# So, if N. Korea Nukes L.A....what't the impact? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 5, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-n-korea-nukes-l-a-whatt-the-impact/159282 "2003-03-05T17:27:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-n-korea-nukes-l-a-whatt-the-impact/159282/21 "2003-03-07T02:49:03Z")
Question: In the event of a direct strike on Hollywood or something like that which killed most of the local celebrities… Would that really be such a tragic loss? Er, um… **Wrong Question! Sorry** What I um meant to say was: Would the (celebrity) survivors be opposed to military action against North Korea? Would Kim Jong-Il, a huge movie buff, be dismayed? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-n-korea-nukes-l-a-whatt-the-impact/159282/22 "2003-03-07T02:58:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stoid \* > Besides me being dead, of course. Well, that would bum _me_ out… > [@](#): > > I was pondering this rather unfortunate possibility last night and I found myself immediately assuming completely disastrous consequences for the US as a whole, economically, morale-wise, etc. But I couldn’t quite articulate why that would be so. (yeah, the having the US nuked at all would probably be something of a buzzkill for at least a few people, but beyond the obvious…) I think if Bumf\*\*k, Nowhere got nuked it would be a downer for the entire country. No question, getting nuked would be a Bad Thing for the USA morale… except for those deviants who will think it somehow serves us right for inventing the damn weapons or nuking Japan in 1945 or whatever. Such people will take perverse glee in such things, but it’s safe to assume they will be a small minority. Economically it would be even more of a blow than September 11, 2001 was, IMHO. The effects of even a small nuke will be more devasting than 16 acres of NYC being leveled, and that was bad enough. > [@](#): > > How would food supplies be affected? (California is the nations breadbasket, though most of the growing is in the center of the state) How would the rest of Cal and the surrounding states be affected? As for food… _at present_ California grows the majority of US vegetables and fruit, but it wasn’t always the case. Still plenty of viable farmland elsewhere on the continent. The cost of fresh vegees and fruit will spike for a couple years at most. Given prevailing westerly winds, I would expect there to be some fallout in neighboring states. How much and with what effect will vary depending on the weapon used, how/where it detonates, and weather conditions. > [@](#): > > What would the US response be? Would we really just incinerate N. Korea, and could we do that without affecting South Korea? Would it spark a huge US-Asia conflict? I’m not sure we’d _incinerate_ North Korea, but yes, we would go to war and kick some major butt. We _don’t need to_ use nukes to take out North Korea, but that would be an option. I don’t think it would spark a US-Asia conflict. First of all, Japan has already stated they are considering a pre-emptive strike - heck, they’ve _been_ nuked, I don’t blame them for not wanting more of the same regardless of where it comes from. So if we get nuked I expect Japan will be on our side as both a long-term ally, and from empathy. And, just as after September 11, I expect the rest of the world to have no objection to a retalatory attack. No one protested us chasing Al-Quaeda in Afganistan, nor going after the Taliban who sheltered them. It’s hard to argue against retaliation after a nuclear bomb goes off. I expect we would give China, South Korean, and so forth a quick phone call letting them know about impending attacks, just as a courtesy. > [@](#): > > How badly would our military be damaged if SoCal was all aglow? Well, there’d be a lot of really angry soldiers, and very sad people, but from a strategic standpoint - very little effect. Any reduction in fighting force will be more than made up by a sudden increase in motivation. > [@](#): > > On top of everything else… what about television? 90% of TV and TV stars would be toasty. How would that affect the nation? Seriously… on top of the horrors of the event itself and the direct effects…to have our #1 mental escape hatch left in tatters? While most TV and movies are made in California _at present_ that wasn’t always so… like the other products of California, there would be short-term shortage followed by a resumption of production in other geographic locations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-n-korea-nukes-l-a-whatt-the-impact/159282.md?page=1)