North Korea will destroy us all...
 

...with their sub-1kiloton atomic bomb that takes 3 years to make.

Looks like we have an all-out Cold war on our hands. Kim is almost to the point we were at in 1944!

http://riverdaughter.files.wordpress..._470x42701.jpg

5-25-09
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea has conducted its second nuclear test, the country's state news agency announced Monday.
This screen grab from North Korean television on April 9 shows leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang.


The announcement came little more than an hour after the U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude 4.7 seismic disturbance at the site of North Korea's first nuclear test -- in October 2006.

North Korea's Korean Central News Agency said Monday's test was conducted "as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way."

"We are gravely concerned by North Korea's claims," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

The State Department said it was analyzing the data, but that the Geological Survey's report of a seismic event was "consistent with a test."

"We are consulting with our six-party and U.N. Security Council partners on next steps," the statement said.

The six-party talks are aimed at persuading North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program. Along with North Korea and the United States, the participants are: China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

North Korea threatened to conduct a second bomb test in response to U.N. Security Council criticism of its April 5 test of a long-range rocket. The isolated communist state expelled international inspectors from its nuclear sites and announced plans to restart the reactor that produces plutonium for its nuclear weapons.

"The current nuclear test was safely conducted on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control, and the results of the test helped satisfactorily settle the scientific and technological problems arising in further increasing the power of nuclear weapons and steadily developing nuclear technology," KCNA announced.

U.S. intelligence estimated that the first North Korean test produced an explosion equal to less than 1,000 tons of TNT -- a fraction of the size of the bombs the United States dropped on Japan at the end of World War II. There was no immediate information on the yield of the weapon used in Monday's test.

Jim Walsh, an international security analyst at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told CNN that the North Korean test was not a surprise, but the timing was "faster than expected." But the real questions raised by the test are "less military" and more political, he said.

"We know so little about this country," Walsh said. "We don't have good relations with them, they're going through a leadership transition and on top of that, they test a nuclear weapon. So the problem with this is we're not going to have military action, but it's all the uncertainty and political consequences."

The test came less than three weeks after the United States announced a new diplomatic effort to restart the stalled North Korean nuclear talks. The Obama administration's designated point person on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, visited the region for talks with China, Japan, Russia and South Korea.

In July 2008, negotiators reached agreement with Pyongyang on a timetable for North Korea to resume disabling its nuclear facilities. But the North balked, demanding the United States first take it off its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The Bush administration lifted that designation in October, but plans to push for an agreement allowing the other parties to check whether Pyongyang has revealed all of its nuclear secrets stalled.

There was no immediate response to the test from Beijing.

In Seoul, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak's office said the country was investigating the reported test and would hold an emergency meeting of its national security council. And in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's office said it had set up a task force to look into the test and how to respond.
advertisement

In June 2008, North Korea acknowledged producing roughly 40 kilograms of enriched plutonium -- enough for about seven nuclear bombs. But Walsh said North Korea remains "years and years" away from having a weapon it can put atop a long-range missile like those in the United States, Chinese or Russian arsenals.

"Nothing good" can come from Monday's test, he said, "but it doesn't mean they're going to have a real working nuclear weapon tomorrow or next year."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/24/nkorea.nuclear/index.html

http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffar...im-Jong-Il.jpg

They are continuing to use their successful formula for blackmailing us for food and money to prop up their government.


Unfortunately for South Korea, Seoul is very near the border and will be overrun if North Korea invades again.


Who will be the first here to suggest we give 'em a taste of the "big nuke", it is the only language they understand?

I'm afraid we are way too "politically correct" to use a nuke anymore (if we ever were); too much civilian casualties, too much "bad press" in the int'l community, and no President wants to go down as the one who used the bomb. We have them, we threaten with them, but will never use them.

let's hope.







It's not hard to imagine the lesson being learned by other countries (such as Iran). You avoid invasion by developing a nuclear weapon.

If we didn't even dare to use them in Tora Bora, what makes anyone think that our nukes are little more effective than us painting a sign "Danger! Nuclear Weapons!"?

But as shown by the insurgents, it is not the weapon you hold in your cupboard. It is the weapon that you use that counts. The question is what else is the extension of this lesson? If you have weapons you don't dare use nd they have weapons they dare use, pretty soon, it might behoove us to learn where Mecca is.

Don't laugh... The border between North and South Korea is pretty porous with respect to NK sending spies and materiel out. Take a small nuke, put it in a Hyundai container and send it out to oh let's say Elizabeth,NJ. Blow it up there ad you destroy billions of dollars of infrastructure and kill the economic engine that brings in 48 billion dollars a year.

Send one to Long Beach, Ca and you can repeat the process...

Also although their first test nuke was a very small tactical type nuke (perfect for wiping out our troops in the DMZ) we do not know how big their last one was. It WAS big enough to cause a noticeable earthquake...

....just face east....

The answer to that question is based on when anyone expects there will be (once again) a broad swing towards the aggressive political right.

That is the problem we have isn't it? We swing to the left today and tomorrow, we swing to the right. After that, repeat pattern. Why can't we just stay somewhere in the middle?

First we need to stop paying them and sending them food. Hopefully their people will overthrown them and put a more moderate government in place.

If NK shipped a nuke to Long Beach you can be sure the Chinese would overrun that little piss ant country and execute anyone they can get their hands on. NK would never mess with China's economy like that.:D

This is a real concern, dont laugh it off. This little country fought th eUN to a standstill in the 50s. With a few tac nukes to turn the initial tide, we might end up seeing a reunified Korea, just obverse of what everybody except the NKs want.

Already mentioned is the container scenario; a very plausible situation.

Iran is rattling sabers, has a navy in international waters: we are drawing closer to the precipice.....I hope Obama can man up when the time is right, because believe me, its coming...

Too boring.:D

Silly me. Why have a middle ground when liberals and conservatives can fight all day long.

They sent their navy to participate in the protection of shipping lanes from the Somali pirates. We aren't drawing to the precipice of anything. They are joining an international effort to fight the pirates.