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Viewing cable 09VLADIVOSTOK74, DPRK MISSILE TESTS BARELY A BLIP FOR RUSSIAN FAR EAST

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09VLADIVOSTOK74 2009-07-09 04:24 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate Vladivostok
VZCZCXRO2675
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDBU RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHLN RUEHNAG RUEHPB RUEHPOD
RUEHYG
DE RUEHVK #0074 1900424
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 090424Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1168
INFO RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION COLLECTIVE
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 1272
UNCLAS VLADIVOSTOK 000074 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV MCAP KN RS
SUBJECT: DPRK MISSILE TESTS BARELY A BLIP FOR RUSSIAN FAR EAST 
 
1.  The recent North Korean ballistic missile tests a mere 250 
kilometers from Vladivostok registered barely a blip on local 
radar screens -- both literally on military detection equipment, 
and figuratively in the minds of area residents.  Interfax news 
agency reported that a military source from the 11th Army (Air 
Forces and Air Defense) informed them that military monitoring 
equipment located on Sakhalin and in Primorye was unable to pick 
up or track the launch of the July 3 and 4 missiles' 
trajectories.  The source suggested that the course of the 
missiles was too far south for stationary monitoring systems to 
pick up, and that had the course been more northerly, they would 
have been tracked.  Though RFE Russian Air Defense units missed 
the them, they were aware of immanent launches as they had 
received official North Korean notification that shipping lanes 
off the East coast of North Korea would be closed from June 25 
to July 10. 
 
2.  Despite the fact that the launch site for the missiles -- a 
military base near Wonsan port -- is located a mere 250 
kilometers from the Russian-North Korean border, the general 
population appears little concerned with the test launches. 
According to a recent survey, only five percent of Primorye 
residents named `the Korean Peninsula' as a potential threat to 
their wellbeing -- well behind the U.S. (29 percent) `growing 
Chinese power' (30), and `policies from Moscow' (44). 
 
3.  Consulate contact and journalist Oleg Zhunusov told Poloff 
that the public has little concern for the tests because they 
know that any military escalation by the DPRK would be directed 
towards that country's traditional enemies -- not against Russia 
-- though surprisingly few take into account that an attack 
against any country in the region could cause instability 
throughout the area.  He added that the tests are evidence of 
the Russian Air Defense's outdated air monitoring system, and 
conjectured that the military may relocate modern monitoring 
equipment from the Moscow region to Primorye. 
 
ARMBRUSTER