# Korea can hit us, can we hit Korea? WTF do we do then? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 18, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188 "2009-06-18T16:10:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/1 "2009-06-18T16:10:05Z")
I’m a boomer who grew up counting on the idea that when it came to nations, at least, everybody understood that whole “mutual assured destruction” thing. You hit me, I hit you, we’re both dead and really, what good is that? Well, this morning I read that N. Korea is gearing up to toss a missile at Hawaii in July, I guess just for target practice. According to the report I read, it won’t actually hit Hawaii, because the missile has a range of 4,000 miles and Hawaii is 4,500 miles from the Korean peninsula. Oh, I feel much better now. Those 500 miles make all the difference. Pardon me, but I have a few questions, some of which I know are stupid, because we are dealing with human beings and human beings are known to be insane: 1. If NK is trying to become capable of hitting us…does this mean we are already capable of hitting them? 2. “Us” (and “U.S”, come to think) is only Hawaii so far, is it possible for any missiles to travel the full distance between the West Coast (i.e. ME) and N. Korea? (What is that, 7,000?) 3. Do we have such missiles? Are they located and pointed? 4. If we don’t, what is our actual “Don’t you fucking dare or you’ll be SO sorry, man!” to keep NK from doing something stupid? Cuz I always just counted on the idea that it was something along the lines of “You touch one palm tree in Kekeha and your whole damn country is going to be ash faster than you can say ‘Uh oh!’, so just stop even thinking about it, you damn fools.” Please tell me I’m right. 5. Help! ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/2 "2009-06-18T16:17:28Z")
_blink_ Is this a whoosh? > **[Intercontinental ballistic missile](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICBM)** > > An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi), primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, ea We have the best ICBMs AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/3 "2009-06-18T16:21:11Z")
Yes, we can hit them. Our missile technology can get us into orbit. Anything that can get into orbit can go around the world. It should also be noted that distance isn’t the only factor. Being able to shoot an empty missile 4,000 miles is a different thing from shooting a 2 ton\* warhead 4,000 miles. - Random value ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/4 "2009-06-18T16:21:16Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > 1. If NK is trying to become capable of hitting us…does this mean we are already capable of hitting them? We’ve got ICBM’s that can go more than halfway around the world. We’ve also got subs and ships in our navy that can park just off their coast and lob in missile after missile all day long. > [@](#): > > 1. “Us” (and “U.S”, come to think) is only Hawaii so far, is it possible for any missiles to travel the full distance between the West Coast (i.e. ME) and N. Korea? (What is that, 7,000?) FROM NK to the US? Not yet. From the US to NK? Undoubtedly, but I think the ICBM’s are reserved exclusively for nuclear warheads. Look how we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, and you’ll see what might be in store for NK. > [@](#): > > 1. If we don’t, what is our actual “Don’t you fucking dare or you’ll be SO sorry, man!” to keep NK from doing something stupid? Cuz I always just counted on the idea that it was something along the lines of “You touch one palm tree in Kekeha and your whole damn country is going to be ash faster than you can say ‘Uh oh!’, so just stop even thinking about it, you damn fools.” Please tell me I’m right. Policies and capabilities are two separate issues. I can’t speak to how we would choose to respond, but we have pretty much every possibility at our disposal, thanks to our massive navy and other armed forces that can project ludicrous amounts of firepower pretty much anywhere on the globe we desire. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/5 "2009-06-18T16:23:35Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > _blink_ > > Is this a whoosh? > > [Intercontinental ballistic missile - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICBM) > > We have the best ICBMs AFAIK. Well having 'em and having 'em armed and targeted is different. I know that we don’t know allt he details of this kind of thing…but what DO we know about what the plan is if N. Korea just won’t see reason? What is their point, anyway? Do they have some beef that they want resolved, or is Kimmy just swinging his dick for the fun of it? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/6 "2009-06-18T16:24:07Z")
Well, if NK did manage to hit Hawaii, the US would easily be able to strike back. One problem would be that the glorious leadership of NK would probably be in a concrete bunker 100 metres underground, and only the poor proles (and I use that word deliberately) on the surface would be killed. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/7 "2009-06-18T16:37:32Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Well, if NK did manage to hit Hawaii, the US would easily be able to strike back. One problem would be that the glorious leadership of NK would probably be in a concrete bunker 100 metres underground, and only the poor proles (and I use that word deliberately) on the surface would be killed. Yeah, we probably wouldn’t go nuclear. We’d probably take out all of their surface installations with targeted missiles, set South Korea and Japanese forces to securing the streets, and then start up with bunker busters from the sky. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/8 "2009-06-18T16:39:03Z")
You may recall that the idea behind mutual assured destruction was to deter Russia from launching an attack on us. Casual perusal of any map of the world will demonstrate that most of Russia is much further away from us that Korea. Particularly the parts where people actually live, which are in Western Russia. If MAD was intended to allow us to blow up Russia, it follows that we can also blow up Korea, on account of Korea being closer. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/9 "2009-06-18T16:39:24Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > 1. If NK is trying to become capable of hitting us…does this mean we are already capable of hitting them? Hell yeah > [@Stoid](#): > > 1. “Us” (and “U.S”, come to think) is only Hawaii so far,\*\* is it possible for any missiles to travel the full distance between the West Coast \*\*(i.e. ME) and N. Korea? (What is that, 7,000?) Not with the Norks yet ,but they are working on it > [@Stoid](#): > > 1. Do we have such missiles? Are they located and pointed? Quite a few of them, but the mailing addresses are not written as yet, there are so many targets to continually service. Mainly for treaty reasons , most ICBMs are targeted over empty ocean areas, cruise missiles will have there targeting loaded before they get launched and bombers will of course have pilots to guide them, depending on what the NCA decides to bomb > [@Stoid](#): > > 1. If we don’t, what is our actual “Don’t you fucking dare or you’ll be SO sorry, man!” to keep NK from doing something stupid? Cuz I always just counted on the idea that it was something along the lines of “You touch one palm tree in Kekeha and your whole damn country is going to be ash faster than you can say ‘Uh oh!’, so just stop even thinking about it, you damn fools.” Please tell me I’m right. Um, basically you ignore him or them depending on who is in charge, there is lots of options if they actually do commit an act of war, but until then for all their blather, North America is still very much beyond their capability. Declan ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/10 "2009-06-18T16:55:35Z")
IMO, Kim Jong-Il’s greatest fear is not being invaded or overthrown. Kim Jong-Il’s greatest fear is being ignored and marginalized. He does this sort of thing just to get attention. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/11 "2009-06-18T17:03:20Z")
Err… yes, you can hit them, from lots of different angles. I’d be willing to bet my genitals on the fact that the US has at least two nuke-tossing subs circling off the coast, right now, ready to launch at the merest sign of anything fishy going on at NK’s launch pads. > [@](#): > > I know that we don’t know allt he details of this kind of thing…but what DO we know about what the plan is if N. Korea just won’t see reason? What is their point, anyway? Do they have some beef that they want resolved, or is Kimmy just swinging his dick for the fun of it? They have some beef : South Korea is not theirs. It’s not theirs in part because the US (and the UN, and the OTAN…) is, at least on paper, prepared to throw their might on the side of South Korea should NK attempt to cross the DMZ. Lil’ Kim apparently thinks he can hold the whole world hostage long enough to kick the puppy. I’d say he’s sorely mistaken on that point, but hey, I’m mostly sane. That’s why I never got into the dictator biz. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/12 "2009-06-18T17:04:11Z")
I’m guessing if the wackos did manage to hit Hawaii, we’d commence Operation Scrub North Korea From the Map. Who would China support? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/13 "2009-06-18T17:10:38Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I’m guessing if the wackos did manage to hit Hawaii, we’d commence Operation Scrub North Korea From the Map. Who would China support? I think China would clearly understand, in that eventuality, that _someone_ is going to mash NK, and if they don’t want it to be us, then they’re agreeing to do it for us. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/14 "2009-06-18T17:14:05Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I’m guessing if the wackos did manage to hit Hawaii, we’d commence Operation Scrub North Korea From the Map. Who would China support? I can tink of two reasons not to “Scrub North Korea From the Map”: (1) targeting the ordinary North Koreans, who have no control over their government, will lose sympathy very fast; (2) you want something to be there for the South Koreans to rebuild when (and not if) Korea is re-unified. Knocking out all the North Korean military installations would be fine, but turning NK into a wasteland would not. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/15 "2009-06-18T17:17:06Z")
IIRC, North Korea’s main threats are against Japan, currently. They have a couple of nukes, and are working rather desperately to try to get more, and to work up a credible delivery system. Why? Because Kim is a Marxist asshole. Remember the Axis of Evil thing? This is a good bit of what was meant. Kim tries to develop the means to kill people while his people starve. Any use of any of his nukes against any one else would constitute suicide, mostly because China wouldn’t like it. Kim’s current policy of brinkmanship is to try to convince the rest of the world that he is nuts enough to be willing to commit suicide. (It could well be true. At this point, it hardly matters.) But yes, we could blow them up tomorrow. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/16 "2009-06-18T17:23:36Z")
Whether or not the weapons are “targetted” at NK sites isn’t really an issue. Officially the US government claims that missiles are targetted at certain points in the middle of the ocean. Years ago with more primitive guidance computers, they really were locked on a certain target, or set of targets. But modern guidance systems are flexible enough that you could target any point in the world in short order. Maybe they could do it with a really bad ass copy of Google Earth… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/17 "2009-06-18T17:30:32Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Remember the Axis of Evil thing? This is a good bit of what was meant. Kim tries to develop the means to kill people while his people starve. No, it’s not. There’s no “Axis”, no alliance between NK, Iran, and Iraq. Nor was Bush motivated by any concern over the dangers of nukes, or he’d have gone after NK and not Iraq. Nor we have any concern over the lives of foreigners; we regard them as expendable. The “Axis of Evil” bit was just an excuse to conquer Iraq, nothing more. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/18 "2009-06-18T18:25:15Z")
Gee, that was unexpected, coming from you. Can you do the one where Iranians don’t really mean anything when they close their legislative sessions by chanting “Death to the USA” again? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![xcalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/5daacb/32.png) [@xcalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/19 "2009-06-18T18:29:22Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I’m a boomer who grew up counting on the idea that when it came to nations, at least, everybody understood that whole “mutual assured destruction” thing. You hit me, I hit you, we’re both dead and really, what good is that? > > Well, this morning I read that N. Korea is gearing up to toss a missile at Hawaii in July, I guess just for target practice. According to the report I read, it won’t actually hit Hawaii, because the missile has a range of 4,000 miles and Hawaii is 4,500 miles from the Korean peninsula. > > Oh, I feel much better now. Those 500 miles make all the difference. > > Pardon me, but I have a few questions, some of which I know are stupid, because we are dealing with human beings and human beings are known to be insane: > > 1. If NK is trying to become capable of hitting us…does this mean we are already capable of hitting them? > > 2. “Us” (and “U.S”, come to think) is only Hawaii so far, is it possible for any missiles to travel the full distance between the West Coast (i.e. ME) and N. Korea? (What is that, 7,000?) > > 3. Do we have such missiles? Are they located and pointed? > > 4. If we don’t, what is our actual “Don’t you fucking dare or you’ll be SO sorry, man!” to keep NK from doing something stupid? Cuz I always just counted on the idea that it was something along the lines of “You touch one palm tree in Kekeha and your whole damn country is going to be ash faster than you can say ‘Uh oh!’, so just stop even thinking about it, you damn fools.” Please tell me I’m right. > > 5. Help! Really? We’ve hit the moon, several times. Of course we can hit NKorea, and Russian and everywhere in between. This is what the space program was really about. Kennedy wasn’t spooked by Sputnik cause he didn’t want to lose some space pissing contest. But what’s more relevant even to this is that there are a fair number of US military current in South Korea, and while no one knows (publicly) the extent of whats positioned there, you’d be foolish to think we dont have a metric fuckton of hardware pointed in a northern direction. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188/20 "2009-06-18T18:38:39Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Can you do the one where Iranians don’t really mean anything when they close their legislative sessions by chanting “Death to the USA” again? Even assuming that they do, that’s totally irrelevant. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korea-can-hit-us-can-we-hit-korea-wtf-do-we-do-then/500188.md?page=2)