Oh my! once again North Korea threatens to Nuke the USA.

[Incubi]

It is becoming a joke isn't it?
How many times can you make a threat of this nature before the threats themselves become a declaration of war?
Is it more dangerous now that no one takes these threats seriously?

What strikes me as really odd is how there are people who want this to happen. I look at my kids and wonder why. People are evil. Kill them all, protect my own. Preservation is not selfish. I trust in diplomatic solutions, I just do not believe anyone cares enough to arrive at them anymore. And this crazy dictator throwing temper tantrums with nuclear bombs at his disposal? What of his own people. I am sick of this.

http://news.yahoo.com/n-korea-threatens ... ts-postbox

[brucewarren]

There are two possibilities:-

a) It's for public consumption. That assumes that ordinary people believe a word they say these days, which I highly doubt. Even when you have total control of the media there's a limit to how much people will swallow. They'll readily say they believe you to the thought police because they like keeping head and shoulders together.

b)Their leader and a large section of the brass are clinically insane.

Not uncommon among absolute tyrants. If no one dares tell you 2 +2 =4 you'll happily believe it's 7.

[Cpt.Jericho]

Just his way to call food deliveries that are supposed as relief for the people but end up in the army.

[Timsup2nothin]

Eventually they will say something like this at the wrong time and find themselves trying to explain to the citizens what all the noise was and why behind the fences of every military installation in the country there is nothing but bomb craters.

The US would likely never nuke them, but the possibility of targeted conventional strikes that 'till the soil' to about forty feet on every military base isn't out of the question if someone took it into their head to act like they believed the threat.

What could the rest of the world say? "You were wrong not to assume they were full of it." C'mon.

[RegisterMe]

1. Is anybody paying attention to us?
2. If no, particularly if it's because something else might be going on in the world that is also important, go to 3.
3. Throw a strop.


EDIT:

4. Go to 1.

[Timsup2nothin]

1. Is anybody paying attention to us?
2. If no, particularly if it's because something else might be going on in the world that is also important, go to 3.
3. Throw a strop.


EDIT:

4. Go to 1.

'Throw a strop' is a phrase that isn't in my dialect, but from the context I'm pretty sure I sorted that.

[pjknibbs]

No-one takes these threats seriously because they're not serious. North Korea may have nuclear weapons (although even that is extremely doubtful), but they have no realistic way of actually *delivering* such a weapon onto a target in the States, or anywhere else that isn't in their own backyard.

[Timsup2nothin]

No-one takes these threats seriously because they're not serious. North Korea may have nuclear weapons (although even that is extremely doubtful), but they have no realistic way of actually *delivering* such a weapon onto a target in the States, or anywhere else that isn't in their own backyard.

Delivering nuclear weapons into your own back yard is generally frowned upon.

[Chobittsu]

North Korea may have nuclear weapons (although even that is extremely doubtful), but they have no realistic way of actually *delivering* such a weapon onto a target in the States, or anywhere else that isn't in their own backyard.

They have tested, at my count, three warheads ranging between 0.7kt and 40kt. Given that Trinity was 20kt I'd say that isn't too bad for a little dirtball dictatorship, sure it's no Tsar Bomba but I still wouldn't want to stand near it.

So for simplicity's sake, lets just say that have a Little Boy, 4,400kg with 16kt yield. Next lets consider their most powerful rocket, the Unha.
Again an impressive achievement for the DPRK even if it isn't the most reliable of rockets (of course when have early space programs ever been entirely flawless). Their first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2, was orbited before their South Korean counterparts had launched their own satellite, so score one big one for the North. (Although you could argue that South Korea beat them to space, that was only due to piggy-backing with the USA, so in terms of pure launch capability, DPRK won.)

So getting back to playing with nukes, lets say they glue a Little Boy equivalent to the top of an Unha. They've already gotten a satellite into orbit, so in theory they can hit any target globally. The only problem is a guidance system, they don't have one that can do the job but frankly they can just buy one.

So, they could theoretically drop a small nuke into the continental United States. It wouldn't be very accurate, they might even hit Canada... but they could do it. The only question is, would they? Unlikely, they talk big but they aren't prepared for an all-out war with the United States, even with how bloodied and tired the US is from their adventures in Trashcanistan.
They're ready for a fight against their southern neighbors, but that's a tale for a different thread.
But with jabs at Kim Jong-Un's haircut by UK barbers and the US releasing a film about assissinating him, can you really blame the guy for being pissy? I'd be pretty ticked off if I were in that position

[Usenko]

That they can make a nuclear explosion is not doubted. However, there's a lot more to a nuclear weapon than just making a gosh-awful bang. It also has to be:

* Compact enough to be delivered.
* Reliable
* Practical to load onto any delivery system (the wrong shape can really wreck its chances)
* Portable

As far as I am aware, though seismographs have detected a detonation, there has not yet been any evidence of a warhead satisfying the above criteria.

[DJ Die]

That they can make a nuclear explosion is not doubted. However, there's a lot more to a nuclear weapon than just making a gosh-awful bang. It also has to be:

* Compact enough to be delivered.
* Reliable
* Practical to load onto any delivery system (the wrong shape can really wreck its chances)
* Portable

As far as I am aware, though seismographs have detected a detonation, there has not yet been any evidence of a warhead satisfying the above criteria.

Well that really depends on the way you want to use it...unfortunately sneaking it into a cargo container and putting it on a ship thats....say on its way to New York might cause a lot of damage and a lot of dead not to mention basically force a few milion people to move away from the area

but other than that i highly doubt they are mad enough to do that because you dont want to wake up this particular sleeping dragon....its just propaganda for domestic consumption because any stalinist regime requires utmost reverence and fear of its dictator to work....if that goes away people might get ideas....

[Morkonan]

Nobody has been paying attention to DPRK lately, what with all the important stuff going on the real world. So, the antfarm got irritated it wasn't getting its back rubbed. Walla! Another comic-strip submission from DPRK suitable for meme-generation.

...They have tested, at my count, three warheads ranging between 0.7kt and 40kt. Given that Trinity was 20kt I'd say that isn't too bad for a little dirtball dictatorship, sure it's no Tsar Bomba but I still wouldn't want to stand near it.

IIRC, the first test was a botched detonation. I thought one of the others was, as well. Not sure, there.

So for simplicity's sake, lets just say that have a Little Boy, 4,400kg with 16kt yield. Next lets consider their most powerful rocket, the Unha.
Again an impressive achievement for the DPRK even if it isn't the most reliable of rockets (of course when have early space programs ever been entirely flawless). Their first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2, was orbited before their South Korean counterparts had launched their own satellite, so score one big one for the North. (Although you could argue that South Korea beat them to space, that was only due to piggy-backing with the USA, so in terms of pure launch capability, DPRK won.)

Ah, let's see...

Starve the ants, put 'em in concentration camps if they don't wear the right colored hat one day, decide that "infrastructure" is some sort of capitalist Western notion and should be dismantled on sight, build giant cities just 'cause they look pretty, don't let anyone live in 'em, then try to build nukes, 'cause.. just because, and launch a shoebox covered in tinfoil into space. A small shoebox.

Yeah, impressive... You can do a lot of things if you don't care about the conditions of your country or its people. Gratz them. Full of /win...

So getting back to playing with nukes, lets say they glue a Little Boy equivalent to the top of an Unha. They've already gotten a satellite into orbit, so in theory they can hit any target globally. The only problem is a guidance system, they don't have one that can do the job but frankly they can just buy one.

Ain't gonna work. As has been said, they don't have guidance systems capable of doing anything important. And, if they did get one, we'd know who gave it to 'em and we would really be unhappy about that. Of course, they'd have to miniaturize their tech and that is very difficult.

The "best" that they can hope for is to mail it Federal Express and hope they don't get too much of a charge for hazardous materials. Then, they could sit back, smile, make proclamations of victory and Kim Jung Doublechin could eat a whole bucket of KFC. By the time he was ready for his pie, he'd be sitting in a glass parking lot wondering WTF went wrong with his brilliant plan...

[Dreez]

Everyone wants US gone, but nuke's isn't the way, too much damage to the earth and innocent.

You should watch a movie called : Dragon Day. It's about China calling in their 3trillion $ debt and the US can't pay so they hack every chip in the states and claims the 50states to the republic.

i loved it because i hate everything the US stands for.. Corrupion, warmongering, oppression, fear.

[SilverXarrow]

i loved it because i hate everything the US stands for.. Corrupion, warmongering, oppression, fear.

Why hate the country for its corrupt politicians? Just because those words describes our politicians, doesnt mean the country as a whole is. Tbh, that is just a shallow observation that you concocted.

OT: North Korea is just upset that they have been brought out of the spotlight because of Ukraine, missing and/or shot down airliners and the events in Gaza recently. The small child is throwing a tantrum is all.

[Alan Phipps]

@ Dreez: "Everyone wants US gone, ..." That is totally untrue. Please do not attribute your own personal bias to everyone else and insult another nation and its people in the process. Expressing dislike for that which you *think* they stand for is acceptable, but your opening statement is not.

[clakclak]

No-one takes these threats seriously because they're not serious. North Korea may have nuclear weapons (although even that is extremely doubtful), but they have no realistic way of actually *delivering* such a weapon onto a target in the States, or anywhere else that isn't in their own backyard.

Well they could ship them with amazone I guess.

Everyone wants US gone.....

I disagree. The US are not worse than china or Russia. In fact if I could choose I would by far prefer the US over China.

[SilverXarrow]

No-one takes these threats seriously because they're not serious. North Korea may have nuclear weapons (although even that is extremely doubtful), but they have no realistic way of actually *delivering* such a weapon onto a target in the States, or anywhere else that isn't in their own backyard.

Well they could ship them with amazone I guess.

The most efficient delivery system, especially if you have Amazon Prime, free guarenteed 2-day shipping.....

[Chobittsu]

Everyone wants US gone.....

I disagree. The US are not worse than china or Russia. In fact if I could choose I would by far prefer the US over China.

Depends on perspective, anyone living in the suspect nation would ignore the obvious flaws of their nation and cheer for their homeland.
The People's Republic of China may not have the quality of living that the US has in general (I've seen parts of the US that are far worse) but China has just as many things to rub in the USA's face.
Yes many folk would love to see the US fall, myself being one of them, but all it really needs is a complete overhaul.
As for who is better, that title goes to Finland

[Patholos]

If BEST KOREA, STRONK KOREA was anywhere near serious about sending that nuke, the end result would be a glass desert north of the demarcation line. With Chinas blessing.

They may be crazy and insane, but not that crazy. Hopefully..

*Brings bourbon to the fireworks*

[Patholos]

As for who is better, that title goes to Finland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hM4Bpw40hQ

Note: Every Finn I met, was either drunk and happy. Or sobering up and in a bad mood.