North Korea's Nuclear Threat Is Critical

Good evening! Grandpoppy and I have finished eating our fresh baked sour dough bread bowl filled with chili and covered with shredded cheddar cheese, chopped purple onions and a dollop of sour cream for dinner. We had tall glasses of Lipton brewed ice tea served to quench our thirst and dishes of sliced strawberries over a dip of French vanilla ice cream for dessert.  We've settled into our nightly routine of depositing ourselves into the comfortable reclining chairs that we love, after dinner and watching the nightly news. Our hearts are with our mother country across the pond, tonight! We will keep our English country cousins in our prayers!

I came across an interesting tidbit of information, describing our military readiness, and thought I should share it with you.

Do you know what Defcon stages really mean, outside the realm of action/adventure movies? There are 5 stages or levels in the American military system of readiness. Each Defcon level defines the specific security, activation and response scenarios for the different branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Defcon Stage 2, has only been used twice since it was developed in 1959 for the U.S. military commands. The first time it was used was during the Cuban Missile Crisis on October 22, 1962. The second time was January 15, 1991 in the opening phase of Operation Desert Storm during the Persian Gulf War.

The President and the Secretary of Defense through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combatant Commanders are the decision-makers who control and define the Defcon levels set for all of the various military branches to adhere and operate under.


Levels:

Readiness condition	Exercise term	Description	Readiness
DEFCON 1	COCKED PISTOL	Nuclear war is imminent	Maximum readiness
DEFCON 2	FAST PACE	Next step to nuclear war	Armed Forces ready to deploy and engage in less than 6 hours
DEFCON 3	ROUND HOUSE	Increase in force readiness above that required for normal readiness	Air Force ready to mobilize in 15 minutes
DEFCON 4	DOUBLE TAKE	Increased intelligence watch and strengthened security measures	Above normal readiness
DEFCON 5	FADE OUT	Lowest state of readiness	Normal readiness

Which Defcon level/stage, do you think America is currently occupying, in consideration of Kim Jong Un's latest missile launch? All Defcon levels are kept as classified information, until a military objective/mission, is fully concluded. Personally, I'm betting America is sitting at Defcon 2 and nothing less than Defcon 3.

In today's BBC internet news article:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to reach the country's nuclear goals, according to state media.

The aim was to establish "equilibrium" of military force with the US, the KCNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Mr Kim's comments come after North Korea fired its latest missile over Japan - in what is being described as the country's farthest-reaching test.

The move split world powers who united behind new UN sanctions against North Korea just days ago.

"We should clearly show the big power chauvinists how our state attain the goal of completing its nuclear force despite their limitless sanctions and blockade," Mr Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA.

He also said North Korea's goal was "to establish the equilibrium of real force with the US and make the US rulers dare not talk about military option for the DPRK (North Korea)".

The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting, in which members unanimously condemned the launch as "highly provocative" - coming as it did after Pyongyang's nuclear bomb test on 3 September.

US President Donald Trump said North Korea had "once again shown its utter contempt for its neighbours, and the entire world community", but that he felt more confident than ever that the US was ready should a military option be needed.

But Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vasiliy Nebenzia, urged caution, saying: "We think that threats, tests, launches, and mutual threats in fact should be stopped, and that we should engage in meaningful negotiations."

China accused the US of shirking its responsibilities.

"Honestly, I think the United States should be doing... much more than now, so that there's real effective international co-operation on this issue", China's ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

"They should refrain from issuing more threats. They should do more to find effective ways to resume dialogue and negotiation," he said.

No new sanctions have been announced at the Council's meeting.

Why does this new test matter?

The launch took place from the Sunan district of the capital Pyongyang just before 07:00 local time on Friday (22:00 GMT on Thursday), South Korea's military says. Sunan is home to Pyongyang International Airport.

As with the last test on 29 August, the missile flew over Japan's Hokkaido island before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

Sirens sounded across the region and text message alerts were sent out warning people to take cover.

Comparison of missile launches over Japan
	15 September	29 August
Distance travelled	3,700km (2,299 miles)	2,700km
Maximum altitude	770km	550km
Landing distance from Japan	2,200km	1,180km
Flight duration	19 minutes	32 minutes
Missile type	Thought to be intermediate range Hwasong-12	Thought to be intermediate range Hwasong-12

What is so alarming about the new launch is that the US Pacific territory of Guam, which North Korea says it has a plan to target, is 3,400km from Pyongyang, putting it within range of the latest missile.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
So, how probable is it that Kim Jong Un, is serious about launching a nuclear tipped war head on an ICBM aimed at one of America's territories or the western coastline of America's mainland?

                                          "Good Night, Shalom and Sweet Dreams!"

                                                           "Boner Appertite!"