# North Korea tries--and fails--to nuke Hawaii. How do you want the US to respond? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204 "2013-03-28T19:21:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/21 "2013-03-28T23:14:09Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Is there a large desire in South Korea to reunify? > > Economically, I imagine it would an order of magnitude (or three) worse than German reunification. Certainly, I don’t see anything like the German unification happening here-there’ll have to be a decades long “Reconstruction” with the aid of the United States and other countries before any sort of real economic or political integration. But at the same time if North Korea’s dictatorship is ever to fall, it has to reunify-the Korean people have essentially been unified for the last millennia and a half, and an independent North Korea would be at the prey of China. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/22 "2013-03-28T23:23:14Z")
If North Korea launches a nuke at anyone, whether it’s successful or not, a nuclear response isn’t an option. A nuclear response is _obligatory_. To not respond to a nuclear attack in kind would be to send a message to everyone in the world with ill intentions against the US that you can nuke us without fear of retaliation. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/23 "2013-03-28T23:26:47Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > This although I’d probably use this to demand the final dissolution of the North Korean state and reunification. Why do you hate the South Koreans? What has South Korea ever done to you? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/24 "2013-03-28T23:36:49Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > If North Korea launches a nuke at anyone, whether it’s successful or not, a nuclear response isn’t an option. > > A nuclear response is _obligatory_. > > To not respond to a nuclear attack in kind would be to send a message to everyone in the world with ill intentions against the US that you can nuke us without fear of retaliation. I agree. Plus, even if it’s a part of a multinational effort, sending troops on the ground will get Americans and our allies killed. Why risk that chance? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/25 "2013-03-28T23:41:07Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I agree. > > Plus, even if it’s a part of a multinational effort, sending troops on the ground will get Americans and our allies killed. Why risk that chance? So, send a nuclear bomb and kill 200,000 innocent people. Great idea. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/26 "2013-03-28T23:43:06Z")
Why is there no mention of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the font of all Evil in our era, in this poll? You’re a secret supporter of Emperor Franz Joseph 1, _aren’t you_, **Skald the Rhymer**? Admit it! Confess! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/27 "2013-03-28T23:45:01Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > So, send a nuclear bomb and kill 200,000 innocent people. Great idea. How many innocent people get killed if we _don’t_ drop a nuclear bomb, and thus Syria/Iran/insert rogue state here decides that if Pyongyang can do it, they can too? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/28 "2013-03-28T23:47:34Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > So, send a nuclear bomb and kill 200,000 innocent people. Great idea. No, not a great idea. Lousy idea, in fact. Doesn’t change the equation any, though. Better 200,00o North Koreans than one single American. They started it, we finish it. “Innocent” doesn’t enter into it. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/29 "2013-03-28T23:48:10Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > So, send a nuclear bomb and kill 200,000 innocent people. Great idea. Because of the actions of North Korea a lot of people are going to die no matter what. you cannot allow a country to even attempt to set off a nuclear weapon without consequences. Why add allied forces to the casualty lists? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/30 "2013-03-28T23:51:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > A nuclear response is _obligatory_. > > To not respond to a nuclear attack in kind would be to send a message to everyone in the world with ill intentions against the US that you can nuke us without fear of retaliation. > [@RandMcnally](#): > > I agree. I do not. A _failed_ nuclear attack by a third-rate nation does not demand nuclear retaliation, it just demands retaliation. The idea that everybody from Gabon to Sweden will suddenly think we’re bunch of pants-wetting pussies begging to be smacked if we don’t is quite frankly silly. _Nobody_ is that dumb, certainly not any of the nuclear powers. > [@](#): > > Plus, even if it’s a part of a multinational effort, sending troops on the ground will get Americans and our allies killed. Why risk that chance? Because that is what soldiers are paid to do. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/31 "2013-03-28T23:55:06Z")
Nuke them. I would say that civilian targets should be avoided, but I have no doubt the NK government is evil enough to use its own people as human shields. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/32 "2013-03-28T23:58:02Z")
I voted for non-nuclear (because we don’t really want to open up that can of worms again, regardless of the incentive), unilateral (because lets face it, China and possibly Russia isn’t going to untie the UNs hands if it means that the US gets to sweat for a bit. They just aren’t) immediate retaliation. I have no doubts that we could wipe the floor with them with our nuclear hand tied behind our backs. However, there is a very large and totally immoral part of me that wants NK to be a glow-in-the-dark country REGARDLESS of how I voted, so there’s that also. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/33 "2013-03-29T00:04:55Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Better 200,00o North Koreans than one single American. Wow. Just wow. I don’t even know how to respond to that. So I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/34 "2013-03-29T00:09:49Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > If North Korea launches a nuke at anyone, whether it’s successful or not, a nuclear response isn’t an option. > > A nuclear response is _obligatory_. > > To not respond to a nuclear attack in kind would be to send a message to everyone in the world with ill intentions against the US that you can nuke us without fear of retaliation. So, let me understand the logic here: To **retaliate** in some non-nuclear way is to send a message that you can nuke us without fear of retaliation? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/35 "2013-03-29T00:27:27Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > So, let me understand the logic here: > > To **retaliate** in some non-nuclear way is to send a message that you can nuke us without fear of retaliation? It sends a message that you’re so afraid of the bomb you’ll never use it, even to protect your own civilian population, even when your victory would be assured. Which makes your nuclear arsenal, and thus your nuclear deterrent, meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/36 "2013-03-29T00:44:37Z")
I recommend a hearty “Harumph.” Whatever they lob at Hawaii, it’s likely they only have one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/37 "2013-03-29T00:49:17Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Wow. Just wow. > > I don’t even know how to respond to that. So I won’t. If Kim Jong-Un decides to start a nuclear war, then hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are going to die _no matter what form the reprisal takes_. That blood is on his hands, not ours. The question therefore becomes, how many Americans, South Koreans, Japanese, and allied UNC forces are we willing to let die along with them? I’d prefer for that number to be as small as possible. [QUOTE=Tamerlane] A failed nuclear attack by a third-rate nation does not demand nuclear retaliation, it just demands retaliation. [/QUOTE] Once you pull the trigger, it doesn’t matter whether your gun jams. In this situation, DPRK has demonstrated its willingness to start a nuclear war and kill millions, and even if the bomb fails to deploy they’ve presumably showered some region of the Pacific Ocean with weapons-grade plutuonium, and that’s gonna ruin someone’s day. The only fitting response to that kind of provocation is immediate and overwhelming reprisal in kind, both to neutralize the regime and to enforce the peace. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/38 "2013-03-29T00:57:32Z")
“Thats an NK nuke. And you’ve had your 60 Megatons.” ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/39 "2013-03-29T01:05:07Z")
Okay let me see if I understand this correctly - NK fires off a nuke at Hawaii - misses it entirely and no one gets hurt, the US isn’t endangered in any way - they lose alllllll that money spent in developing and firing it in the process, when they don’t have much money to begin with (I think?) - and they’ve just shown the entire world how bad a shot they are. Hmmm… I think a round of really loud laughter would do nicely. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204/40 "2013-03-29T01:09:33Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > Hey, where’s my lemon custard recipe? I prefer a nice baked egg custard. Though it is really nice with a dollop of lemon curd on top. > [@control-z](#): > > The worst part about NK to me is, like Iran, I suspect the average citizen is a perfectly good human being. It’s just the government that’s fucked up. > . Once you get past several generations of brainwashing. > [@Folacin](#): > > Is there a large desire in South Korea to reunify? > > Economically, I imagine it would an order of magnitude (or three) worse than German reunification. I can’t see where merging the 2 land areas and the population would be anything like Germany - there is so little [in a manner of speaking] population in North Korea, it can probably be easily absorbed into the south. Which I think would actually be a decent idea. Get rid of the ruling populations both civilian and military, and remove the now internal border control. Offer each family currently in the camps the option of moving back to a city or town or onto an empty patch of farmland. If you can sort out their original residence and business or family farm, all for the better. They are already accustomed to some sort of educational system so they are all more or less literate, so encouraging the movement of industry there to provide jobs, and using humanitarian aid groups like Red Cross to disburse supplies until a more regular supply system [stores and resellers] can take over instead of using the military to hand out aid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-tries-and-fails-to-nuke-hawaii-how-do-you-want-the-us-to-respond/654204.md?page=3)