Yesterday North Korea had successfully detonated a third nuclear device estimated as a Hiroshima strength blast of 13-22Kt of explosive force.

What does anyone think of President Obama's call for 'swift and credible' action taken by the international community against the North?

How does this test affect the ongoing tensions building between China and Japan?

Does anyone think N Korea will do more than give Obama the traditional 'one finger salute'?

 

Sanctions and little else. No one is about to start WW3 over such a pathetic little country. And NK is not about to use the nuclear weapon for any offensive reasons as they'd be destroyed before you could say kimchi.

-S-

 

What he said. They're just throwing a little temper tantrum here to get attention. I'll be curious to see how China (the closest thing NK has to an ally) reacts. It sounds like they're getting frustrated with the erratic behavior.

 

Normally I would concur that N Korea would not launch or use a nuclear device. However given the instability of the nation, it cannot be completely ignored as a possibility of an accidental usage or in an effort to 'punish' those an unstable leader of N Korea deems responsible for their ongoing problems.

 

well any one of the powerful countries could nuke it and we'll end the story right there. Though the argument that no one will start a war over a pathetic little country was disproved by the first world war, I have to agree that PRK isnt important enough to be worried about. Unless the South Koreans are wiped out suddenly.

 

China is royally pissed and that could cause PRNK to lose it main benefactor. They know that this is causing problems for their Buy America campaign.

 

China is in a bind in that they can't apply too much pressure to NK because if the regime collapses, they have to deal with the clean-up. Which they don't want to do. It's not like all the refugees could swarm south, what with that massive fucking minefield blocking their way. So most of them would head west in to China to escape the carnage.

The world is a very different place than it was a hundred years ago. All the countries that matter have too much tied up in trade to let a war go down. It's bad for business.

-S-

 

The North Korean people are malnourished, and in many cases, people are starving to death to accommodate a nuclear warhead capability, that's what's pathetic, not the country.
They have an unbelievably huge standing armed forces. To summarily disregard their ability to cause a global conflict, would be foolish at best.
China will be the deciding factor, when it comes to reigning in North Korea, and it appears China is growing weary of the North Korean antics.
This has all the earmarks of becoming a very dangerous year for this little planet, with the addition of North Korea's aggression, the Middle East conflicts, and the global economic instability.
Even the oceans which divide us from each other, may not be our saving grace this time.

 

They have a large army that is poorly trained and equipped with a lot of antiquated supplies. Planes that don't fly and pilots that can't fly them. They can inflict a lot of damage in the short term to a small section of South Korea but any drawn out conflict will see them wiped out relatively quickly. We're talking Gulf War timelines. The clean-up and reoorg of country would take years or decades, but initial fighting would be over relatively soon. China is not going to rush to reinforce them as they did during the Korean war because that would put them toe-to-toe with the U.S. and NATO and no one is prepared to do that.

-S-

 

Your correct in your assumptions, but it's the arrogance, and conceit of the reigning regime that could become the tipping point.

 

*SPAM**SPAM**SPAM**SPAM* bear has been informed there is a job coming up in the vatican.

 

The problem is that NK could sell this technology to a Country like Iran in exchange for oil and other commodities that they desperately need.

Nuclear proliferation is the problem.

 

o hai!
akshualliez, i never got teh informationz so now i haz teh happiez! just sayin.
kthankbai!

 

oblunder will do nothing, he wants them to get a nuke as well as Iran. Anything oblunder says he is full of crap.

 

*not_secure_link*24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly9p51JCZR1r1gk1xo1_500.gif
​

 

oh i'm sorry, it hasn't been a good thirteen years.

 

The rubber duckie makes noise, looks cute, entertains and distracts people from what is going on around them.

So it is with N Korea deflecting attention away from other places.

 

Proliferation is one aspect of the problem, N Korea has nuclear arms, now how do we deal with that (peacefully if possible)?

Unfortunatly I have to agree with you. Panetta was saying after the test was confirmed to have taken place "We will do all necessary steps to ensure North Korean nuclear weapons are dealt with, mainly by sanctions."

As you said, Obama is full of it.

 

*not_secure_link*24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfr732Cre71qg2838o1_500.jpg
​

 

Likewise the only reason North Korea hasn't been destroyed is because they have the backing of China. And as long as China continues to back them, the USA and her allies won't do a thing.

Should China turn on North Korea, their country wouldn't last a week. And that most likely wouldn't come from a US/Nato led invasion, but more like China assimilating them.