NORTH KOREA CONTINUES MISSILE TESTS; U.S. MOVES THIRD CARRIER STRIKE FORCE TO WESTERN PACIFIC
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
North Korea engaged in its latest of a series of missile tests on May
29, as the communist state fired what was believed to be a Scud-class
ballistic missile that flew about 280 miles before landing in Japan’s
maritime economic zone. South Korean officials said that North Korea has
a large stockpile of the short-range missiles, originally developed by
the Soviet Union.
Reuters reported that North Korea has conducted dozens of missile
tests and tested two nuclear bombs since the beginning of 2016 in
defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and cited assertions made by
the communist regime that the weapons programs are necessary to counter
“U.S. aggression.”
As North Korea continues to defy world opinion by aggressively
developing weapons systems capable of threatening other countries, the
United States is exhibiting a show of might by sending a third aircraft
carrier strike force to the western Pacific region.
In a May 27 article, Voice of America (VOA) reported that the USS Nimitz will join two other aircraft carriers and their accompanying ships that make up carrier strike groups, the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Ronald Reagan, in the western Pacific, according to sources that spoke with VOA’s Steve Herman.
Only the Ronald Reagan, part of Carrier Strike Group 9,
which is home-ported at Yokosuka, Japan, as part of the U.S. Seventh
Fleet, is permanently stationed in the Western Pacific.
The Carl Vinson is home-ported in San Diego, but in mid
February started what was called “routine operations” in the South China
Sea. During the first half of April 2017, Strike Group 1 (of which the Carl Vinson
is part) was ordered toward the Korean Peninsula amid growing concerns
about North Korea’s ballistic missile program. It recently conducted
training exercises with the South Korean Navy in the Western Pacific.
“We are sending an armada,” President Trump announced on April 12,
voicing a clear message to North Korea that the United States would
stand firm against any aggressive actions that the communist state might
take.
The USS Nimitz is part of Carrier Strike Group 11 (of 12
such strike groups in the U.S. Navy), the home port of which is Naval
Station Everett, in Washington State, and is being deployed from nearby
Naval Base Kitsap.
The Daily Beast noted that sources have told both VOA and the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun that the deployment of the Nimitz is meant to serve as a warning to North Korea.
“The Trump administration deployed the strike force to put pressure
on Pyongyang to refrain from more nuclear and missile tests amid
mounting concern that it will soon acquire the capability to launch
intercontinental ballistic missiles,” Asahi reported.
A White House press statement posted on May 28 about President
Trump’s meeting that day with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in
Taormina, Italy, before the start of the G7 Summit talked about how the
United States and Japan intend to cooperate in facing North Korea’s
threatening weapons tests:
work with Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as our other allies
and partners around the world, to increase pressure on North Korea and
demonstrate that North Korea’s current path is not sustainable.
President Trump and Prime Minister Abe agreed their teams would
cooperate to enhance sanctions on North Korea, including by identifying
and sanctioning entities that support North Korea’s ballistic missile
and nuclear programs. They also agreed to further strengthen the
alliance between the United States and Japan, to further each country’s
capability to deter and defend against threats from North Korea.
The VOA report also noted that the U.S. military will test a system
to shoot down an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first
time next week. The test will attempt to simulate a North Korean ICBM
aimed at the United States.
VOA cited a statement from the Missile Defense Agency that the
exercise will test an existing missile defense system to try to
intercept an ICBM. The Pentagon has used the Ground-Based Midcourse
Defense (GMD) system to intercept other types of missiles, but never an
ICBM.
The GMD has been inconsistent, noted the report, succeeding in only
nine of 17 attempts against missiles without intercontinental range
capability since 1999.
We also discussed the U.S. GMD system in our May 22 article
about North Korea’s missile tests. We commented on White House Press
Secretary Sean Spicer’s call for stronger sanctions against North Korea
by noting:
most Americans would probably be more reassured if our government would
work at perfecting a better anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system that
could intercept any North Korean missiles fired in our direction,
instead of placing our hopes on sanctions.
We observed that, at present, the only system capable of intercepting
North Korean missiles is the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD).
However, we noted, as North Korea increases the range and accuracy of
its medium range missile and eventually develops Intercontinental
Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), the reliability of these systems will need
to be improved. As of June 2014, only nine of the 17 (53 percent)
hit-to-kill intercept tests have succeeded.
It is encouraging that VOA (which is a U.S. government-funded news
source) cited the same statistics related to the GMD’s unreliability
that we noted in our earlier report. If our government recognizes this
fact and intends to develop a better anti-ICBM system, it will go a long
way toward protecting Americans from North Korea’s threats.
Related articles:
North Korea Tests Another Missile, Says They Are Ready to Deploy
North Korea Tests Ballistic Missile Capable of Reaching U.S. Base on Guam
North Korea Threatens U.S. With “All Out War” and “Weekly Missile Tests”
North Korea’s Letter to Congress Says Pyongyang to Speed Up Nuke Program in Response to Sanctions
As N. Korea Celebrates Anniversary of Military, S. Korea Is on Alert
North Korea Threatens to Attack U.S. Carrier Group; Detains U.S. Citizen
Russia Says Troop Movement Near North Korean Border Was Scheduled
North Korea Warns of Nuclear Retaliation at Any Sign of U.S. “Aggression“
North Korea Admits Missile Launches Were Test of Possible Strike Against U.S.Bases in Japan
North Korea Missile Test Draws Reactions From Trump, Abe, and UN
North Korea Claims to Test H-Bomb
North Korea Postures With Nuclear Warning, Movement of Missiles
North Korea Attacks South Korea
North Korea Prepares to Launch Missile
Lawmakers Blast UN for Handing U.S. Technology to North Korea, Iran
