I’d like to get some opinions on the recent N. Korean saber-rattling that’s been in the media.
I don’t understand how N. Korea can say with any kind of seriousness that they may conduct a preemptive first-strike on the U.S. if they feel it’s warranted. Umm - How are they gonna do that? They don’t have ICBM capability, right? Their planes would be obliterated 10 minutes after they left their airspace bound for the U.S., right? They don’t have big fast boats to ship army guys over.
Does this really mean that they’d take their million-man army and rush the South Korean border and wreak havoc? Does S. Korea constitute “U.S.” in their minds? What about Japan? Are they at risk under this threat of attackign the U.S.?
I mean, their bellicose threats make no sense to me. I guess that’s why their country is in the situation it’s in - their out of touch with the rest of the world? Are they just mouthing off with no way to back it up?
I’m just looking for some explanation from those who are more experienced in this.
They won’t and can’t attack the US, but can do some serious damage to their allies. Plus so what if it doesn’t have ICBMs? They just have to attack Japan or S Korea with a Tapong missile and devastate an entire city.
I could see that happening, I guess. What then? Do the N. Koreans think that things would then just settle down, or do they see that they’d then get slammed so badly that they’d pretty much be destroyed?
They would be anhilated, and a gradual reunification process would ensure, no way would the United States see one of its trading partners be taken over by a backward Stalinist dictatorship.
There government, or leadership I should say, don’t give a s**t if there people lived or died, the state is pretty safeguarded by ecnomic sanctions, so they really have nothing to lose.,
You forget that we have 30,000+ troops in S. Korea, plus many naval vessels in the area. They could hit plenty of Americans, though probably not American soil.
They have at least two nukes. Even if they couldn’t get them very far, I doubt Seoul or Beijing particularly want to take any chances. Hence, extreme caution.
The leader of North Korea is only talking crap right now because they know the US has it hands full with Iraq. He was quite as a mouse before any of this Iraq business came up.
I will say to some extent a pre-emptive strike on US assets does make sense IF you (NK in this case) assumes an armed conflict is imminent.
Saddam has to sit and watch the US build up its military strength in the region over the course of months. The US won’t move till it’s good and ready and then Saddam is pretty much screwed. If you can disrupt the enemy build up…make it hard for them to stage men, materials and equipment, you are better off in the long run.
Of course, if it really comes to a full blown shooting war with NK then any pre-emptive strike NK is likely able to pull off would do little more than delay the inevitable. It would also give the US all the excuse it needs to go in shooting if it wanted to and that’s the rub for NK.
I wonder…could he be thinking (and I use the term loosely) about striking while our hands are full in Iraq? Could his internal troubles make him *that['i] desparate?
We automatically assume that we are the intended audience when North Korea mouths off. But I think that’s an incorrect assumption. When the NK government makes threats to the U.S., I think the primary audience is their own people. The starving peasants love hearing that stuff; they eat it up. And the government likes saying it because it keeps the people docile.