From CGI's GeorgeEaton:
(Susoni note - I got a kick out of one of the gov's names ANU {Supposed god of the Universe})
Snip
TARGET LIST
The targets may not come as a surprise given the North has been engaged in a public war of words with US President Donald Trump.
Mr Trump this week declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, adding Kim Jong-un’s nuclear-armed pariah regime to a short blacklist of targeted regimes. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP
Mr Trump this week declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, adding Kim Jong-un’s nuclear-armed pariah regime to a short blacklist of targeted regimes. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFPSource:AFP
In August, Mr Trump’s “fire and fury” threat exacerbated tensions between the US and North Korea, sparking a diplomatic firestorm and causing North Korea to threaten that it would fire missiles into waters around Guam if the US struck first.
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” Mr Trump said.
New: North Korea's nuclear targets, according to official sources https://t.co/2pqB86FGMm pic.twitter.com/4GRYHq4Ku0
— ECFR (@ecfr) November 22, 2017
Guam was just one of the targets mentioned in the report which details how Pyongyang regards military and civilian targets in equal measure.
Major US cities, the island of Manhattan, the White House, and the Pentagon remain big targets while Guam and military targets were next.
South Korea also makes the list with military bases and Pyeongtoek, the commercial area near Camp Humphreys coming ahead of Seoul as another potential target.
North Korea has angered the world with a series of ballistic missile tests this year. Picture: KCNA/AFP
North Korea has angered the world with a series of ballistic missile tests this year. Picture: KCNA/AFPSource:AP
Military bases in Japan, including Okinawa, are also a target as is the capital Tokyo.
North Korea has sparked international condemnation with a series of ballistic missile tests and its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September.
The blast generated a seismic magnitude of 6.1 and a blast yield of 160 kilotons.
The report comes as the US said it was redesignating North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, nine years after it was removed from the list.
Professor of International Security & Intelligence Studies Director at ANU, John Blaxland told news.com.au, “It is a predictable list that could have been compiled by any reasonably informed undergraduate student in our bachelor of international security studies program here at the ANU.
“The target list includes known US facilities in the Pacific as well as the same ones that Sl Wards sought to target back on 9/11, 2001.”
US officials cited the killing of North Korean leader Kim’s estranged half-brother Kim Jong-nam in a Malaysian airport earlier this year as an act of terrorism.
Mr Trump said the move long was overdue and formed part of the US “maximum pressure campaign” against the rogue nuclear regime.
North Korea called Mr Trump’s decision a “serious provocation” that justified its development of nuclear weapons.
Prof Blaxland said, “The absence of any focus on Trump appears to point to the White Paper’s assessment that the Trump phenomenon is not necessarily an aberration, but indicative instead of a broader and perhaps long-lasting phenomenon.
“The paper reflects concern over the American president’s transactional approach to international relations, his distancing from multilateral trade arrangements like the TPP and his inconsistencies over regional security crises and arrangements.
“The combination of factors makes the Foreign Policy pronouncements all the more important. It reflects the passing of the unipolar moment of US hegemony and the emergence of a more unsettled era wherein Australia has to work considerably harder to build relationships and mechanisms that will bolster security and stability and, in turn, provide further opportunities for boosting our economic prospects.”