North korea threatens U.S.!

[bush_cheney2004]

Gotta travel - thanks BC - now off I go.......Obama is not liking it much - maybe he could get Rodny King out of rehab --------"why can't we all just get along" YES WE CAN! over and out...and clean the bottom of the mower..

Yes....a clean mower deck is essential for good mulching...peace...out!

[Bonam]

The day they detonated their first nuke and launched a missile over Japan was the day that the possibility of military intervention ended, leaving only negotiation and diplomacy as the only viable options.....that and trying to whack the entire leadership structure of North Korea in one fell swoop.

Having and testing one nuke doesn't make a nuclear power.

Depending on the variant (two or three stage), the North Korean Taepo Dong II has an estimated range of somewhere between 4000 kilometres (2500 miles) and 4500 kilometres (2800 miles) with a maximum payload of 500 kilograms (1100 pounds) at max range usage, more then enough to carry a fairly primitive nuclear device in the kiloton yield range. In 1951, the US Mark-7 nuclear device weighed in at approximately 1500 lbs and had an explosive yield of 20 kilo tons. The missile base in Dongchang-ri has launched these missiles, including one placing a satellite into orbit and major Japanese cities as well as all of South Korea are well within range.

Primitive weapons that can be easily stopped with our missile defense systems. Also, far more launches have ended in failures than successes.

And while the current generation of Taepo Dong II's still cannot reach Hawaii, Alaska is almost within range. The average US citizen may take some comfort in the fact that if nuclear war was to break out between the US and North Korea, that they are for the most part safely out of range, the same cannot be said of the citizens of South Korea, Japan and possibly Australia. Even if North Korea has only one ready to launch Teopo Dong II and a nuke to carry, that is one too many. If war was to break out and the North Koreans launched a nuclear armed missile striking Seoul, or Tokyo or even Sydney, a US victory would be one of a Pyrrhic nature. And this is what the North Korean leadership is banking on.

That is why, if military action were taken, it would be imperative to eradicate their nuclear capability before they could use it. Given the small scale and fragile and primitive nature of their nuclear program, this would be relatively easy to do. Wait another 10 years, and it will be near impossible.

[wulf42]

They think so.....it's 1951 all over again. Remember, Canada didn't want to go.

But Canada went anyway!

[ironstone]

China keeps them sort of under control - are you planning to be there when that small one goes off?

Force is not simple - do it and China will step in

Obama does not have the capabiity or courage to go this route - perhaps a good thing - and their country is max'd out - a bad thing - and the rest of Europe are for the most part plain out and out cowards. Yeah, if I speak you want answers and if I say it without proof you laugh - but for the most part it is true - Europe = untrustworthy bastards.

It is already too late - and you can be sure Canadians will howl in protest as there is no direct effect on them from Korea

In the end one cannot be cavalier about this type of situation

One artillery nuke will do a lot of damage - which sons and daughters do you pick to be killed?

I serve in the middle east now and even in my fairly safe place we had some "fun" today.

Heart pumps fast - sometimes those who advocate war should come to the front with those who fight it.

Probably be a lot less war.

Borg

You do have a point I must admit.It's scary to imagine what North Korea would be like if China didn't keep them "sort of under control".Could they be any worse than they are now?

[DogOnPorch]

This also came up in the news today. Apparently the USN is tracking a NK ship bound for Burma that is thought to contain high tech military gear + nuclear technology.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124571192210838865.html

[GostHacked]

I have always seen NK as more of a threat than Iran is. But it could also be that Iran and NK are getting much help from both Russia and China.

Either or it is going to be nasty for both sides. And what we are told, NK has no booty anyways. Iran has oil, gas, and lots of it.