[Flipside]

China aren't going to be happy one tiny bit with this latest threat, if anything will give the world the keys to regime change within a country, it's threatening Nuclear Armageddon. The idea of Western Troops wandering about in North Korea is the last thing China wants, and the more aggressive and psychopathic NK acts, the harder it is for China to justify non-military intervention in the face of the rest of the world.

Frankly, China would rather enforce regime change itself than have that kind of liability on its borders, it has its own National Security to think about and I wouldn't be surprised if extremely strong words are being had behind the scenes.

[Killer Whale]

If there is ever a nuclear war in the world, it will come out of some damned silly thing in North Korea.

[Nuke]

not really. i dont think they have any friends left. they will just get glassed and the world will have a very hard time caring. china and south korea might split it down the middle after that, if it wasnt all radioactive slag.

[BengalTiger]

I'm really torn on this subject. On one hand, the rulers of NK are out of control. On the other hand, that place is just one giant gulag, border to border, which means that "citizens" WILL do as they are told, which means massive death toll in case of invasion.

Just because CNN ain't all over North Korea doesn't mean they ain't dying now.

And that's bad, because people who just have been decimated by their "liberators" are bound to oppose them.

Many Germans surrendered to the US willingly in WW II.
Same story with lots of Iraqis when Saddam was being kicked out.

I have a feeling that the NK are not dumb enough to blindly follow their leader once the dictatorship gets deleted.
When Kim died, the majority of people were not crying upon a closer look. They just looked sad because they had to.

Getting free from the terror will more likely cause millions of people not knowing what to do (Freedom, the f*** is that?), rather than millions of people who want to go to war with the US/UN/NATO/China/South Korea/whoever else gets involved.

[Lorric]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9917155/North-Korea-says-prepare-for-war-following-fresh-UN-sanctions.html

Make of that what you will...

[Luis Dias]

Hey I got a great new idea! Let's play chicken with NK! What can possibly go wrong?

[StarSlayer]

To bad its probably not cost effective to cover South korea in Iron Dome launchers.

[Sololop]

I get the feeling if NK did launch anything of any kind towards US Airspace, it would get intercepted and destroyed long before it was a threat, would it not?

Intercepted by what? (Not that North Korea actually has any missiles that can reach the US)

I'm not actually sure. I know US Warships can fire missles at incoming missles, but I'm not sure what would be required to intercept and destroy an ICBM. But if any country could, I'd assume the US would have a way?

[Dragon]

To bad its probably not cost effective to cover South korea in Iron Dome launchers.

Trying to start building those could result in a preemptive rocket attack from NK. That's the problem with trying to do anything to them, they can and will bomb Seoul if anything happens to them. The best way of dealing with them might be to simply carpet the entire country with ICBMs timed to strike simultaneously, so they're flattened before they realize what's happening.

I'm not actually sure. I know US Warships can fire missles at incoming missles, but I'm not sure what would be required to intercept and destroy an ICBM. But if any country could, I'd assume the US would have a way?

Ship-based defenses, not to mention fighters can shot down ICBMs (or at least could, at some point in Cold War). Not that it matters much, NK doesn't have anything that could reach US, as mentioned.

[Apollo]

Nuclear ICBMs, or conventional ones?

[StarSlayer]

To be honest I really really hope hostilities with the DPRK do not erupt.  Those folks got perhaps the ****tiest end of the stick in the world.  A war would probably see North Koreans being killed in job lots for no other reason then being unfortunate enough to be born into some bat**** brainwashed crazy state. 

Lets face it most of that population doesn't know jack **** about anything, they've been force fed lies since birth. 

[Dark Hunter]

Part of me agrees with you, but another part of me wants NK's government to start something and subsequently be taken out, despite the immense difficulties in the short-term, because pretty much anything would be better than what the North Korean people are dealing with right now.

[Suongadon]

To bad its probably not cost effective to cover South korea in Iron Dome launchers.

Would that system even be able to track and hit artillery rounds? Cause I don't think anyone is all that worried about NK's arsenal of Soviet surplus Katyusha trucks when they've got thousands of artillery pieces to shoot VX at the south.


re; shooting missiles down. I forgot about the Aegis ABM thing. Suppose I could say I was being all specific-like with 'US Airspace' (the Aegis system has only been tested against short and intermediate range missiles with an 80% success rate, which would do for the missiles NK is known to have)

[NGTM-1R]

re; shooting missiles down. I forgot about the Aegis ABM thing. Suppose I could say I was being all specific-like with 'US Airspace' (the Aegis system has only been tested against short and intermediate range missiles with an 80% success rate, which would do for the missiles NK is known to have)

It's entirely possible to kill a real ballistic launch from Korea towards Japan/Guam/the US with existing technology. Has been for twenty years. Park a ship off the coast of Korea and shoot it down while the missile is still in the boost phase. It's only when it's tipped over and on its way back down that intercepting a ballistic missile grows hard.

[Suongadon]

Wouldn't those ships be a bit busy with the hundreds of anti-ship missiles being fired at them?

[NGTM-1R]

Wouldn't those ships be a bit busy with the hundreds of anti-ship missiles being fired at them?

Unlikely. They don't have to be in that close.

[Nuke]

To be honest I really really hope hostilities with the DPRK do not erupt.  Those folks got perhaps the ****tiest end of the stick in the world.  A war would probably see North Koreans being killed in job lots for no other reason then being unfortunate enough to be born into some bat**** brainwashed crazy state. 

Lets face it most of that population doesn't know jack **** about anything, they've been force fed lies since birth. 

i figure if we nuke military targets and centers of production. the people on the receiving end of that will be those loyal to the government. being assigned to a city is usually a privilege reserved for the most patriotic of their ranks (also those who are the most brainwashed by the cult of personality on which their government is based), while anyone who could be a threat are mostly sent to the rural parts of the country (for mining and agricultural jobs), where they can cause the least damage. while i dont see nk as being beyond using its own people as a human shield i tend to think a series of low yeild nuclear strikes could easily cripple the government and their military while minimizing civilian casualties (at least the ones that can be saved).

you wont do much damage to infrastructure because there is practically none used for the public benefit anyway. also while prolonged exposure to radiation may increase cancer rates, the fact that they will be allowed basic medical care will probibly lead to a lengthening of north korean lifespans. the country can then be turned over to south korea, because both sides want a unified korea anyway.

[StarSlayer]

To bad its probably not cost effective to cover South korea in Iron Dome launchers.

Would that system even be able to track and hit artillery rounds? Cause I don't think anyone is all that worried about NK's arsenal of Soviet surplus Katyusha trucks when they've got thousands of artillery pieces to shoot VX at the south.

The wikipedia write up indicates it can intercept tube artillery, however, since the Palestinians aren't exactly shelling Israel with Type 59s there isn't a lot of evidence to prove its effectiveness in that regard.

[Dragon]

Nuclear ICBMs, or conventional ones?

Nuclear. The idea is to take out the entire country before it knows what hit it (and has a chance to retaliate). As Nuke mentioned, such strike would take out the military and industry. It shouldn't do that much harm to civilians, because most of them live in the rural areas. And civilian infrastructure simply doesn't exist in NK. People in cities are probably the most brainwashed, and I would consider them acceptable loses at this point. They'd be very unlikely to recover from this. Rural population might be possible to save though, and I think it should be done.

[Apollo]

Nuclear ICBMs, or conventional ones?

Nuclear. The idea is to take out the entire country before it knows what hit it (and has a chance to retaliate). As Nuke mentioned, such strike would take out the military and industry. It shouldn't do that much harm to civilians, because most of them live in the rural areas. And civilian infrastructure simply doesn't exist in NK. People in cities are probably the most brainwashed, and I would consider them acceptable loses at this point. They'd be very unlikely to recover from this. Rural population might be possible to save though, and I think it should be done.

I really, really don't like that idea. Using a nuke would terrify the rest of the world's nuclear powers and in the worst-case-scenario it may lead to nuclear war. That might not be the only possibility, but it's a real concern and so potentially horrifying that we should do everything we can to avoid it. Let's not forget that China has nukes, and despite their present irritation with North Korea I doubt they'd be thrilled at the idea of us nuking them.

Nuclear weaponry should never be used until every possible alternative has been exhausted. Why would conventional weaponry be unsuitable for this task?

EDIT: One of my other concerns is that breaking the nuclear weapons taboo will lead to it being a somewhat accepted method of warfare.