North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?

[CRedskinsRule]

Japan getting hit by a NK nuke would just be sad, honestly in the great scheme of things what did Japan do to anybody to be the worlds nuclear wasteland?

I certainly don't think that NK is on par with us, but they do, and in terms of useful nukes, it only takes a few IF they use them. For all the nukes we have, there is no chance in this world that we would nuke NK, even if they nuked Japan. Korea would be a land war, and if NK felt they could launch a few nukes to equalize the battlefield, I think they might. They hate Japan, and have re-run articles on Japan's poor record when Korea was a colony of Japan.

I really hope that I've just bought into the paranoia, and that it all settles down in the next few days.

[BigHairedAristocrat]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

Japan getting hit by a NK nuke would just be sad, honestly in the great scheme of things what did Japan do to anybody to be the worlds nuclear wasteland?

I certainly don't think that NK is on par with us, but they do, and in terms of useful nukes, it only takes a few IF they use them. For all the nukes we have, there is no chance in this world that we would nuke NK, even if they nuked Japan. Korea would be a land war, and if NK felt they could launch a few nukes to equalize the battlefield, I think they might. They hate Japan, and have re-run articles on Japan's poor record when Korea was a colony of Japan.

I really hope that I've just bought into the paranoia, and that it all settles down in the next few days.

I think the days of land wars are over. Theres simply no reason for it. I'd see tons of stealth areal bombings and Guerrilla warefare. theres no reason to send thousands of soldiers into battle if you can send in a few seal teams to paint targets and let planes take em out.

I also dont think the NK could nuke South Korea or Japan without equivalent retalliation.

[RedskinRat]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

I think the days of land wars are over. Theres simply no reason for it. I'd see tons of stealth areal bombings and Guerrilla warefare. theres no reason to send thousands of soldiers into battle if you can send in a few seal teams to paint targets and let planes take em out.

I also dont think the NK could nuke South Korea or Japan without equivalent retalliation.

How would you then hold the ground, rebuild the infrastructure and convert the people to happy quasi-Americans?

At some point you have to put boots on the ground unless it's just a retributive strike/scorched earth deal.

[BigHairedAristocrat]

Originally Posted by RedskinRat

How would you then hold the ground, rebuild the infrastructure and convert the people to happy quasi-Americans?

At some point you have to put boots on the ground unless it's just a retributive strike/scorched earth deal.

North Korea is so indoctrinated/brainwashed,* I imagine any sort rebuilding infrastructure/conversion would be 100 times more difficult than in Iraq/Afghanistan. I dont see the US wanting to get involved in that. In all honesty, if Iraq didnt have oil, i think there would have bee more of a scorched earth approach there. North Korea has absolutely nothing the rest of the world cares about. I dont think a strong argument could be made not to take the scorched earth approach. Maybe im just cynical.

*Note - this is where you accuse me of the same prejudice i accused you of in the middle eastern thread.

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

I think the days of land wars are over. Theres simply no reason for it. I'd see tons of stealth areal bombings and Guerrilla warefare. theres no reason to send thousands of soldiers into battle if you can send in a few seal teams to paint targets and let planes take em out.

I also dont think the NK could nuke South Korea or Japan without equivalent retalliation.

What do you call Afghanistan? I will not get started on the level of wounded soldiers coming back, or the dead, but NK is a land of tunnels and hardened bunkers. When you say guerrilla warfare, I am calling that land warfare, armed forces trying to recapture highland from a numerically superior enemy. Can we, and would we win, yes - depending on casualty count, and public reaction. But remember this is an entire society that lives day to day basically only on the glory and eventual defeat of the US. They have very little else to compare life too.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

I think the days of land wars are over. Theres simply no reason for it. I'd see tons of stealth areal bombings and Guerrilla warefare. theres no reason to send thousands of soldiers into battle if you can send in a few seal teams to paint targets and let planes take em out.

I also dont think the NK could nuke South Korea or Japan without equivalent retalliation.

What do you think the Iraq war was? Sure we hit them first by air but our main attack was by land and they ran the other way.

[CRedskinsRule]

We also don't know what size nuke they actually have tested, only what we assume they have. Certainly they aren't going to be volleying hundreds of nukes a la WarGames, but they don't have to start a major confrontation.

Serious question: Hypothetically they test fire a long range ICBM, or even a midrange missile capable of hitting Guam, with a live nuke on it. But they aim it away from a live target, ie japan/guam. It explodes harmlessly in the pacific, but the point is made that they could have reached Guam effectively. What step should the US take?

[BigHairedAristocrat]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

We also don't know what size nuke they actually have tested, only what we assume they have. Certainly they aren't going to be volleying hundreds of nukes a la WarGames, but they don't have to start a major confrontation.

Serious question: Hypothetically they test fire a long range ICBM, or even a midrange missile capable of hitting Guam, with a live nuke on it. But they aim it away from a live target, ie japan/guam. It explodes harmlessly in the pacific, but the point is made that they could have reached Guam effectively. What step should the US take?

Surrender lol

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

Surrender lol

Perhaps this would be more appropriate?
Floral Basket, Congratulatory Letters to Kim Jong Un

[BigHairedAristocrat]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

Perhaps this would be more appropriate?
Floral Basket, Congratulatory Letters to Kim Jong Un

Wtf is wrong with these people?

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

Wtf is wrong with these people?

I agree. I looked through their news releases trying to just kinda prove to myself that this was the normal junk they do every year, but this year's releases are just so far out there, even compared to their normal loopiness.


This is the headline banner from their daily newspaper (the Rodong Sinmun):

All out for a general offensive to achieve the prosperity of the
great Kim Il Sung's nation, Kim Jong Il's Korea!

[RedskinRat]

Send in a QRF and abduct and hold Un after a UN resolution supporting action against a rogue state. Probably atek a week or two, but let's do things right.

[CRedskinsRule]

numbers aren't everything, but they do say somethings:

[NC_Skins]

In sign of Chinese frustration with North Korea, ‘Daily Show’ clip mocking Kim racks up 2.8 million Chinese views




Jon Stewart wins again.

[BigHairedAristocrat]

Originally Posted by NC_Skins

In sign of Chinese frustration with North Korea, ‘Daily Show’ clip mocking Kim racks up 2.8 million Chinese views




Jon Stewart wins again.

LOL, i'll have to watch that clip when i go home. Some interesting comments from the linked WP article:

It is true that the North Korean military is very big, one of the world’s largest standing armies: 1.1 million troops! 4,200 tanks! 820 fighter jets!... Even the military’s size and political backing, though, can’t make up for North Korea’s isolation and impoverishment. Most of those fighter jets, for example, will never take off because the regime can’t afford enough fuel to fill them up. Even if they could somehow procure enough jet fuel, the fighters “would have been shot out of the sky in the first few hours of a conflict,” Dartmouth professor and North Korea-watcher Jennifer Lind told NPR recently. The tanks, likewise, are old and inferior.