N Korea Warns: "Annihilating Strike & a Nuclear War"

F- North Korea. What's their problem?

 

It is a one man problem, this is a case where an assasination would do the world wonders.

DD

 

Yes and no. If the current North Korean crazy was the first one, I'd say this might work. But North Korea's had over 50 years of this kind of leadership - the people are almost programmed to think of us as evil and an assasination would just mean a new crazy could move in and start trouble again.

I really can't think of any simple way to deal with North Korea.

 

It's mere rhetoric, nothing significant about it. There have been a few instances in the past where officials have used the nuclear annihilation threat in retaliation; the Israelis have been known to make such threats in the past...

 

Exactly - this is essentially the policy of most countries in the world. Attack us, we will fight back with nukes if necessary. What else is the point of having nukes?

What makes North Korea unique is that they seem to honestly think that verbalizing it over and over makes them tough. Strange, to say the least.

 

I think the best approach to North Korea is to monitor them and ignore them. They talk tough and are crazy enough to follow through on their threats, but I don't see them starting anything without being provoked.

 

Let's hope they don't provoke the United States...

 

I wouldn't touch NK with a ten-foot pole. They've never once threatened US or other sovereign nations. The only real reason behind their nuclear arms buildup is to protect against invasion from the South or the US.

Granted it's a terrible situation for the starving people there, but this is the job of the UN.

 

North Korea is not a threat. It's surrounded by giants that would annihilate it the second that first missile is launched. They're of absolutely no to little concern to me or -- I imagine -- the US leadership as well, which leads me to agree with the current approach to North Korea: ignore them!

Whom are they a threat to? Certainly not Russia nor China. They're not much of a threat to its neighbor the United States either (the U.S. has a sizable military presence in not only South Korea, but the East Asia region in general). An attack on Japan or South Korea would be treated in the exact same manner as an attack on Hawaii or Alaska, and would be retaliated against in the same manner as well.

In short, North Korea's threat is nullified by its geographic reality...now if they were in the Middle East it would be an entirely different story.

 

North Korea is a threat to S. Korea despite the U.S. presence. They have a 1 million man army and spend most of its budget on the military. They have a goal of a unified Korea. Worse than that Kim is insane, and so might not act rationally. They have already kidnapped Japanese government personnel.

 

I disagree, the North Koreans wouldn't risk a full-scale confrontation with the U.S. As for Kim being 'irrational', I can't tell you how many times we have heard that from the news media about a number of world leaders...I don't buy that. He's apparently rational enough to understand that having nukes is the best way to remain in power and gain political/economic concessions for his country.

 

There are a couple of other issues. There is increasing sentiment in S. Korea to remove the U.S. troops. Plus if the U.S. engages elsewhere in the world such as Iran, the U.S. may need to pull some more troops from S. Korea.

Saying that Kim isn't irrational because he has nukes isn't the best argument. That in itself may not be irrational but you are posing it as if an invasion of Kim is more likely than the other way around. That isn't the situation at all. The govt. of S. Korea doesn't really want an overthrow of Kim. Neither does China. That would mean a huge flood of uneducated starving masses that would come in and burden the ecnonomies of S. Korea and China. Kim is in little danger from his neighbors. Kim's neighbors don't want to take over N. Korea. Kim does want to take over S. Korea.

Factories in N. Korea that were working under the elder Kim have been gutted. All of their insides have been sold to pay for more military equipment, and some food. Meanwhile Kim has ordered farmers that were growing food to shift their crops over to poppies and other narcotic crops in order to make money which doesn't go towards feeding his starving population but toward more military expenses or feeding those involved in the govt. People will join the military because that is the only way to get a steady diet assured. Thus their military is huge. A man who puts everything towards military at the cost of all other infrastructure etc. isn't stable.

 

They need aid.
N. Korea still thinks its at war with the US with S. Korea as a proxy.
Kim wants prestige and respect through notoriety.

Most of the world's attention was on Iran, so Kim wanted to show he still existed.

It's a crazy dance....

 

Technically if you check we are STILL at war with N. Korea...I believe.

 

It was North Korea that the U.S should have gone after, not Iraq. But I guess it's too late since they got Nukes.

 

There isn't oil in North Korea

-G'day-

 

North Korea could easily push Japan into producing nuclear-tipped missiles, which they could do in short order. Lots of people would view that in a most unhappy way. They might even feel threatened. For that reason alone, and there certainly others, North Korea is a threat. To think they are not is, in my opinion (and with all due respect... duck!), just silly.



Keep D&D Civil.

 

I don't view the likelihood of Japan producing nuclear-tipped missiles as a threat, especially not in a region that already features two of the world's foremost nuclear powers, which I believe will inevitably lead the Japanese to develop their own nuclear arsenal somewhere down the line, regardless of the North Korean threat. The Japanese have a lot of pride and are uneasy (to say the least) about China's massive military buildup in the past few years, I don't think they will stand by idle for too long.

Anyways, I am just not nearly as concerned about North Korea as some of you are, and if the South Koreans are asking U.S. troops to leave/reduce their presence in their country, I am not so sure they view the North Koreans as this huge menace. Furthermore, I believe it should suffice for the US to make it abundantly clear that any military move by North Korea against the South Koreans or the Japanese would result in their annihilation.

 

the situation in North Korea is nothing more than someone protecting themselves from a Bully...


one of the worst speeches president Bush ever made was his State of the Union address...

where he called Iraq, Iran and North Korea part of the Axis of Evil

and then subsequently... Unilaterally invading Iraq...

im not saying if America was right or wrong with Iraq... history will prove that out...


and I can understand why Bush even made the speech... as it was a attempt to rally support...

but put yourself in the shoes of Iranian or North Korean....years after the United States attacked Iraq under a "pre emptive" strike to protect itself...

truthfully....what would you do?

Now keeping Bush's speech in mind...and not that I would condone this... but

can you see the similarities when... the Iranian President comes out and spouts out on the destruction of the Jewish state.. when he tries to rally support from his people...

or more recently all the stuff coming out from N. Korea and thier president...

dont get me wrong when you have to fight you have to fight...

but when you say things like "your either with us or against us"

or make pre emptive attacks on other nations no matter how right you think you are...

it makes it so much harder to rectify situations with diplomacy....