carrier to waters near the Korean Peninsula next month for a joint training with South Korea's Navy, the defense ministry said Monday.

In a report to the National Assembly, the ministry said the allies will hold the exercise in October involving "the U.S. aircraft carrier strike group."

It did not reveal the name of the carrier.

South Korea and the U.S. will also conduct a combined missile alert drill joined by Japan between late September and early October, according to the ministry.

The U.S. is expected to dispatch B-1B strategic bombers stationed in Guam to Korea later this month in a warning to the North.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: U.S. considering rotational deployment of U.S. stealth jets to Korea - sources

US Air Force F-35 Lightning Fighter

SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- The United States is considering a rotational deployment of its stealth jets to South Korea in response to North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats, government sources said Sunday.

South Korea and the U.S. are discussing the dispatch of F-22 and F-35B fighter jets on a rotational basis as part of efforts to boost extended deterrence against the North's threats, they said.

The allies are known to be discussing the deployment of U.S. strategic assets on a quarterly basis at U.S. air base in Osan, south of Seoul or Kunsan Air Base in the southwest of the divided peninsula, they added.

The U.S. has periodically sent strategic assets to South Korea, including B-1B bombers, as a show of force when North Korea's provocative acts are escalated.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: U.S. military sends bombers, fighter jets to S. Korea for joint bomb-dropping drill

USAF F-35 Lightning Fighter

SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military on Thursday sent strategic bombers and stealth fighter jets over South Korea for the joint bomb-dropping drill with the South Korean jetfighters in the country's northeastern region, local media citing the South Korean air force.

Two U.S. B-1B strategic bombers and four U.S. F-35B stealth combat planes were dispatched Thursday afternoon over the Korean Peninsula from the U.S. island of Guam and the U.S. military base in Japan respectively.

The U.S. combat aircraft conducted a joint flight drill with four South Korean F-15K fighter jets over the peninsula, before dropping MK-84, MK-82 and GBU-32 bombs on a target at the Pilseung firing range in Gangwon province, the northeastern region of South Korea.

The U.S. KC-135 aerial refueling plane was also dispatched to South Korea for the joint air drill, according to local media reports.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: China to North Korea: If You Strike US First, We Won’t Protect You

China warned North Korea on Friday that if they conduct a missile strike against the US, Beijing will not come to their aid after the inevitable retaliation.

Beijing has consistently called for dialogue to resolve the growing tension on the Korean Peninsula. However, the state-owned Global Times newspaper published an editorial warning both Pyongyang and Washington that, "when their actions jeopardize China's interests, China will respond with a firm hand."

The article also clarified that "if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral." On the other hand, "[i]f the US and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so."

China’s statement caps off a week that has seen North Korea and the US exchanging barbs in a war of words that has escalated to threats. US President Donald Trump responded to the North’s ongoing ballistic missile tests on Tuesday by threatening "fire and fury like the world has never seen." 

News Story: If the US is going to war in North Korea, nobody told the US military

US President Donald Trump

By: David B. Larter

If you watch cable news or follow the president’s Twitter feed, you might be under the impression that the U.S. is heading to war with North Korea. But somebody, it seems, forgot to loop in the U.S. military.

North Korea is threatening to launch missiles toward Guam; U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Friday morning that military options were “locked and loaded;” NBC News ran a story Wednesday claiming the U.S. had ”prepared a plan” to strike North Korean missile sites with B-1 bombers. 

But while the rhetoric is nearing a fever pitch in D.C., out in the Pacific you’d never know the world was on the brink of nuclear war.

In Yokosuka, Japan, the U.S. Navy’s forward-deployed ready aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan sits peacefully pier-side, along with the U.S. 7th Fleet command ship Blue Ridge. On the Korean Peninsula, the State Department has not advised American citizens to leave the country and U.S. military family members are not being evacuated. No Marines are being loaded on amphibious ships; no sailors have been recalled off leave to prepare for emergency operations; and no ballistic missile defense ships have been sortied to North Korea, the waters off Japan or to Guam, three sources said.

The frenzied rhetoric being propelled by the president’s words and fed back by the news cycle is, for the second time this year, failing to match what’s actually happening, sources told Defense News.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Report: US May Use Heavy Bombers in Guam for Preemptive Strike on North Korea

US President Donald Trump

The Pentagon has prepared a contingency plan to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea, which may involve US fighters on the Pacific island of Guam, US military sources told NBC on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Officials told the US news channel that six B-1B "Lancer" bombers were one of the options. A strike could also come from sea, land or cyberspace – if ordered by US President Donald Trump.

The US military has reportedly identified two dozens of targets in North Korea – launch sites, testing grounds and support facilities – that will come under the attack, the outlet said.

The United States has recently intensified training flights of B-1B bombers stationed at the Andersen air base in Guam after a rise in tension over the North’s missile tests.

On Thursday, North Korean state media said its military would complete a plan by mid-August to strike an area miles from Guam, in a show of force, after President Trump warned Pyongyang it would face "fire and fury" if it continued making threats.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: S.Korea closely monitoring possible DPRK "provocation" after strike warning against Guam - official

SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's unification ministry said Wednesday that the country was closely monitoring "possible provocation" of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) after Pyongyang's warning of preemptive missile strikes against the U.S. island of Guam in the Pacific.

Seoul's unification ministry spokesman Baek Tae-hyun told a press briefing that the authorities of South Korea and the United States were closely watching relevant moves in preparation for the DPRK's "further provocation."

Baek said the South Korean military authorities maintained a complete defense readiness in preparation for several possible situations, noting that it would be important for the DPRK "to stop provocation and change attitude."

The remarks followed the DPRK's warning of preemptive missile strikes against the U.S. military base of Guam in response to two U.S. strategic bombers which were sent again Tuesday to South Korea.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: DPRK slams US for escalating its military threat

PYONGYANG, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday slammed the United States for escalating military threat, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

The U.S. and South Korean military officials "openly stated that it will concentrate its latest strategic assets on the vicinity of the Korean peninsula in an explicit manifestation of its intention to carry out an armed attack on the DPRK," a Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted by the agency as saying.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: US launches unarmed ICBM from California in system test

Minuteman 3 missile (File Photo)

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — The U.S. Air Force successfully launched an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile from California, the fourth such test this year.

The 30th Space Wing says the Minuteman 3 missile launched at 2:10 a.m. Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.

An Air Force statement said the test would show the effectiveness, readiness and accuracy of the weapon system.

Minuteman missiles are regularly tested with launches from Vandenberg that send unarmed re-entry vehicles 4,200 miles (6,800 kilometers) across the Pacific to a target area at Kwajalein Atoll.

However, the latest U.S. launches come amid tensions with North Korea as that nation develops its own ICBMs.

Read the full story at DefenseNews << Video