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© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.North Korea launches multiple missiles toward eastern waters in 2nd launch of year
By KIM TONG-HYUNG SEOUL, South Korea©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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Blacklabel
“ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House”.
odd way to describe “during Joe Biden’s administration, again”
Cephus
Just another day Kim playing with his toys!
spinningplates
Another fine victory in Dear Leader’s relentless and absolute war with the treacherous Eastern Sea!
Desert Tortoise
Here is an interesting link discussing events in Korea.
https://www.38north.org/2025/01/kim-jong-un-welcomes-donald-j-trump-to-second-term/
Desert Tortoise
The DPRK are deadly serious about eventually making another attempt at conquering South Korea. They are as intent on doing so as China is intent on retaking Taiwan. US and South Korean deterrence may not be enough to stop him either.
You could also imagine the DPRK making their move in coordination with a PRC invasion attempt on Taiwan. Could the US and its allies fight both wars successfully?
Fighto!
I guess FatBoy Kim is launching a few of his dud missiles in the hope of taking the news off his hapless little troops over in Ukraine being blown up and captured.
The_Beagle
He's just mad Elon replaced him as Trump's rocket-man.
GuruMick
Desert tortoise...you worry too much.
NK not going to attack the South...immediate annihilation of North would follow.
Plus no SK citizen would want NK as new overlord...impossible to conquer a nation when the people are happy with status quo.
Ditto with Taiwan...China has all the time in the world.
Desert Tortoise
Don't be over confident. The DPRK missile program has shown steady progress. They are serious about challenging ROK and the US. Don't be too smug. You might get a very unpleasant surprise.
https://www.38north.org/2025/01/half-a-loaf-third-hwasong-16-solid-irbm-test-shows-booster-is-ready-but-hgv-payload-needs-work/
GuruMick
If you are US military or ex military person I imagine some "indoctrination " on NK,s actual motives may be in play.
If you are a hammer, everything you see is a nail needing to be hammered down
Desert Tortoise
Don't be smug. In the last three years the DPRK has changed its foreign policy dramatically. They feel like Jupiter (DJT) made a fool of Kim Jong Un at the summit in Vietnam and felt the US wanted DPRK to make all the concessions while offering nothing for Kim to bring home to his people by way of an achievement for talking to the Americans. A lot of supposedly smart people said Japan wouldn't attack the US on US soil, expecting the Japanese to attack somewhere like the Philippines and not Hawaii. Nobody expected the North Koreans to attack the south in 1950 either.
I think by 2027, 2028 at the latest, we will be in a major war over Taiwan and possibly also Korea, and the west is not prepared to win it. All the trend lines are pointing that way. The US Navy is openly briefing its people to be ready to go to war with China in 2027 so convinced are they of the intel they have on China's preparations. It is right at the top of page 4 of this pdf.
https://www.navy.mil/Portals/1/CNO/NAVPLAN2024/Files/CNO-NAVPLAN-2024-high-res.pdf
The chaos in ROK makes them look especially vulnerable right now and there is a chunk of the ROK body politic that hates Japan passionately and to a lesser extent also hates the US, and they admire the DPRK because old man Kim was part of the resistance to the Japanese occupation of Korea where too many early ROK leaders were former Japanese toadies.
JJE
A UN-recognized state conducting legal weapons drills in self defense - happens everyday.
And those DPRK special forces - boy, they must have IQs off the charts and be bonafide linguistic geniuses - managing to pick-up Tuvan language fluently, including all the local dialects and slang, in just a few months, plus another language on top of that, including writing in both cases - incredible stuff.
Either that or people have fallen for it hook, line and sinker, or wish to fall for it.
Desert Tortoise
It is discussed in more depth at the top of page 9
GuruMick
Quoting "Navy Military " sources from the US...err.....not known as diplomats are they.
Which part of the ROK admires Kim ?
Which percentage of young ROK people keep a memory of Japan and WW2 ?
Lots of interchange between the two nations and long may it continue.
Nope...I stick with my assessment.....NK has everything to lose and Kim not stupid.
No war.
GuruMick
And the US anticipated an attack from Japan in the months before Pearl Harbour.
Lots of history.
Read "At Dawn we slept " ...best assessment of politics and military at the time of the attack.
Tokyo Guy
A UN-recognized state conducting legal weapons drills in self defense - happens everyday.
And those DPRK special forces - boy, they must have IQs off the charts and be bonafide linguistic geniuses - managing to pick-up Tuvan language fluently, including all the local dialects and slang, in just a few months, plus another language on top of that, including writing in both cases - incredible stuff.
Either that or people have fallen for it hook, line and sinker, or wish to fall for it.
Ah, there you are.
Desert Tortoise
I am only posting things that are open source like our CNO Navigation Plan. That is a public document. The stuff on 38 North are professional analysis but they are very good.
It might surprise many here but nobody on the US side wants to see a resumption of the Korean War. If you knew how many South Koreans live within range of North Korean artillery, and the expected casualty rates in a resumption of hostilities, on the order of tens of thousand dead per hour, yes hour, the first day or two as their artillery hammers Seoul and Inchon and the surrounding areas then you would understand why the US and ROK don't react to the many DPRK provocations. Nobody on the US/ROK side wants that war.
But old Kim sees the world very differently than we do and the worry is he is not afraid of losing a lot of people if he thinks he can prevail in the end. He probably could not win today but in his view the US and South Korea are weakening and in decline. He is steadily building a capable missile force. Yes he is. Don't put your head in the sand and ignore their test progress. They have workable nuclear weapons. Like it or not they are a nuclear power. Now he has access to Russian technology. Kim will bide his time and strike when he thinks he can win, casualties be damned. If he can tag team a Chinese invasion of Taiwan all the better as it spreads US and allied forces that much thinner and makes it easier to win.
GuruMick
And Desert, I,d need to know more about "38 North.org " and its creator "The Stimson Centre " before I took analysis from those people as serious for consideration.
The USA is rife with all manner of "boards, foundations, centres, etc " that are funded by all manner of "neocons, militarists, right wing nut jobs with too much money " etc, all enjoying secrecy plus tax perks.
Another book reference for you..."Dark Money "
Desert Tortoise
The US expected the Japanese to attack in the Philippines and Guam, not Hawaii. That is where the US knew the Japanese had forces headed. The US was worried about sabotage by ethnic Japanese in Hawaii. That is why all the aircraft at the various military airfields in Hawaii were taken out of their protective revetments and placed tightly together on the flight line so they could be more easily guarded against saboteurs. The US mistakenly thought the Japanese would not dare attack a US territory. That mistake cost the US a lot of ruined aircraft that might otherwise have survived had they been in their revetments instead.
The Japanese had outstanding OPSEC for the Pearl Harbor attack. They did not use telephones, telegraph or radio for any communications during the planning of the raid. They relied very strictly on face to face meetings and hand carried documents. The strike force was mustered in an out of the way bay they knew the US was not watching. They sailed under strict radio silence. The US knew the Japanese had a carrier strike force and amphibious forces approaching the Philippines but they were concerned that they didn't know where the carriers used in the Pearl Harbor strike were.
The US by 1940 had broken the Japanese diplomatic code but not their naval code. They would not break that until late May 1942 mere weeks before the Battle of Midway. Breaking that code earlier would not have helped as the Japanese stayed off the radios, phones and telegraph fearing their plans might be revealed. This nonsense that somehow the US knew the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor is not true and there are no historical documents to back that claim. It gets old.
deanzaZZR
@DT I assume you supported German reunification. I support Korean and Chinese reunification. Of course peaceful means are preferred.
Unfortunately your government and military have been and continue to do everything to stop unification and create tensions.
Wasabi
Dont blame the guy, he is missing the letter from his friend trump.
TaiwanIsNotChina
German reunification was under the democracy. Sure, we can have a Korean reunification under the democracy. Otherwise you are just saying people should be annhilated to clear room for disgusting states to expand.
isabelle
I presume you mean Chinese "reunification" under the ROC, since the PRC has never once controlled Taiwan (whereas the ROC has controlled the mainland)?
The PRC taking Taiwan could logically never be a "reunification."
The tensions in the region are caused by North Korea, and China.
The fact that you consistently refuse to acknowledge reality doesn't make it any less real.
WiseOneIn Kansai
North Korea and China don't understand "peaceful means".
Fighto!
deanzaZZR -
The East Germans wanted - and chose - democracy. They rejected Communism.
As much as you (and others, to be fair) keep pushing for Communism and Communist regimes, NO nation - including South Korea and Taiwan - are ever going to choose that failed system.
If there is ever a Korean reunification, make no mistake: 100% it will be under a democracy.
deanzaZZR
When establishing diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China recognizing it as the sole, legal government of China the United State also promised to support reunification through peaceful means. Unfortunately as in many other similar situations the USA lied and continued to supply arms to Taiwan, maintains a quasi-diplomatic mission on the island while at the same time encouraging separatist forces. All for USA geo-strategic reasons.
This is the source of tensions across The Strait.
deanzaZZR
It's seems you developed a sense of humor over the winter holidays. Wishing you a fruitful 2025 and happy job seeking.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The PRC failed at that so need for the US to worry about any further obligations.
The PRC knew the US would continue to supply weapons to Taiwan. They would have had to have been daft to not see the Taiwan Relations Act moving through Congress as they were formalizing relations with the US.
The source of tensions are a digusting dictatorship bent on conquest of a free people.
deanzaZZR
Got it. China should have anticipated that the USA was lying when it signed a formal international agreement o establish official diplomatic relations. And once again in the early 1980s when the Reagan Administration promised to decrease arms sales to Taiwan over time.
How silly of the Chinese to believe anything the USA put in print and signed. Lessons learned.
Fos
WiseOneIn Kansai
A little history check Kansai, away from the daily propaganda from Washington, just to flare up tensions in the continent and preserve the interests of the big US military industrial complex
China does not have a history of military aggression beyond the defense of its own borders, and has not been engaged in military activity for the past forty years. In that time, the US has overthrown numerous governments and illegally invaded many countries.
The nine companies in the Top 100 based in China saw their smallest year-on-year percentage increase in arms revenues (+0.7 per cent) since 2019 amid a slowing economy. Their total arms revenues in 2023 reached $103 billion. NCSIST, the only Taiwan-based company in the Top 100, recorded a 27 per cent increase in its arms revenues to $3.2 billion.
Diplomacy in Asia is totally kidnapped by the US military-industrial complex which incites geopolitical tensions through the constant hype of the “Russian menace” and the "China threat”. Behind the growth of arms sales, the US has created or intensified conflicts and crises in different regions of the world, forcing other countries to increase their budgets and buy US weapons to better serve the interests of the military.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The statement the PRC was running around forcing countries to sign was garbage on it face: there were obviously two Chinas in 1979.
TaiwanIsNotChina
A carefully selected date as always.
Putin's War and China's Belligerence are not hype.
JJE
We should all confirm that UN-recognized Pyongyang has every right to test common sense defense systems within its territory and other perfectly acceptable areas, to strengthen its decent defensive posture, which threatens absolutely no one except the main warmonger.
It has probably done fewer missile tests than other certain countries one could name in recent times.
Nor is it in violation of any laws or UN things or doing genocide. On the contrary it is an upstanding international citizen of the highest order.
JJE
Propaganda. Certain US allies have the above mentioned things/issues too.
Fos
JJE
The big US military complex getting desperate right now. They run out of propaganda ideas and steam. Especially with the lates politica chaos in South Korea, other than distributing the American flags there is no much they can do
GuruMick
Desert...it wont kill to read "At Dawn We Slept "....this is a fully annoted and referenced history book that includes the desperate attempts the Japanese Ambassador made to meet with his US counterpart in Washington....to no avail before Pearl Harbour.
Japan.s plan was to destroy the US Pacific fleet and then undertake an attack on the Phillipines, where curiously, US aircraft were all lined up in rows as if expecting/wanting even , an attack.