I know it’s the closest U.S. territory to NK, but I am completely puzzled by all this. Aren’t the North Koreans aware that bombing Guam would be suicidal?
This story is just bizarre.
I believe the GQ answer is “nothing.” Guam has done nothing to Korea.
If you want speculation about NK’s motives, you should move this to Great Debates.
Dunno if this is a fair GQ, calls for speculation as to motive and endgame. It’s close, it’s probably within their confidence margin of hitting where they aim at, it’s a military base for long range bombers, it’s US soil, it’s where other regional players will see it. Really bombing it would be suicidal but saying “ha, you can’t keep me from hurling missiles into your waters or over your own citizens’ heads” tweaks the colossus’ nose in front of those counting on our protection.
I’ll save another sociopolitical comment for after other straight answers are posted.
Since this requires speculation, let’s move it to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
As far as I know, North Korea has never threatened anybody, except in retaliation for some military aggression against North Korea. As NK develops its range capacity for a retaliatory air strike against an aggressor, Guam unfolds as the first potential target for a retaliation against a US attack on NK, which is being strongly hinted at by the US president and the US news media. Further, Like Pearl Harbor in the Pacific, Guam is a logical staging place for US aggressive forces that might attack NK as a followup to an initial attack, and therefore a logical military target.
The people of Honolulu never did anything to the Japanese, and were in fact mostly of Japanese ancestry, just as 93% of the population of Guam are of non-American ancestry. In fact, the people of North Korea (hard-working people diligently trying to support their families) have never done anything to the USA, either. Why punish them, they have enough problems of their own.
There are both a Navy and Air Force bases on the island, it’s a major logistics hub for our Pacific forces and staging area, and, as you noted, it’s closest to them. They might feel that, if they nuke that it won’t necessarily elicit a nuclear response (I think they are dreaming, as another poster put it to me, but that doesn’t mean they don’t think that) and limit the loss of life to just those on the island.
This story is pretty bizarre.
It’s not the first time they’ve been bellicose about Guam. In 2013 they said “The KPA Air Force is put on alert. It will never miss the opportunity to sweep away the Anderson air base in Guam.”
One of my coworkers is from Guam. He came in today with a bag of Chamorro Chip Cookies (apparently a favorite on Guam) . His brother sent him a big box full of cookies, “just in case the island goes down.”
Guam is also part of the plot in Tom Clancy’s Debt of Honor when the Japanese take it over, sparking a war between the USA and Japan.
North Korea is probably aware of the book because it ends with an airplane crashing into the US Capitol. The book was written in 1994, well before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
What does that even mean? 93% of the population of America is of non-American ancestry. (Not sure if it’s 93%, but close enough.)
Anyway, I’m not seeing why this story is bizarre. NK isn’t famous for hitting its targets with missiles, so the closer the better from their standpoint. It’s a bluster to sound like they can attack the US. Their rhetoric has always sounded like something from The Mouse that Roared.
What did Guam ever do to North Korea?
They had the temerity to be a U.S. territory at a time when the chief executives of the U.S. and North Korea are playing “I can threaten bigger than you.”
Bwuh?
Given that North Korea apparently defines “military aggression” on the part of the United States broadly enough that “merely existing as a nation” would qualify I don’t find that at all reassuring.
Here is a list of border incidents in Korea Among other things are attempts on the life of the South Korean president, infiltration attempts, sinking of fishing boats, and other incidents. Then there is the kidnapping of civilians, including Japanese actors. Assasinations.
Please do a little reading up on the topic - North Korea is frequently an agressor.
It means 93% of the residents of Guam are of ancestry who came there from somewhere else, not the US states. Only 7% of Guam’s population is “European” ancestry, according to the census. The rest are mostly from Asian immigrants (1/3 Filipino) or other Pacific Islanders. You can choose any of a number of ways to say that, and it’s meaning is never in doubt if associated with actual census data.
By “American ancestry”, I mean from stateside American citizens as ancestors. Does that help?
None of the above constitute “military aggression”. The USA woulds not have used military retaliation against any nation for any of the list of incidents you cited. Infiltration attempts? Would you like to take a wild guess as to the number of covert CIA operatives the US has in every country in the world? Are each of those an act of war that would justify a concerted and organized military invasion in defense of the realm?
Yeah, well, maybe they should ask the Japanese about the last time someone attacked a US territory in the Pacific that was “just” a territory with a military base or two on it.
I believe they were also a staging point for United Nations forces during the Korean War. Presumably, North Korea could still hold a grudge about that.
Were they a major staging area? The Korean War bro out while the US still occupied Japan and continued to use bases in that country try even after the return of control back to Japan. Okinawa remained under US control until 1973. Guam is much further away. I can’t see any benefits of using it.
Another possible contributing factor: you know the US Air Force has been flying B1 bombers over Korea to intimidate North Korea? Those are flying in from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.
I’ve added a word in blue to clarify this remark.
Because only whites are “real” Americans?
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