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Ng Han Guan / AP, file
In this photo taken on April 15, 2012, what appears to be a new missile is carried during a mass military parade at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. The photo shows the warhead's surface is undulated, suggesting it's a thin metal sheet unable to withstand flight pressure, analysts say.
The Associated Press reports — Analysts who have studied photos of a half-dozen ominous new North Korean missiles showcased recently at a lavish military parade say they were fakes, and not very convincing ones, casting further doubt on the country's claims of military prowess.
The weapons displayed April 15 appear to be a mishmash of liquid-fuel and solid-fuel components that could never fly together. Undulating casings on the missiles suggest the metal is too thin to withstand flight. Each missile was slightly different from the others, even though all were supposedly the same make. They don't even fit the launchers they were carried on.
Ng Han Guan / AP, file
Adding more doubt to North Korea's claims of military prowess after its flamboyant rocket launch failure, analysts say the half dozen missiles showcased at the military parade were low-quality fakes.
"There is no doubt that these missiles were mock-ups," Markus Schiller and Robert Schmucker, of Germany's Schmucker Technologie, wrote in a paper posted recently on the website Armscontrolwonk.com that listed those discrepancies. "It remains unknown if they were designed this way to confuse foreign analysts, or if the designers simply did some sloppy work." Read the full story.
David Guttenfelder / AP, file
North Korean civilians, some weeping, wave flowers as they look up at Kim Jong Un, unseen, at the end of the military parade on April 15, 2012.
Richard Engel, NBC's chief foreign correspondent, shares a rare and revealing look inside the reclusive kingdom of North Korea.
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Want to know what it's like to be a member of a religious cult, look at the pictures above. Very, very scarey.
The religion of politics.
It's their testing of fake nuclear devices that concerns me.
not me, none of my business. We have more problems here to worry about N Korea and nukes. They won't use them and if they do they will be wiped off the map.
How simple that sounds. leave them alone. What about them sellimg nukes to Al Qaida or the Taliban or Hesbollah or Iran? Not our problem?
Big deal! They blew their money on nukes, hence the chronic famine. Now they're forced to spend more money on security for both the weapons, & the technology, with more famine inevitable. Let 'em have their fake missiles.
How long will it be before starvation reaches the troops? They're armed, so Kim & Sons Inc. will have real problems then.
The saddest part is they can't use them. They border on Russia, China, & allies of the U.S. If they pop a nuke the retaliation will turn North Korea into a radioactive parking lot. Trust me, if the current Kim reaches for the button, his own generals will shoot him. Wouldn't you?
I fully agree up to the part where you say his generals will shoot him. The people, military included, do not think like the rest of the world. They would die for Kim because they believe that he is a god, or at least god like.
Generals have to be familiar with reality, or nobody will follow them. What they say & what they believe aren't necessariy the same thing.
My Wife heard somewhere that Kim Ill says he doesn't take a poop, that he is a God and doesn't deficate...would that make him full of it? I think so. LOL what a Marroon!...oh and a Moron too.
If we are truly confident that they are fakes, tell them to prove it. I am from the Show-Me state, and analyzing can only take you so far before you need some real concrete proof.
So how, exactly, would one "show you" it's fake? The missile they attempted to launch a few weeks ago splashing down didn't convince? What do you need, a spy sneaking in to the most security conscious, paranoid state in the world and crawling inside the rockets to prove there is nothing inside?
usa is to uneducated to know if it's fake!
Yawn. This country poses no threat to the United States of America or its interests in the region. South Korea is a competitor, not a friend.
The missile in the photo looks almost exactly like the ones the Soviets displayed in the late 50s. They're mockups, alright.
BTW notice how "happy" the cheering crowd looks in the photo -- more like they're crying. Fake missile, fake crowd.
Yeah, like they said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction! Derps probably don't know what they are talking about again.
DPRK learned it well from big brother PRC.
If you try to get on a commercial airlines with a fake gun, you go to jail. To second guess if the weapons are fake or not is not acceptable. The USA and allies should eliminate the guess work with a real bombs.
damn it's sad they are the ass of every media joke i guess people are just too afaid of making
fun of china nowadays
Who cares one way or the other? Not my problem
Jon Lovitz didn't originate "yeah, that's the ticket." It's been around a lot longer than he has. People first hear something when somebody says it, and to them that's where it started. A lot of people who know me thought I originated, "No matter where you go, there you Are" They also think it's dumb. The point of it is that trying to get away from your old self doesn't work. When you get somewhere, it's still part of you. I did originate, "If you can't have fun with a chainsaw, you just can't have any fun." Jerry-2533656, North Korea has weaopons, and numbers that would be hard to stop, before they covered a lot of ground. South Korea doesn't have all that much ground to give. North Korea has repeatedly shown you can't trust them. With us over there, they are much less likely to attack.
NK has always had a 'short man complex'. With China being caught with Mexico in a major bribery scandal I doubt that they can do much of anything to help SK at all.
Know whut did heah means? Weuns need to spend mo money on military hardware...yuk yuk, say the Fox News watchers. Weuns already spend 5 times more than the next kuntry, but weuns never know if weuns might need 5,000,000,000 tanks to combat dem 24 pesky Arabs. yuk yuk.
Of course they are. All of N. Korea is a fake. They are someone elses problem. If they bother us we squash 'em, period. Wait! wait!, your talking like it's the 40's, 50's, or 60's. No I'm talking like we are a world compassionate power. Enough of these little nit-wits. Now, lets do the same at home, and then we can start being proud Americans, and world leader country we used to be.
What name did they give to these missiles? The "ex-wife"? (apologies to Marvel Comics/Iron Man ll)
Design and Made in China
If a missle was to leave North Korea aimed at the U.S., nuclear or not, the Dear Leader and every living thing would be vaporized by our REAL missles. To even pretend to be a threat to the world, is to contemplate mass suicide. How much lower can life get for these people?
dude i have this to say to you "chill bro" :)
Fake missiles brought to you by a fake republic that provides fake prosperity for their fake patriots!
I laugh every time people in high places suggest that as soon as North Korea, or Iran for that matter, can prop up a sewer pipe full of rocket fuel and duct tape some semblance of an atom bomb on it they'll run right out and chuck it at the USA or Israel and never mind the inevitable consequences.
The new fatboy leader of North Korea wants to be alive to reign over his little hellhole of a country and the Grand Ayatollah doesn't want to preside over a pile of radioactive cinders or be one himself.
But oil prices are dropping so brace yourself for and insane pronouncement from that little rodent of a president in Tehran.
Yada Yada Yada!
Whether they are real or fake makes no difference, they make crap just like China does and it may blow up in their faces, or worse, the rockets may go off course and hit the moon...or a UFO and start a war of the worlds. LOL. They are parading their junk in front of their population as to impress their own kind and scare the S. Koreans...and maybe to show their people that they are spending money on strength and power, but really their in the Carribean looking for Hookers.
let them eat cake (yellow)
I don't think I would really want to test that theory ..... just in case!!