CNN: North Korea admits it has nuclear weapons

[renata]

No link yet. This better not be another damn translation error.

[Sundog]

Hey, it's not Bush's fault that he did absolutely NOTHING while they built them. He had to go get all those WMD's out of Iraq.

Besides, there's no oil in North Korea.

If they do have them, it will be Bush's fault for twiddling his thumbs while it happened.

[Checkmite]

...and?

So does Pakistan - and I would be more concerned about Pakistan, considering the way it likes to pick fights with India.

[DrChinese]

North Korea is The Mouse That Roared (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0053084).

Talk about the Rodney Dangerfield of rogue nations... here is someone with a source of nuclear fuel and claims (sometimes) to have a nuclear weapon, and yet they can hardly get Bush's attention. Bush didn't even send Powell to talk to them!

[TylerD]

...and?

So does Pakistan - and I would be more concerned about Pakistan, considering the way it likes to pick fights with India.

Does Pakistan have weapons with the capability of actually reaching our western coast? Have any Pakistani government officials amde comments about hwo they could win a nuclear war with the US?

I don't know about anyone else, but I most certainly consider NK a threat.

[Segnosaur]

Originally posted by TylerD

Does Pakistan have weapons with the capability of actually reaching our western coast? Have any Pakistani government officials amde comments about hwo they could win a nuclear war with the US?

I don't know about anyone else, but I most certainly consider NK a threat.
Also, does Pakistan have a reputation for selling weapons to other dictatorships? (Not to say they haven't, but North Korea is better known for selling missles, etc. to other countries for the right price.)

Then again, France was selling weapons to Iraq...

[Doubt]

Originally posted by DrChinese
North Korea is The Mouse That Roared (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0053084).

Talk about the Rodney Dangerfield of rogue nations... here is someone with a source of nuclear fuel and claims (sometimes) to have a nuclear weapon, and yet they can hardly get Bush's attention. Bush didn't even send Powell to talk to them!

Paraphrasing from the “Prairie Home Companion” on NPR last weekend:

North Korea needs nuclear weapons for the same reason teenagers need body piercings. It is a way of getting attention. Put a piece of steel in your nose and negotiate a trip to Cancun as a trade off to get rid of it. Build a nuke and negotiate with the US for more aid.

(I would put that in quotes, but it is not exact.)

Different countries may take similar actions for different reasons. The fact that the actions of North Korea are similar to Iraq does not mean that the best course of action is the same. The differing motivation behind North Korea’s actions must be considered.

Of course, this does not rule out any variations in the motivations behind the actions of the US either.

Paying to much attention to North Korea is rewarding them for building nukes.

[Blue Monk]

North Korea is not anywhere the same situation as Iraq.

First of all North Korea has an extremely powerful conventional army and it is heavily militarized on the border with South Korea. Seoul is well within conventional artillery range.

If armed conflict were to break out it would be carnage and everyone knows it. Tens of thousands would probably die within the first couple of days if not more.

This is not to mention a considerable number of US military personnel already in place. Unlike Iraq, this army would not patiently sit and wait for us to come bloody their noses. They would cross the border and overwhelm the South Korean forces and the first task would be to stop their push southward, a push that would no doubt involve staggering amounts of civilian casualties.

This fact alone makes dealing with North Korea far stickier than Iraq.

Another important factor to consider is China and that is no small consideration.

Another important fact to consider is that North Korea has been saber rattling since the 50’s. They have continued to be a closed society and on more than one occasion have acted quite provocatively but nonetheless they have, unlike Sadam, remained within their own borders.

The North Korean/South Korean border, along with the India/Pakistani border has long been one of the world’s hottest hot spots. North Korea’s massive military makes any military solutions wrought with grave consequences. It’s closed society and the regimes willingness to let its population starve to maintain it’s military makes diplomatic efforts impudent.

No rational person should ever consider military force against North Korea as a viable option. Diplomatic pressure is probably the best we can hope for until there are some serious changes within the country.

The fact that North Korea is even willing to enter talks is a good sign that the many years of isolation are taking their toll.

[Jedi Knight]

I have been saying North Korea had nuclear weapons for some time on the forum and people laughed at me for it. Well, I guess there won't be anymore "laughing", will there?

Moving beyond, in the north west of North Korea is a secret base where they work on those things. It is close to the Chinese border if anyone is interested in going to check it out sometime. Don't tell Daffy Duck-Man I told you lol.

JK

[jj]

Originally posted by Jedi Knight
I have been saying North Korea had nuclear weapons for some time on the forum and people laughed at me for it. Well, I guess there won't be anymore "laughing", will there?


You never quit with the lies, do you?

Your hysterics about Iraq, echoing the hysterics started by our unelected President, are part of the reason that NK got away with what it did. I doubt that yours, personally, had much effect, mind you, because everyone knows you're a kook, but the kook-in-office did the same thing you did.

I've been pointing out that NK was much more threatening than Iraq ever was for quite a while. Unlike tinpot Saddamn, NK has a real military, a real arms program, and a real and demonstrated willingness to sell to anyone who opposes the USA, including (as shown clearly by the ship intercepts before the present Gulf War) "rogue states". I'm entirely sure he'd be willing to sell to anyone, including the Taliban or AQ.

But did we do anything before it was too late? Nope, what we did was go pick on the tinpot.

A tinpot, I might add, who just sent his troops all home to wait for when we leave.

Of course, NK doesn't threaten oil companies much (only the south end of the alaskan pipeline), and it does threaten all those liberal cities on the west coast, so neither you or the shrub much cares. In fact, messing up that cheap alaskan oil won't hurt oil companies, because it will give them an excuse to raise prices again.

NK does threaten the entire west coast. Somehow, I suspect that you don't care at all about that, in fact I think you'd be happier if it did fall off the edge of the country.

Isn't that the truth, Jedi? You want NK to nuke Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco just because you think they're hotbeds of subhuman leftists, don't you? Is that your game? Is that why you raised all this ruckus about Iraq to cover up the truth about NK?

[jj]

Originally posted by Joshua Korosi
...and?

So does Pakistan - and I would be more concerned about Pakistan, considering the way it likes to pick fights with India.

Pakistan is indeed a problem, especially if hardliners take over the government, which they are in the process of doing, because they will gladly sell nukes to Al Quaeda because it's the proper extremist thing to do.

But they can't deliver them themselves, to us.

I wouldn't blame INDIA for being intensely, seriously, and majorly concerned. They can deliver them to India with a truck. :(

India, though, would be much more willing that we appear to be to retaliate in excessive, pointed, and final force in such a case.

[DrChinese]

Originally posted by Jedi Knight
I have been saying North Korea had nuclear weapons for some time on the forum and people laughed at me for it. Well, I guess there won't be anymore "laughing", will there?

JK

Don't worry, JK. We will still laugh... we wouldn't want you to feel lonely.

[Skeptical Greg]

Does anyone put any significance on the fact, that NK has some pretty substantial neighbors like China, Russia and Japan, that might have more reason to be more concerned about Nk's nuclear capability, than the U.S. does.

This would seem to be a pretty good reason for the U.S. to put NK on a back burner..

[jj]

Originally posted by Diogenes
Does anyone put any significance on the fact, that NK has some pretty substantial neighbors like China, Russia and Japan, that might have more reason to be more concerned about Nk's nuclear capability, than the U.S. does.

This would seem to be a pretty good reason for the U.S. to put NK on a back burner..

Really?

If you were a dead-broke lunatic, with a starving country, who would you attack, the country next to you, or the one across an ocean that everyone else is already angry with?

Now, I'll agree that predicting the action of lunatics, dead-broke or not, starving or not, is iffy....

[Jedi Knight]

Originally posted by jj
Isn't that the truth, Jedi? You want NK to nuke Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco just because you think they're hotbeds of subhuman leftists, don't you? Is that your game? Is that why you raised all this ruckus about Iraq to cover up the truth about NK?

The last thing I would ever want to see is the leftists on the west coast get nuked with nuclear weapons or sarin or anthrax because their victimhood logic would compound exponentially after such an attack and we would never hear the end of it after.

No, they are noisy when left alone--if they ever got nuked they would drive normal Americans absolutely nuts.

JK

[Skeptical Greg]

Originally posted by jj


Really?

If you were a dead-broke lunatic, with a starving country, who would you attack, the country next to you, or the one across an ocean that everyone else is already angry with?

Now, I'll agree that predicting the action of lunatics, dead-broke or not, starving or not, is iffy.... You just gave me a light bulb moment...

You make an excellent case.

Especially, since that country across the ocean has a habit of feeding and housing people who take shots at it...

[tamiO]

Originally posted by renata
No link yet. This better not be another damn translation error.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32198-2003Apr24.html North Korean negotiators told U.S. officials in Beijing that the communist nation has nuclear weapons and threatened to export them or conduct a "physical demonstration," U.S. officials said today.

[Sundog]

This to me is far more serious and far more scary than that ridiculous Iraq red herring. We cannot allow mentally unstable, nuclear-armed enemies to stand in perpetual challenge to this country. I am very afraid we're going to have to do something about it, and boy, is it going to be ugly.

[jj]

Originally posted by Diogenes
You just gave me a light bulb moment...

You make an excellent case.

Especially, since that country across the ocean has a habit of feeding and housing people who take shots at it...

Thank you very much for yet another incisive, productive, positive posting.
:rolleyes:

[Sundog]

Originally posted by jj


Thank you very much for yet another incisive, productive, positive posting.
:rolleyes:

You have to learn to interpret his posts correctly. That's as close to complete capitulation as he gets. ;)

[jj]

Originally posted by Sundog


You have to learn to interpret his posts correctly. That's as close to complete capitulation as he gets. ;)


Oh. Ok.

Sorry, dudes.

[jj]

Originally posted by Jedi Knight


The last thing I would ever want to see is the leftists on the west coast get nuked with nuclear weapons or sarin or anthrax because their victimhood logic would compound exponentially after such an attack and we would never hear the end of it after.

No, they are noisy when left alone--if they ever got nuked they would drive normal Americans absolutely nuts.

JK

I see you are very serously worried about the welfare of your fellow humans.

Thank you very much for your kind lack of consideration of Barry Goldwater, or anyone to his left.

[Jedi Knight]

Originally posted by jj


I see you are very serously worried about the welfare of your fellow humans.

Thank you very much for your kind lack of consideration of Barry Goldwater, or anyone to his left.

North Korea is just another example of appeasing evil and what happens when countries do.

JK

[Agammamon]

Originally posted by TylerD


Does Pakistan have weapons with the capability of actually reaching our western coast? Have any Pakistani government officials amde comments about hwo they could win a nuclear war with the US?

I don't know about anyone else, but I most certainly consider NK a threat.

Global Security.org (http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/pakistan/missile.htm)

Ghuari III 2,500km range. Tipu 4,000km range. Max width of the Pacific 6,500km. If they don't have one that can hit us now, they will in a few more years.

[Mike B.]

OK...

All the clever people on here who are saying Bush should have done something, but he didn't because there was not oil (yawn), would you please tell us what he should have done.

Do you want a war with NK? They could flatten Seoul, a city of 10 million, in a manner of minutes with their convential guns. Any war with NK would involve x thousands American casualties, x thousand South Korean casualties, and god knows how many North Koreans?

Sanctions?

Not much you can do to a weird autarky that cheats on any of those things as well.

So tell us stupid people, what you international experts would do?

or is this a temper tantrum, (We hate Bush, oil, oil, oil...)

BTW, NK has been trying to develop nuclear weapons for years, far before Bush got in office.

[Agammamon]

Wait a minute! I thought Bush said that evil is evil and must be opposed wherever it rears its ugly head. THat's why we went into Iraq. Not because they had WMD, not for oil. Because Saddam is a bad guy.
But it seems that you're saying we should only fight the bad guys that can't hurt us. It was all right to go into Iraq because they didn't have a paper cat's chance in hell to hurt us but we shouldn't go into NK because they might be able to do serious damage to our troops, or horror of horrors, lob a nuke across the Pacific and bring our civilians into the war.