The end of the world, Gangnam Style?

[busybeeburns]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1cZmC13irw]North Korea launches long-range Unha-3 rocket despite warnings - YouTube[/ame]

 

North Korea launches long-range rocket, South Korea says

 

NORTH Korea moved a big step closer towards having a viable long-range missile with a surprise rocket launch today that improved dramatically on its last flop, in April.

 

Authorities in South Korea and Japan tracked the missile in flight from the launch pad in North Korea over the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. The missile was launched at 9.51 local time (11.51am AEDT). North Korea confirmed it had launched a long-range rocket and succeeded in its mission of placing a satellite into orbit.

 

The same statement was later read out on a "special broadcast" on North Korean state television, by a female announcer wearing a pink hanbok - the traditional national dress. Sitting in front of a screen showing the North Korean flag, the announcer read the statement in a loud, triumphant tone.

 

Such special broadcasts are extremely rare and reserved for such occasions as announcing the death of leader Kim Jong-Il in December last year. The UN security council has called a meeting to discuss the launch, a Western diplomat says. The Security Council will discuss ratcheting up sanctions against North Korea over the launch, which the UN says breaches the current sanctions.

 

"The Japanese and the Americans have requested a security council meeting, which will take place late Wednesday morning (about 4am Thursday AEDT)," the diplomat said. The last test ended in humiliation when the rocket exploded about a minute after takeoff, but the Japanese government confirmed this rocket successfully flew several hundred kilometres over Japan's southernmost main island.

 

Other reports suggest it reached airspace over the Philippines successfully, several thousand kilometres from the launch site. Japan had threatened to shoot down the missile if it strayed into its territory but no move to intercept the rocket was made by Tokyo or Seoul as the rocket appeared to fly on its intended trajectory.

 

"It is extremely regrettable that North Korea went through with the launch despite our calls to exercise restraint,'' chief government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said. "Our country cannot tolerate this. We strongly protest to North Korea.''

 

Reports are emerging that parts of the three-stage rocket had dropped into the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and also east of the Philippines in line with the flight plan filed by Pyongyang. But it was not clear at the time of writing if the debris that fell near the Philippines was a spent stage or the whole rocket, and whether or not the payload had been placed in orbit.

 

A Philippines government official said it expected debris to fall off the country's main island of Luzon. Civil defence chief Benito Ramos urged, in repeated radio broadcasts, fishermen to avoid the northern coast of Luzon. "Our people should avoid the Pacific Ocean from Santa Ana (a northeast Luzon town) to Polillo island,'' he said.

 

Pyongyang says the rocket is a peaceful attempt to launch a satellite, while the rest of the world regards it as a defacto ballistic missile test. The technologies and trajectories required for both purposes are similar. North Korea has been working steadily to produce a long-range rocket capable of striking targets in the US to increase its leverage over its enemies. The secretive family-run dictatorship had hinted at technical problems that might delay the launch until late December.

 

Today's launch will sound alarm bells in Washington, Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing and beyond. South Korean president Lee Myung-bak convened a meeting of national security officials and ministers soon after the launch and a similar meeting was held in Tokyo.

 

Japan had been on high alert since the 13-day lift-off window opened, despite a suggestion from Pyongyang that it could delay the much-criticised blast-off. Tokyo deployed missile defence systems to intercept and destroy the rocket if it looked set to fall on its territory, with missile batteries in and around Tokyo and in the Okinawan archipelago.

 

Japan reacted quickly to the launch, with national media informed by government-run alert system. Beijing has yet to officially today respond to the launch. The Foreign Ministry is expected to release a statement today.

 

The nation, which is North Korea's only ally, had previously said it wished for peace on the troubled Korean Peninsula.

 

However, the government recently said North Korea did have the right to carry out space satellite exploration, provided it was within US sanctions. A fortnight ago, China accused Japan and South Korea of being ‘‘pretentious’’ in their opposition to North Korea’s controversial plan to fire the long-range rocket claiming the troubled peninsula has been ‘‘at peace’’ for the past 60 years.

 

A scathing editorial in the People’s Daily, the official communist newspaper, claimed Japan and South Korea were exaggerating the threat of the launch. Washington and its allies insist the launch was a disguised ballistic missile test that violates UN resolutions triggered by Pyongyang's two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

 

In 2006 the Security Council imposed an embargo on arms and material for ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. It also banned exports of luxury goods and named individuals and companies to be subject to a global assets freeze and travel ban.

 

In 2009, it imposed a ban on North Korea's weapons exports and ordered all countries to search suspect shipments.

 

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/north-korea-launches-long-range-rocket-un-to-discuss-sanctions/story-e6frg6so-1226535228342

[busybeeburns]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7N5HJso9e8]North Korean TV special news bulletin on rocket launch - YouTube[/ame]

 

North Korea rocket launch condemned internationally

 

There's been widespread international condemnation of the launch by North Korea of a long-range rocket.

 

The United States called the test a "highly provocative act that threatens regional security".

 

The UN Security Council is meeting in emergency session to discuss the launch, which was conducted in defiance of a UN resolution banning Pyongyang from conducting missile tests.

 

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon termed it a "clear violation".

 

China, Pyongyang's closest ally, expressed regret that North Korea had launched a satellite "in spite of the extensive concerns of the international community".

 

The Unha-3 rocket, launched at 09:49 local time (00:49 GMT), appears to have followed its planned trajectory, with stages falling in expected areas.

 

North Korea says a satellite has been placed in orbit; the US confirmed an object had been put into space.

 

US National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "This action is yet another example of North Korea's pattern of irresponsible behaviour. Given this current threat to regional security, the United States will strengthen and increase our close coordination with allies and partners.

 

"The international community must work in a concerted fashion to send North Korea a clear message that its violations of UN Security Council resolutions have consequences."

 

The launch comes a week ahead of the South Korean presidential election and roughly a year after the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, on 17 December 2011.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20697922

[Reilly]

Why the fuck do people keep talking about WW3 or end of the world nuclear shit? North Korea don't have the facilities to start a bonfire.

[The Doctor]

I thought this was about how gagnam style is ending the world :blank:

[busybeeburns]

It will do on 21st December

[Coeurli]

^:wreck: Holycrap the coincidence is uncanny! :lol:

Damn!

 

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE :bigcry:

[the_gloaming09]

Why the fuck do people keep talking about WW3 or end of the world nuclear shit? North Korea don't have the facilities to start a bonfire.

 

It will be the collapse of all currencies that will do us all in.

[RazorEye]

Guys, for the last time - that Nostradamus quote is completely fake. There's no quote of the such from The Prophecies or The Almanacs or any of his works! It's completely obvious that it's just creepypasta made by someone on a forum!

A f***ing forum for god's sakes, and you guys believe it!

Next thing you guys would be telling me is that Mylo Xyloto 2 is coming out next week because Coldplayer1317 told you so!

Oh, One final nail in the coffin - Nostradamus was born in 1503! How could he make a prediction from his birth?

 

Back on topic, North Korea don't actually have the balls to launch nukes because, although they are the very tight regime they are, they too are just like any other government. They know the impact that nuclear war has, and it's because of these effects that North Korea are just trying to mentally manipulate us through Nuclear missile testing. Basically, their way of war is through psychology too, not just armory and strategy. If the UN could actually see that, North Korea would be a different place. Sadly, the UN are too afraid to fuck with North Korea because of the Nuclear missile tests alone, therefore North Korea is winning the leave-us-the-fuck-alone war.

[Reilly]

Guys, for the last time - that Nostradamus quote is completely fake.

 

Did this reaction not give the impression nobodies taking that seriously?

 

^:wreck: Holycrap the coincidence is uncanny! :lol:

Damn!

 

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE :bigcry:

 

But thanks for that.

 

It will be the collapse of all currencies that will do us all in.

 

While no doubt that would be disastrous, violence, poverty etc. it's very dramatic to think it would instantly be the end of the world.

[RazorEye]

Did this reaction not give the impression nobodies taking that seriously?

 

Nah, the thing is, people out there actually do believe it's a real quote! There's chain letters and everything out there!

[RazorEye]

Upon watching and reading all this, I just realized something - this is just a satellite launch for crying out loud! I, for one, congratulate North Korea's first step in space! Gees, just because it's North Korea, doesn't have to mean it's for evil intentions! It's okay for the United States to send men to the moon, but it's not okay for North Korea to send an immaculate object into earth orbit? Call me a rebel, but that's just unfair! I completely agree with Eric Sirotkin in the first video. The Korean War will never end if we're just going to continue to bash North Korea for going forward in a way that's not actually threatening anyone!.

[Reilly]

I guess a solid difference would be that there was little secrecy or cover-ups between America or the Soviets for their space race, only over the type of technology used, both parties were free to investigate within reason any threat of nuclear attack. But on top of that neither were very concerned about such an unpredictable attack because of their transparency. You can't say this about North Korea, who wouldn't even confirm they were still planning on going ahead with the rocket launch despite Japan's requests, in terms of transparency and communication (Even with their only diplomatic allies China) there is absolutely none, and therefore they are very unpredictable.

 

Many believe they have one of the worlds largest armies and are capable of nuclear warfare.

[Coeurli]

Yeah, uh, just in case it wasn't clear: i was joking and i don't believe in that December 21st Apocalypse crap :| :lol:

[busybeeburns]

Mylo Xyloto 2 is coming out next week

OMG< I can't wait!!! :dazzled:

[Coeurli]

:lol:

[shipoffools]

They have said this before. Nothing has happened.

[Reilly]

But Psy didn't say it before, are you doubting Psy?

[Nikola]

lol there is a pyramid shaped mountain in my country that people from all around the world are flocking to to spend teh apocalypse

 

if anything, north korea won't be the culprit. i'm pretty sure you at least need electricity to end the world nowadays

 

south korea looks like an island at night

 

 

sad

[busybeeburns]

North Korea to carry out third nuclear test 'aimed at US'

 

 

North Korea to carry out third nuclear test 'aimed at US'

 

North Korea has announces plans to carry out a third nuclear test as part of "upcoming all-out action" against America.

 

Defying a resolution issued by the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that condemned Pyongyang for test-firing a missile in December and tightened existing sanctions on the regime, North Korea's National Defence Commission said the new nuclear test would be part of its action against the "sworn enemy of the Korean people".

 

North Korea also vowed to push ahead with launches of more long-range rockets.

 

Describing the UN Security Council as "a marionette of the US," North Korean state media claimed the resolutions are "products of its blind pursuance of the hostile policy of the US.

 

"The UNSC should apologise for its crime of seriously encroaching upon the independence of a sovereign state ... and repeal all the unreasonable 'resolutions' at once," KCNA reported.

 

Pyongyang also declared that no further talks on removing nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula are now possible and that a "nuclear test of a higher level" would be carried out.

 

Intelligence reports have suggested that the North has been preparing to carry out a new underground nuclear test after global condemnation of the successful launch of a missile on December 12. Pyongyang has claimed that the launch was of a rocket to put a satellite into orbit.

 

Disagreement within the UN Security Council - primarily a result of China, which holds a veto, insisting that retaliatory measures be watered down - meant that North Korea has had plenty of time to prepare for the inevitable responses.

 

Reaction to Pyongyang's declaration was swift, with Glyn Davies, the special representative for North Korean policy in the US government, urging North Korea not to go ahead with the test, saying it would be "a mistake and a missed opportunity."

 

The transition team for the incoming South Korean government, due to be sworn in on Friday, has also appealed to Pyongyang not to take any steps that would aggravate tensions in the region, while Japan is to launch a new spy satellite on Sunday with the express task of monitoring missile and nuclear tests in North Korea.

 

China, North Korea's sole significant ally, even come down against Pyongyang's intransigence, with Xi Jinping, the next president, telling a visiting delegation of politicians from South Korea that he opposes the regime developing nuclear arms or any weapons of mass destruction.

 

Hong Lei, a foreign ministry spokesman added: "All relevant parties should refrain from action that might escalate the situation in the region."

 

Beijing's influence on the new government of Kim Jong-un however appears to be waning.

 

North Korea separately expressed outrage at reports in the Chinese media that Mr Kim has undergone plastic surgery to make him more closely resemble his much-revered grandfather, the late Kim Il-sung.

 

Pyongyang's anger was aroused after the report was aired on a Chinese TV station, with state media describing the claims as a "smear campaign" orchestrated by South Korea "to tarnish the ever-more growing dignity and authority of the supreme headquarters of the DPRK."

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9822865/North-Korea-to-carry-out-third-nuclear-test-aimed-at-US.html

[busybeeburns]

 

North Korea carries out biggest nuclear test

 

North Korea has carried out its third, most powerful nuclear device test in defiance of United Nations warnings.

 

The move prompted criticism from its sole major ally, China, and condemnation around the world. Nuclear test monitors in Vienna say the underground explosion had double the force of the 2009 test, despite apparently involving a smaller device.

 

Analysts say this could take Pyongyang closer to building a warhead small enough to arm a missile. The UN Security Council will meet at 14:00 GMT to discuss the test and its ramifications, diplomats say.

 

North Korea announced last month that it would conduct a third nuclear test following those in 2006 and 2009 as a response to UN sanctions that were expanded after the secretive communist state's December rocket launch, a move condemned by the UN as a banned test of missile technology. Activity had been observed at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site for several months.

 

Seismic activity was then detected by monitoring agencies from several nations at 11:57 (02:57 GMT) on Tuesday morning. A shallow earthquake with a magnitude of 4.9 was recorded, the US Geological Survey said. Confirmation of the test came three hours later in a statement from state-run KCNA news agency.

 

"It was confirmed that the nuclear test, that was carried out at a high level in a safe and perfect manner using a miniaturised and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously, did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding ecological environment," it said.

 

North Korea said the nuclear test - which comes on the eve of US President Barack Obama's State of the Union address - was to "to protect our national security and sovereignty against the reckless hostility of the United States".

 

The Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation said the "explosion-like event" was twice as big as the 2009 test, which was in turn bigger than that in 2006.

 

It is the first such test under new leader Kim Jong-un, who took over the leadership after his father Kim Jong-il died in December 2011. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the test as a "clear and grave violation" of UN resolutions and a "deeply destabilising" provocation.

 

Mr Obama said the test was a "highly provocative act", and called for "swift" and "credible" international action in response. China expressed "firm opposition" to its ally's test, urging the North to honour its commitment to denuclearisation and "not take any actions which might worsen the situation".

 

In other reaction:

 

• South Korea's presidential national security adviser, Chun Young-woo, said the test was an "unacceptable threat to the security of the Korean peninsula and north-east Asia... and a challenge to the whole international community"
  
• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it was a "grave threat" to Japanese security and could "not be tolerated"
  
• Nato described the test as an "irresponsible act" and a "grave threat to international and regional peace, security and stability"
  
• Britain called for a "robust response" from the UN Security Council
  
• French President Francois Hollande condemned the test and said Paris would back firm action by the UN Security Council
  

 

The BBC's Lucy Williamson, in Seoul, says the trouble, as ever, is what the international community can do in response without triggering an even bigger crisis - North Korea is already tied up in layers of sanctions which do not seem to have have any impact.

 

She adds that some in Washington have talked of maybe targeting North Korean financial interests, but the only real pressure is seen to lie with China.

 

By defying the UN and launching its nuclear test now, our correspondent says, Pyongyang is giving the new leadership in Beijing a very public test of its own.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21421841

[Reilly]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGAFZS0zu3g]U.N. Approves New Sanctions Against North Korea - YouTube[/ame]

 

Hopefully they comply and this doesn't get any more interesting.

[busybeeburns]

Jamie Bellinger‏@JamieBellinger

UN imposes "sanctions on luxury goods" against N.Korea. Because no crazed dictator would go to war without a nice bubble bath.

 

Padraig Moireach‏@Moirreach

Well, I see the U.N. has imposed sanctions on N Korea. They've banned the sale of luxury goods. That'll show the fuckers we mean business.

 

:lol:

[Coeurli]

^:lol::lol:

[busybeeburns]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFWdQFWsvFM]North Korea Threatens US With Nuclear Attack - YouTube[/ame]

 

North Korea threatens US with pre-emptive nuclear strike

 

North Korea's state television channel, KRT, broadcasts a statment from the country's foreign ministry on Thursday, pledging a preemptive nuclear attack against the US. North Korea has accused Washington of using military drills in South Korea as a launch pad for a nuclear war and recently scrapped the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/mar/07/north-korea-us-nuclear-video

[busybeeburns]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

 

North Korea says sanctions will make country 'a thousand times' stronger

 

North Korea has responded angrily to a new series of UN sanctions, saying that it would only make its nuclear and missile programmes stronger.

 

Pyongyang claimed that instead of weakening its programme, the sanctions would increase its capability "a thousand times". The foreign ministry also hinted at further nuclear tests to come.

 

In a statement carried by state media, the ministry said the latest sanctions, which Pyongyang "totally rejects", would only lead the country to reinforce its status "as a nuclear weapons state and satellite launcher".

 

Even before Thursday's Security Council vote imposing tougher sanctions on Pyongyang over its nuclear test last month, the North Korean leadership had said it would conduct more atomic and long-range missile tests in the future.

 

The North's nuclear test in February was its largest yet in terms of apparent yield, but outside monitors have been unable to confirm the North's claim that it had successfully detonated a miniaturised device.

 

Experts are split on whether North Korea has the ability to fit a warhead on a rocket, although there is general agreement that it is years from developing a genuine inter-continental ballistic missile.

 

"The North will wait and see how the United States implements the sanctions, which will take a while," said professor Yang Moo-Jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

 

"In the meantime, China (the North's sole major ally) is likely to move to have diplomacy back to work," he said.

 

China, which backed the UN resolution, has urged "relevant parties to exercise calm and restraint, and avoid actions that might further escalate tensions", describing the situation as "highly complex and sensitive".

 

Even though China endorsed the punishment at the UN Security Council, its foreign minister said Saturday that sanctions against the isolated state were not "the fundamental way" to resolve the crisis.

 

"We always believe that sanctions are not the end of Security Council actions, nor are sanctions the fundamental way to resolve the relevant issues", Yang Jiechi, China's foreign minister, said.

 

Yoo Ho-Yeol, a political science professor at Korea University in Seoul, said the tone of the latest North Korea statement was relatively moderate, especially compared with the one issued by the same ministry on Thursday.

 

In an outpouring of warlike rhetoric prior to the Security Council meeting, the ministry threatened a "pre-emptive" nuclear strike against the United States and all other "aggressors".

 

At that time it also warned a second Korean war was "unavoidable", with both the United States and South Korea refusing Pyongyang's demands to cancel a large-scale joint military exercise next week.

 

Both South and North Korea are expected to stage military exercises next week, fuelling concerns that the current high tensions may trigger a border incident that could escalate into something more serious.

 

Pyongyang has vowed to scrap – effective on Monday – the 1953 armistice agreement that ended Korean war hostilities, as well as bilateral non-aggression pacts signed with South Korea.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9919356/North-Korea-says-sanctions-will-make-country-a-thousand-times-stronger.html