North Korea Unveils Nuclear Weapon

[M2]

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20040928%2F0515512476.htm&sc=1104&flok=NW_5-L2&floc=NW_1-T


 

[thechoson]

I'll say this once, I'll say it again. I don't give a rat's ass if North Korea has a nuke.  They still have enough firepower even without a nuke to take out most of Seoul and about a million people.

If they are stupid enough to use a nuke, they will get blasted back to the Stone Age by the massive American retaliation.  So, no, this is not that big of a development.

What needs to be done is that further proliferation needs to be stopped.  South Korea and Japan can go nuclear really quick, and that is going to be an issue.

[Tobias Beecher]

WMD?

yes

brutal dictator?

yes

Threat to the U.S?

yes


Liberation on the way?

........................

[nekko]

WMD?

yes

brutal dictator?

yes

Threat to the U.S?

yes


Liberation on the way?

Isn't this an argument in favor of invading Iraq? By that I mean part of the reason to invade Iraq was to prevent the kind of deterrrence that North Korea's nuclear weapons present.

[Tobias Beecher]

WMD?

yes

brutal dictator?

yes

Threat to the U.S?

yes


Liberation on the way?

Isn't this an argument in favor of invading Iraq? By that I mean part of the reason to invade Iraq was to prevent the kind of deterrrence that North Korea's nuclear weapons present.

yes, plus the fact that iran will soon become a nukular power means that the pre emptive strike doctrine so favored by the scholar neocon generals is working quite well, indeed.

[nekko]

yes, plus the fact that iran will soon become a nukular power means that the pre emptive strike doctrine so favored by the scholar neocon generals is working quite well, indeed.

I'm sure the neocons aren't happy at all about our policy with Iran which has been primarily to use a mulitlateral approach heavily involving the Europeans (letting them take the lead to boot).

[nacien]

What needs to be done is that further proliferation needs to be stopped.  South Korea and Japan can go nuclear really quick, and that is going to be an issue.

The idea of Japan and South Korea with nukes is far less disturbing than the reality of India and Pakistan with nukes. 

[thechoson]

What needs to be done is that further proliferation needs to be stopped.  South Korea and Japan can go nuclear really quick, and that is going to be an issue.

The idea of Japan and South Korea with nukes is far less disturbing than the reality of India and Pakistan with nukes. 

That is an excellent point.  But so far, they've been able to maintain a reluctant deterrent position

[gobears]

Also, the idea of South Korea having nukes is much less disturbing than the idea of North Korea having nukes.

[gobears]

I think that if North Korea ever invaded South Korea (using solely conventional forces, i.e., without the use of nukes), they would still overwhelm South Korea by their sheer numbers.  South Korea's military is vastly superior to North Korea's, not to mention that the US would be directly involved too and provide considerable support to the South Korean military, but I think that given the short distance between the two nations, including the proximity of Seoul to the North Korean border, it would be extremely difficult even with the combined military forces of SK and the US to withstand a North Korean invasion.  At least at the beginning.  The SK and US kill ratio against the North Koreans would be tremendous, but I think they would still overwhelm Seoul and a lot of the rest of SK too.  Of course, eventually SK and the US would be able to drive back the North Koreans, but not before they destroyed much of Seoul.  Sort of like the Tet Offensive, but even deadlier.

However, I think the only motivation for NK to do this would be utter desperation, a suicidal last gasp to "take as many free South Koreans with them" as possible, as the decrepit and defunct Communist regime lost all its power and authority, and devolved into oblivion.

That's also, as far as I understand, why several of our Administrations (Clinton, Bush, etc.) have done so little in trying to assuage the situation in the Korean peninsula: they're waiting for the clock to run out on the Communist government.  Time is not on NK's side.