For the U.S. military, a tense Christmas passes without event

Some of the U.S. military's surveillance assets and personnel spent Christmas on duty, waiting for a possible missile launch from North Korea. So far, nothing has happened. 

North Korea is developing larger missiles with the intent of threatening the USA.

Highlights

By Marshall Connolly (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
12/26/2019 (4 years ago)

Published in Asia Pacific

Keywords: North Korea, Christmas, present, military

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - The U.S. military has surveillance aircraft monitoring North Korea around the clock, waiting for a possible missile launch. North Korea is threatening to increase tensions with the United States and its allies unless a plan for favorable talks is proposed. 

North Korea remains a pariah state with only China remaining in close accord with the regime led by Kim Jong Un. However, President Trump and his administration have sought to engage North Korea with talks aimed at defusing the decades-old tensions that divide the Korean peninsula. 

North Korea is an economic backwater with its economy stunted by crippling sanctions. In an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations, the country has developed nuclear weapons and missiles. But so far, the development of these weapons has not produced meaningful concessions from the rest of the world. 

Recent talks between President Trump and Kim Jong Un offer hope that the reclusive country will abandon its nuclear program, but the the President is not satisfied with the North's pledges. 

With the 2020 election looming, it is expected that North Korea will increase tensions in an attempt to force Trump to make concessions. The last thing the Trump administration wants is the appearance that North Korea is defiant of American power in the region. 

Kim Jong Un recently pledged to deliver a "Christmas surprise" to the United States, which many assumed would be a ballistic missile launch. Images captured by spy aircraft have bolstered this belief. There appears to be a flurry of activity at a North Korean rocket complex where such missiles can be launched. 

A false alarm report was published this morning in the Japanese media, then promptly retracted without explanation. So far, nothing has happened. 

The launch of a ballistic missile is not a simple affair. Depending on the nature of the launch, preparations can take hours to months. Medium-range missiles can be hidden, then trucked to a launch site and fired with just minutes to hours of preparation. But these missiles have limited range and North Korea does not have the technology to deliver a nuclear weapon with them. Such a launch would hardly command attention. In fact, North Korea has launched several short and medium-range missiles in recent months, with little apparent concern from the rest of the world. 

However, a long range ballistic missile is different. Such weapons are much larger, and about the same size as a small space-rocket. In fact, these weapons fly a suborbital trajectory into space and can deliver a satellite into low orbit, or could deliver a warhead across the Pacific. So far, North Korea does not have the missile range or the ability to produce a durable warhead which can survive reentry into Earth's atmosphere. But, this could be changing. 

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Could North Korea's Christmas gift be a long-range missile capable of hitting most of the USA? 

Preparations to launch such a weapon would take months and would be visible to spy aircraft and satellites. If it's coming, it will not be a surprise to the President. 

The launch of such a weapon would set back U.S. and North Korean relations. 

For now, the military is monitoring the situation from aircraft flying in the Sea of Japan. 

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