With much of the world awaiting North Korea’s promised “Christmas gift” for the US, NORAD is busy tracking both missile tests and Santa’s journey around the world. Let’s hope the two don’t get mixed up, netizens joked.
‘Tis the season to be on the lookout for intercontinental ballistic missiles. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un promised a “Christmas gift” for the United States earlier this month, should Washington not back down from its demand for him to abandon his nuclear program. Resurrecting the nickname “Rocket Man” for Kim, US President Donald Trump has refused to give in and it remains to be seen whether Kim will play Santa and deliver the explosive “gift” he promised.
With Christmas just hours away, meme-makers and Twitter commenters poked fun at Kim’s threat.
Tracking missile launches around the world is the job of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). In addition to policing the skies, NORAD puts on a cuddly face every year and offers children an animated, real-time ‘Santa Tracker,’ charting Kris Kringle’s journey around the world by sleigh.
The website gets nearly 15 million visitors every year, as kids around the globe tune in to track a more benign aerial phenomenon than a North Korean missile test.
Still, some commenters wondered what would happen if NORAD got a fix on a supersonic sleigh rocketing across the sky. Would fighter jets be scrambled to shoot down old Saint Nick? Or would the US deploy its KC-135 Stratotankers to refuel Santa’s reindeer-powered ride mid-flight?
NORAD has been tracking Santa’s annual flight since 1955. Whatever surprise Kim has in store for America, President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday “we’ll deal with it.”
“Maybe it’s a nice present,” he mused. “Maybe it’s a present where he sends me a beautiful vase.”
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