Korea

[LosOjos]

Is nobody else a little concerned over the growing tension in Korea right now? Especially as it was revealed last week that they are more than capable of developing advanced nuclear weaponry (whether they have stock already still can't honestly be known) and Kim Jong Il is a complete nut case who is about to retire from power and seems like just the kind of person who may want to do so 'with a bang' (excuse the awful pun)

[joe90bass]

Yes, it doesn't look at good at all. Remains to be seen if the US/S Korea exercises stir things up further.......

[LosOjos]

Considering that (according to the BBC) "North Korea has warned that impending joint military exercises by the South and the US are pushing the region to 'the brink of war'" I think it's damned irresponsible of the US to continue with their drill on Sunday, regardless of how long it's been in planning. Seems like a nuclear scale version of prodding a hornet's nest with a short stick.

[CAM]

North Korea have a handful of poor quality nukes. Compare that to the sheer number of nukes the US and Russia have (especially that 50Mt insanity that is Tsar Bomba) and North Korea won't stand a chance. The only concern is if it turns the superpowers against each other for Cold War II.

 

EDIT - Details of the madness that is Tsar Bomba here: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/TsarBomba.html

Edited November 26, 2010 by CAM

[NikChillin]

Is nobody else a little concerned over the growing tension in Korea right now? Especially as it was revealed last week that they are more than capable of developing advanced nuclear weaponry (whether they have stock already still can't honestly be known) and Kim Jong Il is a complete nut case who is about to retire from power and seems like just the kind of person who may want to do so 'with a bang' (excuse the awful pun)

 

No.... what can I do?

[pete]

North Korea is like the crazy guy who lives in the village and wanders the streets at night jumping out of bushes and screaming "Cornish Pasty" at random passers-by. Everyone knows they need help, but they haven't yet done quite enough to justify intervention of the big, heavy and "hello, you now have a new government" kind (and the resulting extended trainwreck that causes).

 

I'm slightly more concerned that a presidential candidate can publicly confuse North Korea as an ally on TV and not be told "yeah, you're no longer allowed to be a candidate" by congress. I mean, .us does have reasonably effective nuclear capability and someone with no grasp of which way to point it could get the fire button?

[somabc]

Yongbyonreport.pdf

 

ISIS_DPRK_UEP.pdf

 

North Korea is further along with Nuclear Technology than was previously thought. They were showing off their technology to a visiting Academic last week.

Edited November 26, 2010 by somabc

[Dos_Box]

When N Korea does things like this it does them for it's own interests. Either to negotiate more food relief (they are starving there) or the relaxation of other sanctions. Yes, they 'may' have a nuke or two, but no actual way of delivering them. Any war would be short and bloody as the north does not have the kind of reserves it takes to fight a full on war for more than a short period, and China certainly don't want it as they know that the minute it all kicks off they will be flooded with millions af starving refugees from North Korea. The Sounth don't want any kind of unification with eth north as they have seen what an economic basket case Germany became when they unified with East Germany. I summary 'Ronry...so vewy ronry...'.

[Little-Miss]

Where's Korea?...In other news - William is marrying Kate!!

[creese]

Where's Korea?

 

I thought you were Sarah Palin for a second then.

 

Quote of the Day: Palin Sticks With 'North Korean' Allies | The Atlantic Wire

Edited November 26, 2010 by creese

[localzuk]

North Korea wouldn't stand a chance in a war. Most of the North Korean military, and nuclear abilities would be laid ruin within hours of anything happening - from a good distance away via missiles from submarines and ships.

 

The million+ strong army is basically a waste of time, as they don't have the same level of armaments, training or discipline when compared with S.Korea or the USA.

 

The only people who would lose in that war would be the North.

[GREED]

The worrying thing is whet would happen in the few hours, or single strike they get away with befoe being blown away? The target most likely being South Korea...

[LosOjos]

North Korea wouldn't stand a chance in a war. Most of the North Korean military, and nuclear abilities would be laid ruin within hours of anything happening - from a good distance away via missiles from submarines and ships.

 

The million+ strong army is basically a waste of time, as they don't have the same level of armaments, training or discipline when compared with S.Korea or the USA.

 

The only people who would lose in that war would be the North.

 

It's not the North winning that worries me, it's the super powers getting trigger happy with their nukes... the global impact of nuclear war could be absolutely devastating...

[localzuk]

The worrying thing is whet would happen in the few hours, or single strike they get away with befoe being blown away? The target most likely being South Korea...

 

With shelling, they'd probably get a fair amount of damage done to the northern areas, but anything like missile strikes would have to pass one of the world's most sophisticated anti-missile defence systems.

 

The foot-troops too would have a hard time, due to the massive 'demilitarised zone' full of mines.

 

We look at Israel as being high-tech, but south korea is up there with them in terms of their abilities.

[cheredenine]

I was reading a similar thread on Ars Technica recently - the consensus of opinion is that if things kick off its very unlikely to go nuclear. The US et al would be too concerned about fall-out or even the perception of fall-out effecting friendlies in the area (South Korea, Japan, etc) to use nuclear weapons unless severely provoked, whilst North Korea's recent weapon tests suggest any nukes they may have are shoddy to say the least. I sure i remember reading something to the effect that the yield calculated following the last test suggests the device failed to go nuclear in the conventional sense at all.

 

I think Dos_Box is right - this is North Korea plonking itself back in the limelight so that they can demand/negotiate more food and resources in return for not getting more belligerent. The other option, of course, is this is Kim Jong Un cracking the whip and putting his stamp on things, ready for when he succeeds Kim Jong Il..

[Andrew_C]

For those writing N Korea off militarily, please don't forget that China might back them, and we saw what can happen last time.

[teejay]

For those writing N Korea off militarily, please don't forget that China might back them, and we saw what can happen last time.

 

That was when China was a very anti-west state. Now, they have too much of their economy toed up with the west to get involved militarily. They'll prob give Kim & Son a bit of a slap on the qt and all the d*ck waving will go away.

[LosOjos]

all the d*ck waving will go away.

 

For some reason, i read that as "duck waving", and literally lol'ed

[cheredenine]

For some reason, i read that as "duck waving", and literally lol'ed

 

Peking duck? Now thats a tasty, tasty punishment...

[Fatmas]

North Korea is all kinds of ******. Some video has been released of how a lot of their citizens live. Put it this way, the image of a prosperous nation couldn't be farther from the truth:

 

Link to article / video

[tech_guy]

Hmmm, we invade Iraq because it's run by a nutcase. North Korea is also run by a nutcase but we do nothing. Oh, I get it - it's because of oil isn't it?

[CAM]

Iraq didn't have neighbours like China to potentially start WW3.

[aerospacemango]

North Korea is all kinds of ******. Some video has been released of how a lot of their citizens live. Put it this way, the image of a prosperous nation couldn't be farther from the truth

 

This has been pretty clear for many years, that it is only the propaganda of Kim Jung Il that says that N Korea is prosperous.....

 

Who hasn't looked at Google Earth/North Korea/ Night time, and wondered why there are hardly any lights on?