by Robert M. Traxler

CNN online, hardly a right wing news outlet, announced Saturday that the Peoples’ Republic of Korea (North Korea) fired a BM-25 Taepodong X intermediate range missile from a submarine.

The story got a huge yawn from the mainstream media; after all, why is it news that an unpredictable, isolated rogue nation has the ability to launch a nuclear missile from a submerged vessel, adding thousands of miles to its effective range? The sudden death of a rock star (Prince) was an important story, and the media did not have the time or space for an unimportant story like the North Korean submarine nuclear-capable missile launch.

American intelligence has long believed North Korea has the ability to miniaturize nuclear warheads and can launch them on all three classes of their missiles. The Taepodong X has a maximum range of 3400 miles. If launched from North Korea, Americans in Hawaii, Alaska and a number of forward military installations in the Pacific are well within range. Our allies in Japan, South Korea, and a number of other nations are threatened by a land-based missile launch.

If the reports in American and South Korean media are indeed true and Kim Jong-un has the ability to launch from a submarine, then Wayland, Dorr, Hopkins, Martin and Moline are within range of North Korean intermediate range missiles; that makes the story important.

President Reagan called for a missile defense system and he was roundly scoffed at; his program was nicknamed “Star Wars” by critics, and President Obama was quick to cancel missile defense systems upon his election.

I have been to North Korea and lived for years within range of North Korean conventional weapons. North Korea has three generations of people who have grown up in a belief Kim Jong-un is, as his father and Grandfather were, a deity and the nation has a cult-like belief in Kim’s divine wisdom. We think the first use of nuclear weapons is unthinkable; the North Korean leadership has no such reservations.

The leaders in our current government and the media will tell us that the North Korean missiles are crude and unreliable, so they are of no concern. The Taepodong X missile first flew in 2003 and the North Koreans have had mixed results with each launch; however, they learn from their mistakes and improve technology. Russian missile experts have been hired by North Korea to improve reliability and accuracy.

North Korea recently launched a satellite that is passing over your head every few hours, but let’s not concern ourselves with that. The North Korean satellite can carry GPS technology to greatly enhance nuclear missile accuracy, but who cares, anti-missile development and deployment has been suspended because we do not want to offend those who would destroy us. This is politically correct doctrine that is wishful thinking and not reality.

North Korea is still at war with the United Nations and the United States; no peace treaty has ever been accepted by the North. President Obama tried, feeling that his apologies for our nation’s past gave him gravitas with the third world tin horn despots like Kim; the North was not impressed and rejected his offer.

On April 23 the world became a more dangerous place; the lead story is the death of Prince, go figure. President Obama mentioned the death of Prince, but not the North Korean submarine missile launch. Perhaps our national priorities are a bit confused.