Even North Korea’s Inferior Nukes Are A Threat (Dan 7:7)

North Korean nuclear weapons threaten U.S. West Coast
By J.J. Green June 1, 2015 5:54 am
WASHINGTON — Fears are growing that North Korea (DPRK) may soon have the ability to attach a nuclear warhead to a missile, launch it and hit a target on the western coast of the U.S.
Two intelligence sources told WTOP as recently as May 28, there are growing reasons to believe they may have reached the milestone, but there is no concrete proof.
South Korea’s (ROK) government sounded the alarm in a defense white paper on Jan. 6, 2015 saying, “The Ministry of National Defense (MND) assessed that North Korea’s nuclear weapon minimization has reached a substantial level, and it has a long-range missile that could be a threat to the continental U.S.”
“Minimization,” or miniaturization, in the field of nuclear weapons design is the process of reducing the size of a nuclear weapon until it is small enough to load on a missile.
On May 20, 2015 a spokesman for North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted the head of the National Defense Commission, who said they have long-since, “entered the stage of producing smaller nukes and diversifying them.”
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Patrick Ventrell, in a statement to WTOP on May 28, 2015, discounted North Korea’s nuclear weapons aptitude saying, “Our assessment of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities has not changed. We do not think that they have that capacity. However, they are working on developing a number of long range missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles that could eventually threaten our allies and the homeland.”
While there may be doubt about North Korea’s miniaturization capabilities, a top U.S. military official thinks they can do it.
Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, Commander, U.S. Forces Korea, of the Army told reporters in Oct. 2014, “I believe they have the capability to miniaturize the device at this point and they have the technology to potentially actually deliver what they say they have.”
Scaparrotti said however, the chances of success were “low.”
If the North Koreans have succeeded in shrinking the size of a nuclear warhead, “it makes it far more likely those missiles they have, either under development, or in actual deployment could actually reach portions of U.S. soil and territory, because it’s less payload weight and it can go further,” said Dr. David Kay, Senior research fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
Anecdotal evidence appears to suggest that if they don’t have the capability already, it may not be long.
Shrinking a nuclear warhead small enough to load onto a missile, “is very difficult, but it’s not as difficult now as it was when the U.S. and the Soviet Union first did it. Computers have become more powerful and as with anything in science and technology, once someone has done it, you know it can be done,” said Kay.
In the four months since it’s pronouncement that it is able to shrink nuclear warheads, North Korea has openly threatened to attack the U.S. with nuclear weapons.
“I would find it hard to believe that North Korea would use a nuclear weapon to attack the U.S. or one of its allies, because they know that such an act would be suicidal and the consequences would be immense,” said Joseph Detrani, former North Korea Mission manager for the U.S. intelligence community.
Detrani believes North Korea is seeking to produce a miniaturized nuclear weapon and is boasting about the program as a means of using it as a deterrent to military action against it by western nations.
Recently, North Korea has produced and disseminated videos containing heated anti-U. S. rhetoric and boasted about nuclear accomplishments, but Ventrell said their ballistic missile developments, which threaten the U.S., “is why the Administration is working to improve regional and homeland missile defenses and continuing to work with the other members of the six party talks to bring North Korea back into compliance with its nonproliferation commitments.”
While developing a nuclear weapon that could reach the U.S. seems to be a prime goal of the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, intelligence sources tell WTOP, the greater risk at this point, appears to be North Korea’s willingness to sell nuclear weapons technology to rogue nations and independent actors.
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The China Nuclear Horn Aims For Babylon (Dan 7)

  

China has outfitted missiles capable of reaching the US with multiple nuclear warheads

JEREMY BENDER MAY 18, 2015, 2:08 PM

In a break from decades of cautious nuclear policy, China has started a process of upgrading its ballistic missile capabilities into a more potentially dangerous form.

Foregoing a longstanding policy of maintaining a small nuclear force, Beijing has begun to place multiple miniaturized nuclear warheads atop ballistic missiles, The New York Times reports citing a report from the Department of Defense. Missiles with multiple warheads are harder to intercept as each warhead could break off from its delivery system and aim for a separate target.

China has had the capability of miniaturizing nuclear weapons since at least the 1990s, but has avoided the move so as to prevent a potential arms race. The new direction of Beijing’s nuclear weapons stance comes under the direction of President Xi Jinping, who has made a series of bold moves to increase Chinese power both regionally and globally.

According to the Pentagon’s report, Beijing has re-engineered the DF-5, a variation of the CSS-4 intercontinental ballistic missile shown below, to be outfitted with multiple warheads. China has approximately 20 DF-5s currently in silos across the country, each of which could target almost the entirety of the US.

Altogether, the modified DF-5s could launch upwards of 40 warheads at North America, according to the Times. This modification is intended to produce maximum destruction while increasing the chances that a Chinese warhead could get past US missile interceptors.

“They’re doing it,” Hans M. Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists told the Times, “to make sure they could get through the ballistic missile defenses.”

The US has placed missile defenses in California and Alaska with the intention of defending against a possible North Korean strike. The US also operates joint Aegis and Patriot missile systems in South Korea, and is aiming at deploying the highly advanced THAAD missile interceptor to the peninsula as well.

Although these missile shields are aimed against North Korea, they could also block a Chinese strike.
The sudden modifications come at a time of increased tension throughout Asia. Japan and the US have strengthened and reaffirmed military ties, and the US is increasingly playing a large role in the South China Sea in the support of the Philippines. Both countries are involved in disputes with China over the South China Sea.

The timing of the DF-5 upgrades is likely a signal to the US that China is a quickly rising power in the region with only a limited tolerance for meddling in its backyard.

“This is obviously part of an effort to prepare for long-term competition with the United States,” Ashley J. Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Times. “The Chinese are always fearful of American nuclear advantage.”

North Korea has miniaturized nuclear missiles (Dan 7)

North Korea cancels visit by UN chief, claims nuclear breakthrough

North Korea said Wednesday it has the technology to make nuclear missile warheads, less than two weeks after announcing it had launched a ballistic missile from a submarine.

It also cancelled a visit by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, a day after he accused it of fuelling regional tensions.

“It has been a long time since we began miniaturising and diversifying our means of nuclear strike,” Pyongyang’s powerful National Defence Commission (NDC) said in a statement on the official news agency.

“We have also reached the stage where the highest accuracy rate is guaranteed, not only for short- and medium-range missiles but long-range missiles as well.”

Earlier this month the North claimed it successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), a development which ─ if confirmed ─ would allow the deployment of nuclear weapons far beyond the Korean peninsula.

Ban Tuesday had urged the North to avoid any actions that could escalate military tensions.

A day later, he announced that Pyongyang had cancelled his invitation to visit the Kaesong industrial zone inside the North this week.

“No explanation was given for this last-minute change,” the UN chief, a former foreign minister of South Korea, told a forum in Seoul.

“This decision by Pyongyang is deeply regrettable,” Ban said.

“However, I as the secretary-general of the United Nations, will not spare any efforts to encourage the DPRK (North Korea) to work with the international community for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and beyond.”

The NDC, which is chaired by leader Kim Jong-Un, said the SLBM test “represents a higher stage in our efforts to develop strategic striking forces “as part of strengthening its defences.”

The United States and its cronies must stop kicking up a ruckus over our measures to strengthen self-defence capabilities,” it said.

The North has conducted three atomic tests and has long had nuclear weapons. But it was unclear whether it possessed the technology to deliver them by missile.

However the US top homeland security commander, Admiral William Gortney, said last month the North is capable of mounting a miniaturised nuclear warhead on its new KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile.

Ban had planned to travel Thursday to the Kaesong industrial estate, a joint enterprise between Pyongyang and Seoul 10 kilometres over the border inside North Korea.

It hosts around 120 South Korean firms employing some 53,000 North Korean workers.

Had the visit gone ahead, Ban would have become the first UN secretary-general to set foot in the communist state for more than 20 years, since Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1993.

But he was not expected to have any high-level talks during his brief visit.