North Korea says it is ready to strike U.S. aircraft carrier

[webfact]

North Korea says it is ready to strike U.S. aircraft carrier

By James Pearson and Steve Holland

REUTERS

 

The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson transits the South China Sea while conducting flight operations on April 9, 2017. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled western Pacific deployment as part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet-led initiative to extend the command and control functions of U.S. 3rd Fleet. Picture taken on April 9, 2017 Z.A. Landers/Courtesy U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS

 

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea said on Sunday it was ready to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier to demonstrate its military might, in the latest sign of rising tension as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to call the leaders of China and Japan.

 

The United States ordered the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to sail to waters off the Korean peninsula in response to mounting concern over the North's nuclear and missile tests, and its threats to attack the United States and its Asian allies.

 

The U.S. government has not specified where the carrier strike group is as it approaches the area. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday it would arrive "within days," but gave no other details.

 

North Korea remained defiant.

 

"Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a single strike," the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in a commentary.

 

The paper likened the aircraft carrier to a "gross animal" and said a strike on it would be "an actual example to show our military's force".

 

The commentary was carried on page three of the newspaper, after a two-page feature about leader Kim Jong Un inspecting a pig farm.

 

A senior U.S. administration official said Trump was expected to speak later on Sunday with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

 

In another sign of the intense focus on Pyongyang in Washington, the White House is expected to host U.S. senators for a top-level briefing on North Korea on Wednesday, a White House official said.

 

The official said the briefing would be led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

U.S. and South Korean officials have been saying for weeks the North could soon stage another nuclear test, something the United States, China and others have warned against.

 

South Korea has put its forces on heightened alert.

 

China, North Korea's sole major ally, opposes Pyongyang's weapons programmes and has appealed for calm. The United States has called on China to do more to help defuse the tension.

 

Speaking during a visit to Greece, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said there were already enough shows of force and confrontation and appealed for calm.

 

"We need to issue peaceful and rational sounds," Wang said, according to a statement issued by China's Foreign Ministry.

 

U.S. CITIZEN DETAINED

 

Adding to the tensions, North Korea detained a Korean-American man in his 50s, bringing the total number of U.S. citizens held by Pyongyang to three.

 

The man, Tony Kim, had been in North Korea for a month teaching accounting at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), the institution's chancellor, Chan-Mo Park, told Reuters. He was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport on his way out of the country.

 

The arrest took place on Saturday morning local time, the university said in a statement, and was "related to an investigation into matters that are not connected in any way to PUST".

 

North Korea will mark the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People's Army on Tuesday.

 

It has in the past marked important anniversaries with tests of its weapons.

 

North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, two of them last year, and is working to develop nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the United States.

 

It has also carried out a series of ballistic missile tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions.

 

North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threat is perhaps the most serious security challenge confronting Trump.

 

He has vowed to prevent the North from being able to hit the United States with a nuclear missile and has said all options are on the table, including a military strike.

 

WORRY IN JAPAN

 

North Korea says its nuclear programme is for self-defence and has warned the United States of a nuclear attack in response to any aggression. It has also threatened to lay waste to South Korea and Japan.

 

The U.S. defence secretary said on Friday that North Korea's recent statements were provocative but had proven to be hollow in the past and should not be trusted.

 

"We've all come to hear their words repeatedly; their word has not proven honest," Mattis told a news conference in Tel Aviv, before the latest threat to the aircraft carrier.

 

Two Japanese warships, the Samidare and Ashigara, left western Japan on Friday to join the Carl Vinson and will "practice a variety of tactics" with the U.S. strike group, the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force said in a statement.

 

The Japanese force did not specify where the exercises were taking place, but the destroyers by Sunday could have reached an area 2,500 km (1,500 miles) south of Japan, which would be east of the Philippines.

 

From there, it could take three days to reach waters off the Korean peninsula. Japan's ships would accompany the Carl Vinson north at least into the East China Sea, a source with knowledge of the plan said.

 

Japan's show of naval force reflects growing concern that North Korea could strike it with nuclear or chemical warheads.

Some Japanese ruling party lawmakers are urging Abe to acquire strike weapons that could hit North Korean missile forces before any imminent attack.

 

Japan's navy, which is mostly a destroyer fleet, is the second largest in Asia after China's.

 

(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park in SEOUL, Tim Kelly in TOKYO and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by James Pearson and Phil Stewart; Editing by Alexander Smith and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-24

[Thechook]

Kimmie so wants to slap the U.S, 

[PatOngo]

Why don't they just $#!t or get off the pot! More sabre rattling!

[steven100]

bring it on Kim Jun ....   and see how you end up   !!

 

US will blow you out of the water  ....

[maewang99]

aha..... this is real news?

or it seems so as now there's a lot of fake news... 
this seems real in comparison. could it.... ??? 

no, it doesn't matter how you "feel" about this one....

 

   it's way way way one sided. 






 

      

Edited April 23, 2017 by maewang99

[darksidedog]

Difficult to know where this will end up. You have possibly the two biggest liars in worlds politics involved, so neither side can really be trusted.

While mainland US probably doesn't need to worry, South Korea does, as that is where the Norths arsenal will be headed.

This time round I can see this getting ugly.

[boomerangutang]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

bring it on Kim Jun ....   and see how you end up   !!

US will blow you out of the water  ....

                    Except it's the US in the water to begin with.  N.Korea's forces are land-based.  They won't be sending ships out to confront the US Navy, unless they (NK) have attack subs.

 

                 The Pentagon probably runs its war games contingent on N.Korea firing one, three or ten missiles at a target.  Do they plan for 100 or 200 missiles?  It's doubtful even the best defended carrier can handle over 50 missiles coming at it concurrently.  N.Koreans probably have other tricks up their sleeves.  Their military has been itching for a confrontation, for decades.  

 

                  Whatever happens, it bodes ill for N. and S. Koreans, but also doesn't have any upsides for US.  Even if the US succeeds in taking out Kim (which is a big if), there are 350 generals poised to take his place.  US aggression is just the excuse NK's need to levy mayhem and destruction to S.Korea - while attempting to hit targets in Japan and parts of US (Aleutian Islands, Kodiak, Alaska, for examples).   N. Korea is like 10,000 generals who are carpenters with hammers.  Each one is eagerly looking for nails to pound.   

 

                Currently, N.Korea's biggest offense is; its threats to develop nukes which, if successful, brings it up to a level with Pakistan, India, Israel and so on.  If Uncle Sam doesn't want nukes everywhere, He should set an example (along with others who have large nuke arsenals) and destroy his own.  

 

                  The US, under Trump, is like a fat bully at the schoolyard who made 1,000 giant firecrackers in his basement.  He tolerates his buddies building some firecrackers, but won't tolerate some of the other kids (the brats he hates, like Iran, N.Korea) making them.  As with everything else Trump says and does, it's ill-thought-out and two-faced.  Modern version of 'white man speaks with forked tongue.'

 

 

Edited April 24, 2017 by boomerangutang

[boomerangutang]

                                   One low-tech way N.Korea could respond to an attack by the US:  Chemical and/or bio attacks.  It can be done low-tech, and relatively cheap.  The west coast US is a rather large piece of real estate, with several large population areas.  Prevailing winds blow east from the Pacific.  In the same vein, one or more containers on ships could have nefarious cargo.   Sorry to say, but the US is vulnerable.  Multi-billion dollar US security forces + and the most mighty military in the world couldn't keep 19 guys from entering commercial passenger planes armed only with 50 cent box cutters, less than 20 yrs ago.  

 

                  And then there are hundreds of thousands of Americans traveling/residing in Asia at any given moment.  To say they're vulnerable to harm, is an understatement.

[steven100]

boomerangutang,   you are correct in what you say  ...  however just thinking about it ,    so you have a country that is continually provocative in it's nuclear testing program with shooting off missiles every 3-4 months ....  it continues to build an arsenal of weapons year after year and has not towed the line with the international community unanimously requesting that Kim Jun ceases it's nuclear development program altogether.

So do you let a country that persists in building it's dangerous weaponry arsenal continue year after year ?   so every year the threat becomes more problematic as the nuclear missile becomes more advanced and more quantity ......

Or do you stop it now to avoid the above by force ?

[boomerangutang]

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

boomerangutang,   you are correct in what you say  ...  however just thinking about it ,    so you have a country that is continually provocative in it's nuclear testing program with shooting off missiles every 3-4 months ....  it continues to build an arsenal of weapons year after year and has not towed the line with the international community unanimously requesting that Kim Jun ceases it's nuclear development program altogether.

So do you let a country that persists in building it's dangerous weaponry arsenal continue year after year ?   so every year the threat becomes more problematic as the nuclear missile becomes more advanced and more quantity ......

Or do you stop it now to avoid the above by force ?

              Good points.  Of course it's a sticky situation.  There are no easy solutions.  Probably the best is to be reasonably friendly with N.Korea (cultural, sports, biz, tourist exchanges) while conversing.  

 

                Concurrently, the US and all other nuke countries should be actively trying to lower the # of nukes worldwide.  Not easy at all, but sometimes the most worthwhile goals are difficult to achieve.  

 

                       I proposed earlier:  Each nuke country could be encouraged to lower their arsenal by 50% each year for the next 8 years.  At the 8 year mark, all remaining nukes - destroyed.  Any country/entity not complying would be sanctioned heavily.   

 

[Retiredandhappyhere]

42 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

              Good points.  Of course it's a sticky situation.  There are no easy solutions.  Probably the best is to be reasonably friendly with N.Korea (cultural, sports, biz, tourist exchanges) while conversing.  

 

                Concurrently, the US and all other nuke countries should be actively trying to lower the # of nukes worldwide.  Not easy at all, but sometimes the most worthwhile goals are difficult to achieve.  

 

                       I proposed earlier:  Each nuke country could be encouraged to lower their arsenal by 50% each year for the next 8 years.  At the 8 year mark, all remaining nukes - destroyed.  Any country/entity not complying would be sanctioned heavily.   

 

Well, we all know how ineffective sanctions have proved in the past.   While reasonable countries might conceivably comply with a gradual reduction in nuclear weapons, meanwhile  North Korea would continue to develop and build up its own arsenal and could become the world's strongest nuclear power at the end of your proposed 8 year period.  With a North Korean maniac in control of the button, the whole world could be at risk.

 

One way or another Kimmy must not be allowed to continue with his nuclear and missile program. We must remember the last time that the world ignored threats from a maniacal dictator, with the resulting loss of millions of lives.

[ddavidovsky]

The US and S. Korea have caused this by their continuous provocation. They just won't stop threatening N. Korea, so of course N. Korea builds up defensive weapons. They not out to invade anyone or build an empire - their leaders just want to survive and they know S. Korea and the US are itching to obliterate them.

 

Subconscious human instinct is at play here on a deeper level than the politicians understand. They just want to obliterate N. Korea because it's a freak show. They don't understand why they feel that way, but they just do and they will. They use their own insecurity as an excuse to bring about conflict.

 

Some people want to fight it out. There are always people like that. But especially now that nukes are involved, I say be patient and leave them be. Time will bring about a natural change. In the meantime the N. Koreans have simply got the government they deserve.

[boomerangutang]

               People, as a species, are no more evolved emotionally, than coyotes or baboons, they're just more complicated thinkers.

 

                   They have manifold allegiances to immediate family, region, country, race, religion, attractiveness (example: Trump gets giddy around pretty young women, yet only tolerates elder women).

 

                 Familiarity plays a big part in the we/they, like/dislike outlooks of people.   If any person in the Oval Office had family members in N.Korea or shared the same ideology, or had grown up there or liked a particular city/song/cultural artifact/religion there, .....the whole US/Korea stand-off would be different.   

 

                    When the US was gearing up to bomb Japan at the end of WWII, they didn't pick Kyoto.  Why?  Probably because Kyoto has a reputation as a beautiful culturally-distinct city.  Perhaps one of Truman's family had once visited there and/or made friends with a resident.  Just odd little things like that can sway the human mind (of the deciders) one way or another.  Our species is extremely subjective and fickle.

 

                     That's why, re; N.Korea imbroglio, it's better to go the route of dialogue than dropping bombs.  Perhaps if Trump, or members of his family, or WH insiders felt a tinge of personal connection to any N.Korean people or places, they would be less eager to bomb them to charred bits of radioactivity.

[boomerangutang]

1 minute ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

Well, we all know how ineffective sanctions have proved in the past.   While reasonable countries might conceivably comply with a gradual reduction in nuclear weapons, meanwhile  North Korea would continue to develop and build up its own arsenal and could become the world's strongest nuclear power at the end of your proposed 8 year period.  With a North Korean maniac in control of the button, the whole world could be at risk.

 

One way or another Kimmy must not be allowed to continue with his nuclear and missile program. We must remember the last time that the world ignored threats from a maniacal dictator, with the resulting loss of millions of lives.

I'll grant that's a bad-case scenario: if the rest of the nuke-holding countries lessened their arsenals, and N.Korea kept developing theirs.     However, there are other scenarios which could unfold.   

 

When some doctors claimed they had a plan to eradicate small pox from the world - there surely was a loud response saying how ridiculous that concept was.  No pathogen had every been eradicated (by people) in the history of the world.  Yet, the plan was implemented, and it succeeded.  

 

Kim is mortal. Mortals die or get kicked off their pedestals. Others take their places.  What's bad now, won't always be bad.  

[klauskunkel]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

after a two-page feature about leader Kim Jong Un inspecting a pig farm.

a caring young man showing his love for his family.

[ilostmypassword]

17 minutes ago, ddavidovsky said:

The US and S. Korea have caused this by their continuous provocation. They just won't stop threatening N. Korea, so of course N. Korea builds up defensive weapons. They not out to invade anyone or build an empire - their leaders just want to survive and they know S. Korea and the US are itching to obliterate them.

 

Subconscious human instinct is at play here on a deeper level than the politicians understand. They just want to obliterate N. Korea because it's a freak show. They don't understand why they feel that way, but they just do and they will. They use their own insecurity as an excuse to bring about conflict.

 

Some people want to fight it out. There are always people like that. But especially now that nukes are involved, I say be patient and leave them be. Time will bring about a natural change. In the meantime the N. Koreans have simply got the government they deserve.

South Korea is definitely not itching to obliterate North Korea. The last thing they want is to have a collapsed economic basket case on their border. It was hard enough for West Germany to absorb East Germany.  For South Korea to absorb North Korea, where the economic disparity is much greater and the population ratio of North to South much worse, it would poise a huge, possibly unmanageable financial strain.

Edited April 24, 2017 by ilostmypassword

[boomerangutang]

                     Also: re; Nukes.   Having the most nukes doesn't make a country a sure-bet to succeed in a war.   The US has had the most nukes for decades, and it still got seriously bombed in 2001, NYC and Wash. D.C.

 

               Non-nuke conventional weapons, and crafty battlefield tactics probably count for more than nukes in deciding who wins. 

 

                   The US was embroiled in the VN war for over a decade. Yet the whole time (up until the last hour), US generals thought for sure the US would prevail because they had the premier weapons in the world, fighting against smaller guys in flip flops, riding bicycles.   Look what happened.

 

                   A US army base could be seriously damaged by some guys with PVC pipe bought at a local hardware store, along with some home-made explosives.   The pipe could be strapped together to make a catapault.  Most US bases just have 3 meter chain link fences around them.  With some imagination and luck, low tech weapons can do a lot of damage.

 

                     The most powerful and largest battleship made by the Brits in WWII, was disabled with one or two iron bombs falling on its deck.  Within minutes, it was lying on the sea bed.  Only 2 survivors.  In the same battle, the most powerful and largest German battleship was put out of commission by a single prop airplane dropping a single torpedo which damaged the Bismark's rudder.  Dead in the water.

 

                         What Pentagon officials have never understood:   low-tech, low-cost weapons can cause every bit as much damage as multi-billion dollar highest-tech whiz-bank systems - if craftily utilized.

 

                   The US spends tens of billions on intelligence gathering, but does not have 1 single person spying on either N.Korea or ISIS.    They call it HUMINT (for; human intelligence).   And the US scores F's for HUMINT.   Heck, the top commanders in D.C. don't even know where their own aircraft carriers are.

 

[boomerangutang]

Re; the recent failed N.Korean missile launch.  Directly after, a top security person in the WH was asked by a reporter whether the US had any involvement with the failed missile test.  "Did the US interfere with that test, by electronic meddling, or.......?"

 

The woman WH insider responded, with a wink and a grin,  "If we did, would we say so?"

[Roadman]

2 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

                    Except it's the US in the water to begin with.  N.Korea's forces are land-based.  They won't be sending ships out to confront the US Navy, unless they (NK) have attack subs.

 

                 The Pentagon probably runs its war games contingent on N.Korea firing one, three or ten missiles at a target.  Do they plan for 100 or 200 missiles?  It's doubtful even the best defended carrier can handle over 50 missiles coming at it concurrently.  N.Koreans probably have other tricks up their sleeves.  Their military has been itching for a confrontation, for decades.  

 

                  Whatever happens, it bodes ill for N. and S. Koreans, but also doesn't have any upsides for US.  Even if the US succeeds in taking out Kim (which is a big if), there are 350 generals poised to take his place.  US aggression is just the excuse NK's need to levy mayhem and destruction to S.Korea - while attempting to hit targets in Japan and parts of US (Aleutian Islands, Kodiak, Alaska, for examples).   N. Korea is like 10,000 generals who are carpenters with hammers.  Each one is eagerly looking for nails to pound.   

 

                Currently, N.Korea's biggest offense is; its threats to develop nukes which, if successful, brings it up to a level with Pakistan, India, Israel and so on.  If Uncle Sam doesn't want nukes everywhere, He should set an example (along with others who have large nuke arsenals) and destroy his own.  

 

                  The US, under Trump, is like a fat bully at the schoolyard who made 1,000 giant firecrackers in his basement.  He tolerates his buddies building some firecrackers, but won't tolerate some of the other kids (the brats he hates, like Iran, N.Korea) making them.  As with everything else Trump says and does, it's ill-thought-out and two-faced.  Modern version of 'white man speaks with forked tongue.'

 

 

You will find the Japanese have possibly the second best hi tech fleet behind the USA and it is heavily built on missile defensive systems. Japan is up there with the USA and Germany in high quality technology and among their fleet are the best undetectable submarines. And they have several of them. The Japanese are in this fleet as well and while they are telling us what can be seen on the surface given the provocation that fat boy is poking at Japan as well there will be several of their subs in the area. Would be a chance also for the Japanese to test their defense missile systems.  So think the plan for 100 or 200 of fat boys missiles is well catered for but not sure if that leaves short distance targets in South Korea safe. 

Would be good if the USA could stick a drone up his, his extended family and key advisers back sides in one hit. 

[F4UCorsair]

22 minutes ago, Roadman said:

You will find the Japanese have possibly the second best hi tech fleet behind the USA and it is heavily built on missile defensive systems. Japan is up there with the USA and Germany in high quality technology and among their fleet are the best undetectable submarines. And they have several of them. The Japanese are in this fleet as well and while they are telling us what can be seen on the surface given the provocation that fat boy is poking at Japan as well there will be several of their subs in the area. Would be a chance also for the Japanese to test their defense missile systems.  So think the plan for 100 or 200 of fat boys missiles is well catered for but not sure if that leaves short distance targets in South Korea safe. 

Would be good if the USA could stick a drone up his, his extended family and key advisers back sides in one hit. 

 

Japan doesn't have first strike capability.   Their forces are known as SELF Defence Forces, so in theory, at least, they need to be attacked before they can initiate military action.  I don't know what needs to be done to change that, possibly constitutional change, but my understanding is that it's as a result of their stupidity during WW2, and imposed on them, and obviously agreed to, by the US, as part of the post war negotiations/treaties??

 

Good luck KJU.   You're not going to know what hit you, or where it came from.  Whichever/whatever, you're going to end up dead if you don't modify your rhetoric.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2017 by F4UCorsair

[F4UCorsair]

57 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

                     Also: re; Nukes.   Having the most nukes doesn't make a country a sure-bet to succeed in a war.   The US has had the most nukes for decades, and it still got seriously bombed in 2001, NYC and Wash. D.C.

 

               Non-nuke conventional weapons, and crafty battlefield tactics probably count for more than nukes in deciding who wins. 

 

                   The US was embroiled in the VN war for over a decade. Yet the whole time (up until the last hour), US generals thought for sure the US would prevail because they had the premier weapons in the world, fighting against smaller guys in flip flops, riding bicycles.   Look what happened.

 

                   A US army base could be seriously damaged by some guys with PVC pipe bought at a local hardware store, along with some home-made explosives.   The pipe could be strapped together to make a catapault.  Most US bases just have 3 meter chain link fences around them.  With some imagination and luck, low tech weapons can do a lot of damage.

 

                     The most powerful and largest battleship made by the Brits in WWII, was disabled with one or two iron bombs falling on its deck.  Within minutes, it was lying on the sea bed.  Only 2 survivors.  In the same battle, the most powerful and largest German battleship was put out of commission by a single prop airplane dropping a single torpedo which damaged the Bismark's rudder.  Dead in the water.

 

                         What Pentagon officials have never understood:   low-tech, low-cost weapons can cause every bit as much damage as multi-billion dollar highest-tech whiz-bank systems - if craftily utilized.

 

                   The US spends tens of billions on intelligence gathering, but does not have 1 single person spying on either N.Korea or ISIS.    They call it HUMINT (for; human intelligence).   And the US scores F's for HUMINT.   Heck, the top commanders in D.C. don't even know where their own aircraft carriers are.

 

 

 

 

How you can say, with any authority, that the US has NO ONE spying on North Korea or ISIS is beyond me.   How would the man in the street have any idea what the intelligence services of ANY country are doing.   Your assertion lacks credibility.

 

You can be sure of one thing, and that is that the US is not going to lose this stoush, and not a lot of HUMINT is required to see that.

[attrayant]

2 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

One low-tech way N.Korea could respond to an attack by the US:  Chemical and/or bio attacks.  It can be done low-tech, and relatively cheap.  The west coast US is a rather large piece of real estate, with several large population areas.  Prevailing winds blow east from the Pacific.

 

Chemical and bio-weapon payloads have a pretty short half-life once exposed to the environment.  The sarin gas used by Assad breaks down in just a few hours. Gaseous chemicals couldn't be heavier than air or they'd become absorbed by seawater, nor lighter than air or they'd waft up into the upper atmosphere.  You pretty much have to hit your target directly to score casualties from chemical or bio attacks.

 

Radiation travels farther but still takes time and becomes significantly attenuated.  It took about five years for Fukushima radiation to be detected off the west coast of the USA, but the levels are extremely low and pose no health threat.  The US has, according to Wikipedia, carried out more than 1000 nuclear tests in the southwest and Pacific Ocean, and I haven't heard anything about the after-effects of whatever fallout resulted.

[F4UCorsair]

Just now, attrayant said:

 

Chemical and bio-weapon payloads have a pretty short half-life once exposed to the environment.  The sarin gas used by Assad breaks down in just a few hours. Gaseous chemicals couldn't be heavier than air or they'd become absorbed by seawater, nor lighter than air or they'd waft up into the upper atmosphere.  You pretty much have to hit your target directly to score casualties from chemical or bio attacks.

 

Radiation travels farther but still takes time and becomes significantly attenuated.  It took about five years for Fukushima radiation to be detected off the west coast of the USA, but the levels are extremely low and pose no health threat.  The US has, according to Wikipedia, carried out more than 1000 nuclear tests in the southwest and Pacific Ocean, and I haven't heard anything about the after-effects of whatever fallout resulted.

 

And Hiroshima and Nagasaki were continuously occupied from the time the bombs were dropped.

 

I understand that radiation is a very dangerous consequence of the use of nuclear weapons, but I think it's danger is way overrated, and that's not a bad thing.

[sweatalot]

enough is enough

[billd766]

3 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

              Good points.  Of course it's a sticky situation.  There are no easy solutions.  Probably the best is to be reasonably friendly with N.Korea (cultural, sports, biz, tourist exchanges) while conversing.  

 

                Concurrently, the US and all other nuke countries should be actively trying to lower the # of nukes worldwide.  Not easy at all, but sometimes the most worthwhile goals are difficult to achieve.  

 

                       I proposed earlier:  Each nuke country could be encouraged to lower their arsenal by 50% each year for the next 8 years.  At the 8 year mark, all remaining nukes - destroyed.  Any country/entity not complying would be sanctioned heavily.   

 

 

The problem that I can see there is that if every other country has destroyed its nuclear weapons they won't be able to sanction the remaining country as it can retaliate with the nuclear weapons that it didn't destroy.

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, F4UCorsair said:

 

And Hiroshima and Nagasaki were continuously occupied from the time the bombs were dropped.

 

I understand that radiation is a very dangerous consequence of the use of nuclear weapons, but I think it's danger is way overrated, and that's not a bad thing.

Radiation is not the destructive force of massive use of nuclear weapon. Neither are the shockwaves. Those two together kills just few tens/hundreds millions of people. Not a biggie in case of nuclear war.

[transam]

4 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Difficult to know where this will end up. You have possibly the two biggest liars in worlds politics involved, so neither side can really be trusted.

While mainland US probably doesn't need to worry, South Korea does, as that is where the Norths arsenal will be headed.

This time round I can see this getting ugly.

But the USA isn't lying about it's military capability, NK is.....

[Khon Kaen Dave]

The stage is set, we have two actors on stage. They are both Sabre rattling, puffing out their chests and threatening each other with battle.

When i put this to music, it is very much like Tchaikovsky's, music to Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliette. Where the Montague's(Romeo's  family) and the Capulet's (juliette's family) Take centre stage and stride up and down the boards in silent, threatening hatred of each other.

I suppose you would have to have seen it to appreciate the scene.

Edited April 24, 2017 by Khon Kaen Dave
additional content.

[F4UCorsair]

1 hour ago, oilinki said:

Radiation is not the destructive force of massive use of nuclear weapon. Neither are the shockwaves. Those two together kills just few tens/hundreds millions of people. Not a biggie in case of nuclear war.

 

You must read my post and the quote.   That's not what I was suggesting.

 

The only two nuclear attacks killed hundreds of THOUSANDS, not MILLIONS.  I put all my faith in Wikipedia, but this is a quote from the Wiki entry

 

Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects of the atomic bombings killed 90,000–146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000–80,000 in Nagasaki; roughly half of the deaths in each city occurred on the first day. 

 

Here's the link if you're interested

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

Edited April 24, 2017 by F4UCorsair

[ddavidovsky]

3 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

South Korea is definitely not itching to obliterate North Korea. The last thing they want is to have a collapsed economic basket case on their border. It was hard enough for West Germany to absorb East Germany.  For South Korea to absorb North Korea, where the economic disparity is much greater and the population ratio of North to South much worse, it would poise a huge, possibly unmanageable financial strain.

Integration is inevitable at some point. They know that.

Because of the economic disparity, there will have to be a transition period with two administrations/systems for a while, and even border controls.

 

Economically though, it'll be no problem for the South - in fact it will be a bonanza - big new pool of cheap labour, and a whole new market to sell to. They will have a fine time sorting it out. In any case, better than all the tension and living next door to a lunatic.