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North Korea Launched Missile Over Japan Toward Pacific Ocean

71 points by schintan 9y ago

quuquuquu 9y ago
Not fun to wake up to a missile flying over my house here in Hokkaido XD I don't know how this going to end, but it feels weird to be in the crosshairs as collateral damage in a proxy war.
- matt_wulfeck 9y ago
  Japan is not really collateral. North Korea hates Japan apart from the US. In fact it's really the US that's collateral.
  - sluggg 9y ago
    huh... I am feeling uninformed. Could you enlighten me why this is the case?
    - sengork 9y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_under_Japanese_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_under_Japanese_rule
  - ajross 9y ago
    Neither is true. The DPRK isn't trying to pursue a war against its enemies in a military sense. They're trying to extort money from the world community as a price for peace.
    - dba7dba 9y ago
      True. It's all about extortion.
  - gaz0rpaz0rp 9y ago
    Oh, well, yeah, I mean the US still isn't quite collateral though...
  - tyingq 9y ago
    North Korea has limited directional options if they want a realistic missle test. Having one overfly Japan may just be the least politically bad option they have. Other paths would be toward China, Russia, Taiwan, Phillipines, etc.
- mysterydip 9y ago
  Completely offtopic, but where in Hokkaido? I was in Sapporo back about 15 years ago. Most people I've met have only been to Honshu.
  - quuquuquu 9y ago
    Sapporo squad!!! So cool to hear it. I spent all summer biking around the country side, really unique people and perspectives around here. Have been interested in Hokkaido ever since it was a level in Splinter Cell haha. It's cheap living here, but I guess I chose the wrong moment to be airbnb'ing in what is otherwise an extremely peaceful region :)
reustle 9y ago
I'm currently on a ship sailing through the Bering Sea and down through the north Pacific towards Hokkaido over the next week or so. I am not sure if we should be more worried about typhoon Talim or North Korea :)
- taheca 9y ago
  Red sky at noon means nukes you're DOOMED!
  - classicsnoot 9y ago
    Red sky in morning, deterrence is thorny.
dmix 9y ago
An interesting old news article I came across from 1998 (almost 20 yrs ago) when Kim's father did the same thing: > North Korea Fires Missile Over Japanese Territory (SEPT. 1, 1998) http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/01/world/north-korea-fires-missile-over-japanese-territory.html http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/01/world/north-korea-fires-mi... Which also contained this blurb: > North Korea previously conducted missile test firings in May 1993, when it fired four missiles into the Sea of Japan. Those launchings sent Japan into a panic and prompted the Government to consider cooperation on a regional missile defense system. Such a system is still years away. It's interesting how long a missile defense system has taken to arrive in South Korea... Edit: The US also predicted today's missile event when the UN passed sanctions a few days ago: > Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the UN said the sanctions were "better than nothing, but not enough to really pressure North Korea," adding that Pyongyang is likely to respond with a missile launch in the next few days. (Sept 11, 2017)
- rebootthesystem 9y ago
  Having worked in aerospace I find it very interesting that a nation like North Korea can manage to launch such rockets with regularity. There is no way they are able to do this on their own. That much might be obvious. The real question is: Who's helping them and what's their objective?
  - awfullyjohn 9y ago
    Not sure what you're saying is obvious. What makes you think they can't do this on their own?
  - mythrwy 9y ago
    What makes you believe NK can't launch rockets alone? It's not like it's rocket science. Er, ok, so it is rocket science but still. Other groups of people have done it, what makes it impossible for NK?
    - danielvf 9y ago
      The impressive part is the pace. There are multiple launches a year, and constant incremental increase in capability. At this rate, they will have the ability to strike anywhere in the world in just a few years.
danschumann 9y ago
I heard an interesting psychological profile of Hitler once, and the person said he didn't actually want to win. He had horrible means, so why assume he didn't have a horrible goal(losing, consciously or subconsciously)? I think North Korea's leader has horrible means, and may have a horrible goal, some sort of suicide where he destroys his whole country via the USA. Him thinking he can capture Guam is perhaps only possible to believe if he has really bad thinking. He has really bad ways of dealing with his people, so it's possible he is subconsciously trying to destroy himself.
- boznz 9y ago
  I actually agree. People are applying rational thought to an irrational person and we know how well that usually works out.
  - TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
    Nuclear MAD doesn't work when leaders really are mad. I'm not sure KJU is mad in the Hitler sense, but he's the narcissistic scion of a narcissistic pseudo-monarchy, and it may be unwise to expect rational foresight.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - wyatte 9y ago
    What is it that makes you believe he is irrational? Just curious because I can come up with some pretty rational arguments for most of his actions.
- mtw 9y ago
  He might have flaming words but he knows all too well that nuclear weapons and missiles are his only defense against the US, and esp. someone like Trump Look at any other country that has given up its nuclear program. Khadafi, Saddam Hussein are here no more. Kim Jong-Un knows well too well that if he gave in to american demands, his regime will end. This is an excellent article with more details on this : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/08/in-the-court-of-kim-jong-un-ruthless-bellicose-despot-not-mad https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/08/in-the-court-o...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
breitling 9y ago
>The missile is likely to have reached an altitude of about 770km (478 miles) For reference, the International space station is about 220 miles above earth. This missile went twice as high. Why does a missile need to go so damn high? Do all of them do that or only this because it was a test?
- ashark 9y ago
  Wild guess from the highly relevant experience of having played Kerbal Space Program: if you don't actually intend to achieve orbit (which is mostly about going sideways really fast, not up) it may be more fuel-efficient to reach your target by going relatively high, to lengthen the amount of time you spend in little/no atmosphere before coming back down. Or maybe you want to be going really fast on the way down for some reason. Or (relatedly) it's harder to shoot down a missile on that kind of trajectory than a flatter one.
  - nine_k 9y ago
    Going down really fast has an excellent reason: the faster you go down, the less time a counter-missile has to intercept you, and the harder it is (speed and acceleration requirements become insane).
- hkmurakami 9y ago
  It's a test. You can extrapolate the actual range when you change the launch angle to one that is optimal for distance.
- AndrewKemendo 9y ago
  Higher = Shorter Range while allowing for the significant burn of a longer range capability [1] So you can test or show off something really powerful, that you don't want to actually hit anything important by shooting it straight up. That's why many of these are considered "Space Launches." Otherwise if you shoot low altitude you only get a single or possibly second stage tested. [1]http://www.mpoweruk.com/figs/ballistics.htm http://www.mpoweruk.com/figs/ballistics.htm
- danielvf 9y ago
ryanqian 9y ago
North Korea is a joke to our civilization world, can't imaging why it's still there playing fire.
- ringaroundthetx 9y ago
  Because they haven't gotten burnt yet.
missileoverthem 9y ago
We really need to start punishing China for keeping North Korea alive. That country would collapse in a week without any food/fuel from China. Good thing Donald Trump has started on that "Donald Trump 'willing to cut off trade' with China to reign in despotic North Korea" http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/853919/World-War-3-North-Korea-USA-China-Russia-Kim-Jong-un-Trump-Munchin http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/853919/World-War-3-North...
- ourmandave 9y ago
  I wonder if anyone in Beijing has thought through the idea that someday maybe a nuclear armed NK deciding it doesn't want to play nice with them anymore. Like, if Saddam had nukes he'd probably still be alive.
ourmandave 9y ago
So immediately the US dollar falls against the yen and gold goes up. Why? https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/14/asia-markets-focus-on-north-korea-yen-gold-fed-boe.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/14/asia-markets-focus-on-north-... I mean, I know why, except this is the just the bazillionth time that NK has "cried wolf". I just can't muster the level of panic all the headlines demand. Quick! Somebody suggest Moar Sanctions that the Chinese will go on ignoring.

71 points by schintan 9y ago

Not fun to wake up to a missile flying over my house here in Hokkaido XD I don't know how this going to end, but it feels weird to be in the crosshairs as collateral damage in a proxy war.

matt_wulfeck 9y ago
Japan is not really collateral. North Korea hates Japan apart from the US. In fact it's really the US that's collateral.
- sluggg 9y ago
  huh... I am feeling uninformed. Could you enlighten me why this is the case?
  - sengork 9y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_under_Japanese_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_under_Japanese_rule
- ajross 9y ago
  Neither is true. The DPRK isn't trying to pursue a war against its enemies in a military sense. They're trying to extort money from the world community as a price for peace.
  - dba7dba 9y ago
    True. It's all about extortion.
- gaz0rpaz0rp 9y ago
  Oh, well, yeah, I mean the US still isn't quite collateral though...
- tyingq 9y ago
  North Korea has limited directional options if they want a realistic missle test. Having one overfly Japan may just be the least politically bad option they have. Other paths would be toward China, Russia, Taiwan, Phillipines, etc.
mysterydip 9y ago
Completely offtopic, but where in Hokkaido? I was in Sapporo back about 15 years ago. Most people I've met have only been to Honshu.
- quuquuquu 9y ago
  Sapporo squad!!! So cool to hear it. I spent all summer biking around the country side, really unique people and perspectives around here. Have been interested in Hokkaido ever since it was a level in Splinter Cell haha. It's cheap living here, but I guess I chose the wrong moment to be airbnb'ing in what is otherwise an extremely peaceful region :)

reustle 9y ago

I'm currently on a ship sailing through the Bering Sea and down through the north Pacific towards Hokkaido over the next week or so. I am not sure if we should be more worried about typhoon Talim or North Korea :)

taheca 9y ago
Red sky at noon means nukes you're DOOMED!
- classicsnoot 9y ago
  Red sky in morning, deterrence is thorny.

dmix 9y ago

An interesting old news article I came across from 1998 (almost 20 yrs ago) when Kim's father did the same thing: > North Korea Fires Missile Over Japanese Territory (SEPT. 1, 1998) http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/01/world/north-korea-fires-missile-over-japanese-territory.html http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/01/world/north-korea-fires-mi... Which also contained this blurb: > North Korea previously conducted missile test firings in May 1993, when it fired four missiles into the Sea of Japan. Those launchings sent Japan into a panic and prompted the Government to consider cooperation on a regional missile defense system. Such a system is still years away. It's interesting how long a missile defense system has taken to arrive in South Korea... Edit: The US also predicted today's missile event when the UN passed sanctions a few days ago: > Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the UN said the sanctions were "better than nothing, but not enough to really pressure North Korea," adding that Pyongyang is likely to respond with a missile launch in the next few days. (Sept 11, 2017)

rebootthesystem 9y ago
Having worked in aerospace I find it very interesting that a nation like North Korea can manage to launch such rockets with regularity. There is no way they are able to do this on their own. That much might be obvious. The real question is: Who's helping them and what's their objective?
- awfullyjohn 9y ago
  Not sure what you're saying is obvious. What makes you think they can't do this on their own?
- mythrwy 9y ago
  What makes you believe NK can't launch rockets alone? It's not like it's rocket science. Er, ok, so it is rocket science but still. Other groups of people have done it, what makes it impossible for NK?
  - danielvf 9y ago
    The impressive part is the pace. There are multiple launches a year, and constant incremental increase in capability. At this rate, they will have the ability to strike anywhere in the world in just a few years.

danschumann 9y ago

I heard an interesting psychological profile of Hitler once, and the person said he didn't actually want to win. He had horrible means, so why assume he didn't have a horrible goal(losing, consciously or subconsciously)? I think North Korea's leader has horrible means, and may have a horrible goal, some sort of suicide where he destroys his whole country via the USA. Him thinking he can capture Guam is perhaps only possible to believe if he has really bad thinking. He has really bad ways of dealing with his people, so it's possible he is subconsciously trying to destroy himself.

boznz 9y ago
I actually agree. People are applying rational thought to an irrational person and we know how well that usually works out.
- TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
  Nuclear MAD doesn't work when leaders really are mad. I'm not sure KJU is mad in the Hitler sense, but he's the narcissistic scion of a narcissistic pseudo-monarchy, and it may be unwise to expect rational foresight.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- wyatte 9y ago
  What is it that makes you believe he is irrational? Just curious because I can come up with some pretty rational arguments for most of his actions.
mtw 9y ago
He might have flaming words but he knows all too well that nuclear weapons and missiles are his only defense against the US, and esp. someone like Trump Look at any other country that has given up its nuclear program. Khadafi, Saddam Hussein are here no more. Kim Jong-Un knows well too well that if he gave in to american demands, his regime will end. This is an excellent article with more details on this : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/08/in-the-court-of-kim-jong-un-ruthless-bellicose-despot-not-mad https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/08/in-the-court-o...

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

breitling 9y ago

>The missile is likely to have reached an altitude of about 770km (478 miles) For reference, the International space station is about 220 miles above earth. This missile went twice as high. Why does a missile need to go so damn high? Do all of them do that or only this because it was a test?

ashark 9y ago
Wild guess from the highly relevant experience of having played Kerbal Space Program: if you don't actually intend to achieve orbit (which is mostly about going sideways really fast, not up) it may be more fuel-efficient to reach your target by going relatively high, to lengthen the amount of time you spend in little/no atmosphere before coming back down. Or maybe you want to be going really fast on the way down for some reason. Or (relatedly) it's harder to shoot down a missile on that kind of trajectory than a flatter one.
- nine_k 9y ago
  Going down really fast has an excellent reason: the faster you go down, the less time a counter-missile has to intercept you, and the harder it is (speed and acceleration requirements become insane).
hkmurakami 9y ago
It's a test. You can extrapolate the actual range when you change the launch angle to one that is optimal for distance.
AndrewKemendo 9y ago
Higher = Shorter Range while allowing for the significant burn of a longer range capability [1] So you can test or show off something really powerful, that you don't want to actually hit anything important by shooting it straight up. That's why many of these are considered "Space Launches." Otherwise if you shoot low altitude you only get a single or possibly second stage tested. [1]http://www.mpoweruk.com/figs/ballistics.htm http://www.mpoweruk.com/figs/ballistics.htm
danielvf 9y ago

ryanqian 9y ago

North Korea is a joke to our civilization world, can't imaging why it's still there playing fire.

ringaroundthetx 9y ago
Because they haven't gotten burnt yet.

missileoverthem 9y ago

We really need to start punishing China for keeping North Korea alive. That country would collapse in a week without any food/fuel from China. Good thing Donald Trump has started on that "Donald Trump 'willing to cut off trade' with China to reign in despotic North Korea" http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/853919/World-War-3-North-Korea-USA-China-Russia-Kim-Jong-un-Trump-Munchin http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/853919/World-War-3-North...

ourmandave 9y ago
I wonder if anyone in Beijing has thought through the idea that someday maybe a nuclear armed NK deciding it doesn't want to play nice with them anymore. Like, if Saddam had nukes he'd probably still be alive.

ourmandave 9y ago

So immediately the US dollar falls against the yen and gold goes up. Why? https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/14/asia-markets-focus-on-north-korea-yen-gold-fed-boe.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/14/asia-markets-focus-on-north-... I mean, I know why, except this is the just the bazillionth time that NK has "cried wolf". I just can't muster the level of panic all the headlines demand. Quick! Somebody suggest Moar Sanctions that the Chinese will go on ignoring.