Quote :

"N Korea is like the fat little kid on the play ground who thinks he is tough. He brags about his karate lessons, and his overall baddassery, and acts like a little tough punk to the other kids, but all he needs is for one kid to kick his ass and he will go home crying."

LOL

Maybe we just need an EMP blast to disable comm then blow up all their artillery installations in teh confusion!

[Edited on April 1, 2013 at 8:56 AM. Reason : a]

4/1/2013 8:54:28 AM

North Korea is the kid that always plays as Odd Job.

4/1/2013 11:47:07 AM

Quote :

"The end of what regime? A bomb explodes in the middle of a city and how does it point back to NK?"

Even with proliferation, there's a very short list of people who could supply a working nuclear device and an even shorter list of those who would have the audacity to detonate a nuclear device inside a US city. Also plenty of "tells" and ways to trace back the fissile materials to its source. Assuming the material is traced back to them, it's most likely one of two things: they did it themselves or they sold it to someone. Either of those scenarios will pretty much guarantee a very strong military response from the United States, one that would likely end that regime.

Of course, I think this entire scenario is highly unplausible to begin with, especially given that there's no benefit to the Kim regime in pulling a stunt like this.

4/1/2013 12:56:54 PM

Yeah, didn't you people see "The Sum of All Fears?"

4/1/2013 12:58:12 PM

Chances for strategic miscalculations are increasing.

http://freebeacon.com/border-patrol/

Quote :

"Border Patrol: China mobilizing troops, jets near Korea China has placed military forces on heightened alert in the northeastern part of the country as tensions mount on the Korean peninsula following recent threats by Pyongyang to attack, U.S. officials said. Reports from the region reveal the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently increased its military posture in response to the heightened tensions, specifically North Korea’s declaration of a “state of war” and threats to conduct missile attacks against the United States and South Korea. According to the officials, the PLA has stepped up military mobilization in the border region with North Korea since mid-March, including troop movements and warplane activity. China’s navy also conducted live-firing naval drills by warships in the Yellow Sea that were set to end Monday near the Korean peninsula, in apparent support of North Korea, which was angered by ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills that are set to continue throughout April. North Korea, meanwhile, is mobilizing missile forces, including road-mobile short- and medium-range missiles, according to officials familiar with satellite imagery of missile bases. The missile activity is believed to be North Korea’s response to the ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises that last week included highly publicized flights by two B-2 strategic nuclear bombers near North Korean territory as part of annual military exercises. North Korea’s government announced last week that since March 26 its missile and artillery forces have been placed on the highest alert status. Specifically, Nodong medium-range missiles and their mobile launchers were spotted in satellite imagery, the officials said. There are also indications North Korea will soon conduct a flight test of its new KN-08 road-mobile ICBM or its intermediate-range Musudan mobile missile. Test preparations had been detected in the past, the officials said. A military provocation by North Korean forces against the South is not expected while the current war games are underway in South Korea, officials said. However, the situation remains dangerous as hostilities could break out as a result of a miscalculation. South Korea’s government has said it would respond to any North Korean military provocation with force. The Chinese military activities near North Korea were detected in Jilin Province, and intelligence reports from the area on March 19 indicated that PLA forces were ordered to go to “Level One” alert status, the highest level of readiness. Large groups of soldiers were seen on the streets in Ji’an, a city in Jilin, amid reports that the PLA had been ordered to combat readiness status. PLA heavy armored vehicles, including tanks and armored personnel carriers, were reported moving near the Yalu River that separates China from North Korea. The troops were part of the 190th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, stationed in Benxi, in Liaoning Province. The movements are believed to be related to increased tensions in Korea. Additionally, PLA troops and military vehicles were seen near Baishan, in Jilin province, around March 21. Low-flying PLA air force jets, believed to be fighters, also were heard and seen at several border locations in China, including Yanji and Yanbian in Jilin, Kuancheng, in Hebei province, and Dandong, in Liaoning province. Chinese forces along the border responded to some unknown event in North Korea near Siniju on March 21 that involved Chinese fighter jets flying over the area. The officials said the Chinese military activities appear to be based on concerns about a new outbreak of conflict between North Korea and South Korea and the United States. China’s military maintains a long-standing defense treaty with the North that obligates China to defend North Korea in the event it is attacked. The last time Chinese forces backed Pyongyang was during the Korean War when tens of thousands of Chinese “volunteers” drove south into the peninsula. Chinese military spokesmen frequently refer to their relations with the Korean People’s Army, as the North Korean military is called, as ties “as close as lips and teeth.” Other reports from China indicate that the heightened tensions have led to a disruption of trade between China and North Korea along the border between the two countries. One sign of slowed commerce between China and North Korea was a Chinese Internet report from a restaurant owner in Dandong, China, a border city, who said commerce between the two countries was disrupted following North Korea’s Feb. 12 underground nuclear test. Since that time, it has been more difficult for the goods from North Korea to reach China because the North Korean Customs Office closed frequently as a result of increased Chinese inspections of North Korean goods. U.S. officials and private analysts said the slowdown may be a sign of Beijing’s displeasure at the North Korean nuclear test. China also held up exports of crude oil to North Korea in February, according to customs data reviewed by Reuters news agency. The agency said in a report that it was the first time deliveries of oil were cut since early 2007. However, in a sign of continuing close relations, the government of Jilin province announced March 27 that it plans to modernize railway links to North Korea to bolster cross-border economic and trade ties. The China Tumen-North Korea Rajin Railway and China Tumen-North Korea Chongjin Railway will be upgraded under the Jilin government plan, China’s official Global Times reported. Additionally, the Chinese plan to set up a special highway passenger line to connect Tumen to North Korea over the next several years. Other reports from the region stated that North Korean cities in the northern part of the country were placed on “combat” alert and have conducted evacuation drills, officials said. The drills have been carried out in three-day to five-day intervals when power and water supplies were suspended as part of the exercises. Chinese citizens living in border cities in China also reported hearing air-raid sirens as part of the exercises, officials said. U.S. officials say China’s main fear for its fraternal communist client regime in North Korea is a collapse of order that leads to large-scale refugee flows into China. Reports from inside North Korea also revealed that North Korean soldiers have been issued bread, instant noodles, sausages, milk, and dried fish that appeared to be supplied by the United Nations as aid meant for the civilian population. The Feb. 12 underground blast, North Korea’s third, is credited by analysts with setting off the latest round of belligerence by the Pyongyang regime. After the test, the U.S. government continued to refuse to acknowledge North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. That prompted the regime of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to issue unprecedented threats to fire nuclear missiles at the United States. The Pentagon responded by using annual military exercises with South Korea to fly B-52 strategic bombers and later B-2s near North Korea. Frontline F-22 fighter-bombers, the Air Force’s most advanced jets, were sent on Sunday to take part in the military drills. North Korea’s latest threats included announcing a state of war and cutting off military and other communications. North Korea’s ruling communist Korean Workers Party announced on Sunday that the nuclear arsenal is the “nation’s life” and would not be given up even if offered “billions of dollars,” the Associated Press reports."

4/2/2013 1:47:10 AM

This thing is friggin sweet!

Quote :

"The radar has been described by Lt. Gen Trey Obering (director of MDA) as being able to track an object the size of a baseball over San Francisco in California from the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, approximately 2,900 miles (4,700 km) away. The radar will guide land-based missiles from Alaska and California, as well as in-theatre assets."

4/2/2013 11:08:29 AM

^awesome. is that quote from an article?

4/2/2013 11:57:54 AM

Stolen from wikipedia, sorry.

CNN etc have been posting pictures of this thing for a couple days and I had never heard of it before. Went digging for info.

I think it's intended to be paired with that Destroyer that they also sent to the region.

4/2/2013 12:13:59 PM

That picture just screams "our country is more badass than your country"

4/2/2013 8:23:20 PM

Sounds good on paper but I see this war as more of a modern day ww1 than another gulf war.

4/2/2013 9:20:56 PM

Why?

4/2/2013 11:11:39 PM

People criticize NK as being backwards but really their military is very strong and close to what our ability was in the 40s. That may sound weak at first but when you consider the terrain and conditions of this potential war it is a nightmare. Yeah we would destroy their large conventional weapons quickly but i don't think they would lay down their arms like iraqis did. They'd fight to the death because of brainwashing.

They have had a 50 year head start to prepare for this war. Artillery is dug into several bunkers with mechanized doors to swing out, fire, and go back in. Soldiers also have tunnels and bunkers where they can hide from our bombers and then flood into korean towns for urban warfare.

We have struggled with urban warfare and also mountain insurgency against people who have very little training or resources. That is what this war would be like except against many more soliders who are well trained and well-armed.

If all went as planned it would drag out and last a long time with a lot of death to both koreas but not the us.

The real scary part is China. They could prop up the koreans to make the war go on forever. They will not allow the south to unify

4/3/2013 2:05:04 AM

hey look the NK propaganda corps has even infiltrated the wolf web!

ALL HAIL CAESAR the little fat one!

4/3/2013 8:02:41 AM

Dude theres no food in NK

I think we'll be ok

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

4/3/2013 1:19:51 PM

There's food for the officers and soldiers, just not the other people.

4/3/2013 1:29:41 PM

Quote :

"their military is very strong and close to what our ability was in the 40s."

Think we came a long way since the 40's.......

4/3/2013 1:29:53 PM

so if NK went to war with SK and the US backed SK with CHina backing NK, what would happen to US/China trade? That could cripple the US correct?

4/3/2013 2:00:52 PM

China WOULDN'T back a North Korea initiated war.

4/3/2013 2:05:59 PM

it would cripple china just as much, if not more. we can always reindustralize, but they can't just invent a new market the size of the US. they need us, and realize it too.

4/3/2013 2:12:19 PM

nk going tits up is bad for china and sk. neither wants to deal with the influx of super poor refugees or even worse having to go in and clean up the country after a war. it would be a nightmare

also china doesn't want to see the us with any permanent presence in nk. which is really fine by us. invading nk and then trying to modernize a non-existent economy in a country with people trained from birth to hate us is not something we want to get involved in.

everyone is really on the same side of this thing.

4/3/2013 2:25:04 PM

What does "final approval" to use nukes against US even mean?

From who? Why?

[Edited on April 3, 2013 at 3:39 PM. Reason : I honestly just think Kim Jong-Un is a fool]

4/3/2013 3:38:39 PM

a well placed missile could end this nuclear power plant before things get going.

4/3/2013 3:39:56 PM

Quote :

"There's food for the officers and soldiers, just not the other people."

There's not even enough food for many of the enlisted and junior officers.

Agreed that the South Korea, United States and China are all in violent agreement that they don't want a war. The human cost would be massive, and the economic disruption to trade would be catastrophic (more so for China than the United States, but everyone would be badly hurt).

I would nitpick on some of the hyperbole regarding North Korean military might (remember, the United States and South Korea have spent six decades planning for war with North Korea), but I think the broader point of "a war on the Korean peninsula would suck" still stands. North Korea's armed forces are a shadow of their former self, but they would do a lot of damage before collapsing.

Also note that while China may intervene in a second Korean War, I don't think they'd want to "make the war go on forever." China may not like a democratic, unified Korea on their border, but it would like it much less to have a bloody civil war on their frontier either. Stuff like that spills over (refugees, weapons, etc.).

4/3/2013 3:40:15 PM

^^^^ x 1000

[Edited on April 3, 2013 at 3:40 PM. Reason : ]

4/3/2013 3:40:41 PM

The war has already gone on forever because of Chinese intervention. They will continue to prop up the regime. Allowing it to crash means free market capitalism and democrazy spilling over into china which would be worse by their perspective.

4/3/2013 3:57:20 PM

H

[Edited on April 3, 2013 at 10:58 PM. Reason : U]

4/3/2013 10:57:39 PM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9973577/North-Korea-missile-threat-latest-live.html

Find the humor here.

4/5/2013 9:45:18 AM

North Korea:

4/5/2013 1:02:10 PM

Pretty good rundown of where things stand:

Quote :

"Today is Tuesday in Japan. Tomorrow is Tuesday in the US. Today (Monday) it was announced that tomorrow (Tuesday) the Commander of the US Pacific Command is going to testify before the Senate Arm's Committee that North Korea presents a, "clear and direct threat" to the United States of America, and the region.1 Today in Japan (Tuesday), or the same day as the hearing but a day after the announcement, Japan themselves announce that they are going to shoot down a missile even if it it's a test.2 This would have been a violation of the Potsdam Declaration unless the US approved it and specifically identified North Korea as a hostile threat to Japan, thus allowing their military to engage for non-defensive purposes --> which firing on a test launch may qualify as. If war were to break out the US Commander will assume control of both the Japanese defense forces, and the South Korean military as per the Korean Armistice Agreement of 1953 and other UN resolutions/Treaties.3 Japan is incapable of making this decision independent of the US giving permission/agreeing/being of the same mind. Now, last week the US announced that it was going to cancel a missile test off the coast of California.4 This was done because the US didn't want North Korea to misinterpret the test as being aggressive and having it lead to war. If you understand the history of the Korean War you'll understand why the North Koreans believe the US is the aggressor.5,6,7 Now, 2 days later, or this week General James Thurman (Commander of US/Korean forces) canceled a trip to Washington because of the tensions8 and now a day later the Japanese make the announcement that they will fire on a North Korean missile even if it's a test simultaneously with Admiral Samuel Locklear giving testimony before the Senate which formally allows Japan to fire. The article referenced here, the main article in this thread which states that North Korea has notified foreign embassies of their intent to test a missile on Wednesday (tomorrow) was also from the same day (Tuesday). Although I have no idea who said what to who first, the order that they came in across the international news outlets for me was (1) Admiral Locklear announcement, (2) Japan announcement, (3) North Korea announcement... meaning that North Korea may have been aware of Japan & Locklear's statements before they made their own. If they were not aware then they cannot get out of this without looking weak. The hand has been over played. This is a way for the US to exert it's dominance. This is a way for the US to tell North Korea to do whatever the fuck it wants, but to understand that they are going to be fighting everyone. US Pacific Fleet. ROK forces. Japan. China isn't going to help[citation needed] <--this is why Obama said any response would be proportional9 and all Russia wants to do is make money.10 Kind of interesting how quickly they picked up on capitalism, no? They're fucked now. There is no way out. This is how and where it's going to start or they're not going to bite. If they even think about firing a missile we're going to try and shoot it down. Fuck your test. The test in California just got moved to Japan. It's not a test. This just got real. No one is interested in barking anymore. You guys seriously need to understand this shit. This is where it gets dangerous and this should NOT be minimized. North Korea is a failed state that cannot feed its own people. It will implode and self destruct without some sort of intervention. Historically, Kim Jung Un's father was able to do this every few years to get food. The new South Korean President promised to help with food but gave no specific terms. You can read about this and other comments she's made more recently here, here, here, here, and here. This is the beginning of the end for North Korea. Something is going to happen now. Even with intervention North Korea will never be the same. Kim Jung Un may or may not maintain power (or his life). So their back is against a wall right now. This isn't funny. How they respond to Japan shooting down a missile could lead to all out war. If they don't go to war, the country is likely to implode without massive international intervention because of how bad the conditions are there, and if Kim Jung Un tries to abandon the nuclear program and oust the military? He'll likely be killed. There was already an attempt on his life last year.11 The Swiss offered their assistance to mediate this and have said to have already been in contact with the North Koreans.12 "For North Korea, symbols are very important," she told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper in an interview. "What the North Koreans still want is recognition and security guarantees from the United States." Essentially what you're seeing here is an impossible situation that is gradually approaching a precipice. Washington has said no negotiations whatsoever until you completely abandon their nuclear program or you will starve to death. But if they up and abandon their military... then it may also mean death, at least the North Koreans may very well believe so. This is essentially the only way they can get to negotiate directly with anyone. They must do this for their survival. You are witnessing complete desperation. They cannot go on like this any longer. North Korea began experiencing sanctions starting in 199313, a year before Kim Sung Il died. A nice chronology of events from 1945 through the present can be found here. So you go back to the 40s and read your way up. Then Kim Jung Il takes power and his situation was at least a lot better than Kim Jung Un's situation right now. I'm not defending them, or taking their side, but from their perspective this entire situation is completely different. What's really amusing is that this chronology literally has a single entry for the 1970s, and a single entry for the 1980s. I don't feel like extensively citing this but basically what happened during this time is Mao died, China changed, and the USSR collapsed. North Korea just kind of watched it all from the sidelines and was more or less helpless to change themselves. China never officially changed. North Korea just couldn't flip a switch and become a liberal pot friendly country like the Netherlands. They had to tow the party line in order to get what they had grown increasingly dependent on (Kim Sung Il's greatest fear) and this served to not only drive them further away from the rest of the world but also drove them further away from China because as China (and the USSR) changed and became more progressive North Korea became more of a burden while at the same time US-Chinese relations have continued to improve making the need for a "buffer state" even less important. The DMZ is already the most militarized border in the world. With the rise of ICBM's do you really think China cares about the Yalu river like they did in the 1950s? ??? The greatest irony of this entire tragedy is that of all the countries in the world that I am familiar with... the one that is most similar to the United States... is North Korea.14 North Korea is the Detroit of the world. No one else would have the pure balls to stand up to the worlds two largest super powers and put a middle finger in the air. Kim Jung Un is 30 years old and he is not in control of that country. He is just a few years older than you, the reader. He is most likely going to die a violent death because he was born into a shitty family. The only other possibility is that this is all scripted theater we are watching. Kim Jung Un is about to "win" the Korean war and then will boldly open up the country and grow to be an old man like Fidel Castro. I hope this is the case. Hopefully we can maybe lift the sanctions before he dies... because that shit with Cuba is getting ridiculous and quite frankly North Korea isn't going to last for another 50 years of embargoes and sanctions. And if hipsters start mixing soju and cola and calling it ???? just because it's served with a slice of lime then I'm going to seriously flip my shit. EDIT: The Japanese missiles are made in Massachusetts and Florida.15"

http://www.reddit.com/r/NorthKoreaNews/comments/1byzut/north_korea_notifies_foreign_embassies_of_intent/c9bhj50

4/9/2013 10:54:56 AM

difficult to read, thanks to formatting, but informative nonetheless.

4/9/2013 12:36:01 PM

Nuke Em'

4/9/2013 2:01:17 PM

not worth nukin'

4/9/2013 2:05:28 PM

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/japan-deploys-antinorth-korean-missiles-in-tokyo/1099818/

I'm sure this will quiet down some of the international and domestic bitching about the missile defense program.

4/9/2013 5:49:32 PM

did face write that post?

4/9/2013 8:57:26 PM

So it turns out that N Korea has nuclear missiles. We are doing everything to tone all of this down. Its like a reverse Iraq.

4/11/2013 8:02:27 PM

They have nukes. They have missiles. They don't have nuclear missiles.

4/11/2013 8:04:35 PM

but with a little duct tape and some hard work, they will

4/11/2013 8:11:27 PM

^^Yeah but newly unclassified information (as of today) reveals that they have nuclear warheads that can be deployed in their missiles.

4/11/2013 8:21:46 PM

They MAY have the ability to make nuclear missiles, however, they doubt it's accuracy.

4/11/2013 8:26:41 PM

How accurate does a nuclear missile really need to be though?

4/11/2013 8:55:42 PM

Pretty accurate.

4/11/2013 9:02:37 PM

^^ you at least want to be able to hit the general area of the city you're targeting. Also the reports out doubt it's reliability of the weapon as well.

4/11/2013 10:07:57 PM

Besides, it's not like they have second strike capability. The fire their one nuke up in the air and all sorts of hell will rain down upon them.

4/11/2013 10:33:19 PM

^^ There are questions whether their missiles would even be able to cross the ocean to touch the United States.

It's clear also that the Obama Administration, and Secretary Kerry in particular, are trying to dial this whole thing back. I'm not sure if it's because they've lost control of the narrative to the media which is basically hyping this thing into hysteria or if they've realized that they're strategically restraining themselves and are hoping to try and carve out space to open negotiations.

Quote :

""What the North Koreans still want is recognition and security guarantees from the United States.""

What they want isn't recognition, what they want is the United States to guarantee the survival of the Kim Jong Un regime. That's not something the United States could do even if it wanted.

4/12/2013 10:54:42 AM

So with Kerry threatening DPRK to not test missiles... what is the response if they do test? What is the U.S./U.N. going to do? Sound like empty threats.

4/12/2013 10:55:38 AM

Quote :

"^^ There are questions whether their missiles would even be able to cross the ocean to touch the United States"

i didn't think they had anything that could reach the US

4/12/2013 11:48:27 AM

One would think otherwised based on the hysteria... but I was thinking more like Alaska or even just Guam.

4/13/2013 3:10:59 AM

^^Seems like most people on here define "have" as "have successfully tested". They have missiles that can reach the US mainland and they have nukes that can be fitted onto those missiles. Its just much more likely that they would successfully carry out a targeted missile strike on guam, japan or south korea.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/04/world/north-korea-missile-capabilities/

Not saying it would work out but Northern California, Seattle, Portland all could be nuked theoretically. You can't assume every missile they make will fail on its first attempt.

UNHA-3 would be very much a roll of a dice while Nodong would be certain (unless we shoot it down).

4/13/2013 3:32:49 AM

Quote :

"or even just Guam"

Yeah fuck those dipshits, amirite?

4/13/2013 9:22:57 AM

well hell, it's going to tip over soon anyway.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZczIgVXjg

4/13/2013 3:12:11 PM