North Korea’s missile bluff resembles anti-missile bluff of USA

North Korea's missiles have caused quite a commotion in the whole world. All the countries participating in the regulation of the North Korean nuclear program denounced Pyongyang’s military initiative. Even China stood up with criticism of N.Korean missile tests in spite of the fact that Chinese officials usually prefer to withhold emotions when it comes to decisions made by the North Korean administration.

Photo: North Korea’s missile bluff resembles anti-missile bluff of USA

Russia has had quite a tough reaction at this point too. The missiles fell down in the 200-mile economic zone of Russia. One of the missiles hit the sea surface only several tens of kilometers far from the town of Nakhodka.

It is still not known what kind of missiles N.Korea launched. If they were Scud or Nodon rockets, it means that Pyongyang did not violated its obligations not to test long-range missiles (the range of Scuds and Nodons reaches 1,300 kilometers). However, if it was the ballistic Taepodong-2 rocket, the events take a different turn. If North Korea does not hesitate to launch its up-to-date Taepodong-2 ballistic missiles, it means that all present and possible agreements with this country do not cost a thing.

However, experts cannot prove the fact of the Taepodong-2 tests. Some of them think that North Korea does not possess the required technologies for the production of such missiles, not to mention ready-made missiles themselves.

“There is no information about the type of ballistic missiles launched by North Korea on July 4. If it goes about the intercontinental Taepodong-2 rocket, it is only a game, because they have not tested the prototype of this rocket – Taepodong-1,” a senior specialist of the Institute for World Economy and International Relations, Vladimir Dvorkin, told Interfax. “It was most likely another provocation that is meant to stir up negotiations on the nuclear program of North Korea , receive economic help and guarantees to preserve the current regime in this isolated region,” the scientist said.

“The missile bluff of North Korea bears a certain semblance to the anti-missile bluff of the USA when the country announced that its underdeveloped air defense system was operational, meaning that it was ready for possible use in the event of a threatening missile launch. This is a matter of double bluff as a result,” Dvorkin believes.

The chairman of the Council for Foreign and Defense Politics, Sergei Karaganov sticks to a different point of view. “The fact that North Korea has started launching ballistic missiles is a bad sign for everyone,” the scientist of politics told Pravda.Ru. The specialist believes that Pyongyang will be even more isolated from the rest of the world than it was before. “Russia is also supposed to be highly concerned on the issue because North Korea said that it supposedly possessed nuclear warheads,” he said.

North Korea is apparently satisfied with the effect of its missile tests. A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Department of North Korea said that it was a sovereign right of the country to conduct missile tests and no other country could dictate whether the tests could be performed or not.

In the meantime, it transpired that North Korea prepares to launch another missile. The statement on that was released from the South Korean minister for the unification of two Koreas. The new missiles have already been placed on their launching pads, the AP reports.

NBC channel reported with reference to anonymous US officials that it goes about a new test of Taepodong-2 missile with range up to 6,700 kilometers. Other news agencies say that N.Korea prepares to launch three or four short-distance missiles.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe stated that there was no information to prove North Korea ’s intention to launch another Taepodong-2 rocket.

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov
Pravda.Ru

Discuss this article on Pravda.Ru English Forum