Senate The North Korea Issue

I mean, what if they test it over the ocean, with a nuclear detonation? I believe we tested actual nuclear weapons over the desert and the ocean.

 

Oh, that was covered by the Partial Test Ban Treaty, which the DPRK hasn't signed anyway. So...probably more sanctions, more PLA troops to the border, more US forces to the Northern Pacific, more regional tension.

 

Very unlikely.

 

For testing a missile? Are you Curtis LeMay?

 

Kim Jong-un has all the signs of a man who struggles with small penis issues, so he needs giant missiles to compensate for his diminutive member.

Its purely psychological with this guy. He's like a kid who's left home alone when he really isn't old enough to be, he just needs attention.

 

No, he just needs a snickers bar.

 

A reminder to keep this to discussion and not jokes/memes

 

Problem is South Korea would likely go with it, given the power of modern nuclear weapons and the range of the radiation fallout. China might even feel some of the hurt from a nuclear attack on N Korea.

It simply isn't worth hurting your allies just to pulverise an attention-seeking minor nation with a serious sense of self-importance. Ignore them and they will go away (or at least stop being noisy).



Also - The BBC is in trouble over a documentary on North Korea it has produced. The filming was done undercover as journalists went with a group of students, which critics says has put them in danger and was irresponsible.

 

Kim Jong Un is just doing what any 30 year old who has been handed an uber-corrupt oligarchy would do - trying to make sure he isn't going to get a knife in the back so he can keep drinking his 700 dollar bottles of whiskey and telling people his Dad invented books.

 

Well, in an attempt to get this thread up and running again, I thought we might examine the other side of the coin-South Korea's off the radar development of the capacity to deliver nuclear weapons:

South Korean ballistic missile range extension

Basically, South Korea has its own collection of conventionally-armed ballistic and cruise missiles; the one described in the article with its payload weight of about 500 kilograms could certainly loft even a crude device, and their 1,000-1,500 kilometer ranges hold all of the DPRK at risk, honestly:

Drive image

South Korean Ground-Launched Cruise Missile

South Korean Medium-Range Ballistic Missile

There's also a psychological impact to these weapons; assuming the DPRK believes half the nonsense it churns out, these almost have to be nuclear-armed from their point of view, which implies South Korean superiority in weapons development. It's an unpleasant catch-22 for them; either abandon the validity of their constant conspiracy theorizing about how everyone is out to get them, or acknowledge that the capitalist blasphemy to the South has them beaten.

 

The United States and South Korea signed a revised edition of their mutual-defense treaty today:

Treaty revision

 

Hrm, so if war were to break out on the Korean peninsula, we'd have U.S. forces under the command of the South Koreans? When's the last time we let an ally do that...the Battle of the Bulge?

 

It's not really surprising given Korea's typically conquered recent history-they were a possession of Manchu China, and then Japan, before WW2 ended. And honestly, it makes sense-their country. And yes, probably WW2-the Korean War was a UN operation in and of itself, but McArthur was the United Nations Command Commander, although hypothetically he reported to Syngman Rhee, the President of South Korea at the time.

 

Yeah, it also fits with the ongoing reduction of US combat personnel in SK, and the greater role of US support. As has been examined here in the forum, the current South Korean forces are leaps and bounds above where they were during the Korean war. The South Korean military almost exclusively uses licensed versions of US equipment. Unless it was changed under the new agreement, the only areas that the US solely holds onto are intelligence (spy planes and satellites, etc..) and air defense (the latest model of the Patriot)

The South Korean government would control the overall policy, but specific US units would be lead by US commanders. What would be interesting are the KATUSA's within Korea. Since South Korea still has the draft, mostly poor and/or undereducated Koreans serve mandatory service within the Korean military. Those Koreans who are wealthy, more educated, and/or those who pass more strict background checks can serve in the KATUSA program, which basically means that Korean soldiers are assigned within US military units. So Katusa's would be Korean soldiers serving within the US military, and then put back under overall Korean command....

 

Interesting to see what happens next after the recent purge of Kim's uncle. I read news reports saying that an actual gun fight broke out over some farms between Kim's and Jang's forces. If so, then there's likely some simmering discontent in the country amongst its elite. Not sure if executing the guy will permanently stamp that out

 

This is more concerning here, that apparently he's said that the military needs to be ready: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/12/kim-tells-n-korean-army-ready-combat-201312253919159350.html

Not sure if this is an indication that he's getting the military for internal conflicts to help quiet that situation, or if he's aiming at South Korea, either to try to force unity with an external enemy or some unrelated purpose.