North Korea's missiles again...

[vanpeebles]

Nook-a-gook!

[MisterBubbles]

The N Korean's aint very good poker players i think, read this guy like a book, the country is bankrupt and needs cash, so he all in with a super bluff. We are starting a war unless you give us aid and cash, call his bluff and invade the place.

[Wools]

North Korea have always blown hot air but the recent developments are alarming.

This isn't Iraq where it was suspected but not proved, this is North Korea threatening to launch nuclear weapons. Really bloody terrifying...

[wakka]

If you're worried about some sort of all-out global nuclear war, don't be. The North Koreans' basic technology would only let them fire a few missiles at South Korea, and nuclear stockpiles worldwide are a fraction of what they were during the Cold War - meaning MAD isn't going to happen any time soon.

[darkangel]

If you want to be worried about Nuclear war then I strongly advise you to turn your attention to Iran. Now THAT is real cause for concern.

[dataDave]

Soviet Russia never had the bollocks for it... Which means no one else will, ever.

[dataDave]

If you want to be worried about Nuclear war then I strongly advise you to turn your attention to Iran. Now THAT is real cause for concern.

Why, exactly? Unless we're looking at Israel nuking them.

[Sketcz]

If you're worried about some sort of all-out global nuclear war, don't be.

I'm not worried! I don't think anyone will actually do it. But the media frenzy is interesting.

[Wools]

If you're worried about some sort of all-out global nuclear war, don't be. The North Koreans' basic technology would only let them fire a few missiles at South Korea, and nuclear stockpiles worldwide are a fraction of what they were during the Cold War - meaning MAD isn't going to happen any time soon.

I guess the only way that could happen is for North Korea to fire at the South, Japan, America or anyone in the vinincity and for the US, Europe, or the UN to respond. That counter attack could rub Russia or China (The North Koreans greatest supporters) the wrong way and then it could escalate.

As I've said, these baseless threats have come out of the North for years, but this is a jump from their usual meanings into something a bit more serious. With a new, young leader, they could do something. If they had more intelligence, they should back off with their Cold War era technology.

If they did start a war with the south or launched a missile into another country, how do you think Russia or China would respond?

[MartyG]

The New Scientist article on the threat is worth a read.

[Wools]

Thanks for the link.

So it seems likely that North Korea could easily launch nuclear weapons against the South or Japan. As always with North Korea, exactly why they would want to is up for debate, but the results and counter attack would easily wipe out their dictatorship.

Hopefully China & Russia see sense if something did occur.

[Neon Ignition]

It's and old school dictatorship willy waving in the face of modern politics. If North Korea launched a nuclear attack China and Russia would drop them like a bad habit and it'd be a short conflict before the North Korean top brass were KO'd and they know that. Kim is young and following in his fathers footsteps and is trying to make a mark with a bit of saber rattling as his regime continues to lose relevance in a changing world were similar leaders have repeatedly met bad ends as the world moves on. The problem is he's his fathers son and isn't intelligent enough to adapt. There'll be no massive world scale war or anything that dramatic, I'm not concerned by this latest noise. Before old age gets him he'll be another prat who meets his fate at the wrong end of the barrel of a gun.

[wakka]

I guess the only way that could happen is for North Korea to fire at the South, Japan, America or anyone in the vinincity and for the US, Europe, or the UN to respond. That counter attack could rub Russia or China (The North Koreans greatest supporters) the wrong way and then it could escalate.

Possibly, but that's a very unlikely scenario. North Korea's missiles would certainly not reach as far as the US, South Korea and Japan would be their only realistic prospects for a nuclear strike. Despite the bitter enmity between Japan and NK, SK would almost certainly be the one to get it, as it would be easier to justify on the pretext of 'unification'.

So SK gets nuked - what do Russia and China do? Russia would do very little. Although it established NK and is at least partly responsible for the Kim clan's unbroken half-century rule, they're no longer a Communist country and have deeply vested interests in maintaining good global relations. Why would they put themselves out on a limb for a rogue state that seemed like a good idea in the 50s?

China are NK's only friend and supporter, but realistically they need to drop them eventually anyway if they want to continue their rapid ascent to being a first world nation. They also are heavily reliant on global trade in order to continue their rapid industrialisation, and have a fraction of the number of nuclear warheads that the US and Britain do. It would be insanity to believe that China would be prepared to enter all out war with the United States and its allies for the sake of NK.

More likely than any of this is that NK simply won't launch any nukes at all. Sabre rattling and generally being obnoxious is their MO. First they want to have the six party talks, then they don't want to have them, then they do but they break the agreement that they made at them, and on and on. The Kim family is essentially a Mafia-style crime family - they're interested in maintaining wealth and power, not following a religious crusade. 'Unification' acts as a nice pretext for aggression towards SK, and their national ideology of Juche acts as a nice justification for the fact that they completely f*ck their people over by deliberately isolating themselves.

[MartyG]

There's a good Ted Talk on this: http://www.ted.com/talks/irwin_redle...terrorism.html

[nakamura]

I'm not scared of Nuclear war, in fact I know how it will feel. You know that moment when you open a hot oven and get a massive blast in your face, the sort that heats up your glasses? A nuclear strike will be just like that. Only you wont get to wipe your glasses off afterwards.