North Korea Watch 2017

FAKE NEWS??

Kim Jung now stating that he wants PEACE. In the photo at www.newsweek.com... he looks to be sitting in a bunker in his bath robe, sporting a fake smile.

a reply to: carewemust

The North never wanted a military confrontation, and they were positioned well to be able to rattle sabers. Time to get some negotiations going, bring in Rodman and lets get this done. What does the North want? Well who knows, but I think we will find out soon, everybody has their price.

Don't be fooled, he only wants peace at his price. Which is he gets to keep his nukes and chemical weapons and everything else we can't tolerate him having.

Meanwhile Russia is getting more and more pissed. That might be our out. There could be bigtime problems if we attack him because we have allies and our own forces within striking distance for him to hit back. If Russia hits them what are they gonna do? To my knowledge Russia has no bases or allies within NK's sphere of influence, they'd be unable to retaliate.

a reply to: face23785

As far as I am aware Russia are most probably not interested in attacking NK unless their own security was compromised. After all, there has been increased trade between the two countries so far this year.
NK Russia trade soars despite sanctions

a reply to: face23785

The Norks could launch some missiles at Vladivostok.

Vladivostok (Russian: Владивосто́к; IPA: [vlədʲɪvɐˈstok] ( listen), literally ruler of the east) is a city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia, located at the head of the Golden Horn Bay, not far from Russia's borders with China and North Korea. The population of the city as of 2016 is 606,653,[10] up from 592,034 recorded in the 2010 Russian census.[11] The city is the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet and the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean.

Wiki

a reply to: D8Tee

Why would NK want to do that after they have just started a ferry service to Vladivostok 4 times a month?!

That there is extra money for their desperate pockets!

a reply to: auroraaus

Oh, I don't think they would ever launch missiles at Russia. Just showing they are in range.

a reply to: D8Tee

Gotcha I did not realize that was so close. Thanks for the info. Maybe next time I could look at a map and save myself the trouble?

Now South Korea doesn't want us to complete the THAAD deployment? I'd tell them we either put this in or our troops come out, we're not leaving our boys vulnerable to missile attack. That should be non-negotiable.

a reply to: face23785

Yes - South Koreans and South Korean business figures have been very vocal about it and I understand Moon won on a platform of diplomacy with NK and China and so forth.

This is a bit worrying now because NK have just fired a bunch of surface to ship missiles that travelled for about 200kms.

Crikey!

NK fires multiple anti-ship missiles

That's at the very least 5 times NK launched missiles since Moon assumed the presidency!

originally posted by: auroraaus
a reply to: face23785

Yes - South Koreans and South Korean business figures have been very vocal about it and I understand Moon won on a platform of diplomacy with NK and China and so forth.

This is a bit worrying now because NK have just fired a bunch of surface to ship missiles that travelled for about 200kms.

Crikey!

NK fires multiple anti-ship missiles

That's at the very least 5 times NK launched missiles since Moon assumed the presidency!

It looks like this is going to war. I wondered why SK is rejecting THAAD for the most part, because it will help protect not only them but our troops!

I have a question for the mods: I posted something about Trident submarines earlier, didn't realize there was another thread in which my post should have been entered. Sorry about that. Would it be possible to have just one North Korea thread?

So much is going on my head is spinning. I don't think this will end well. We had a brief lull in the Korean Peninsula, and now things are picking up again.

a reply to: dianajune

It looks like this is going to war.

Meh, North Korea tests missiles. Thats what they do, they have a missile program.

The administration won't go to war, the American people would never tolerate all the body bags coming back home.

originally posted by: D8Tee
a reply to: dianajune

It looks like this is going to war.

Meh, North Korea tests missiles. Thats what they do, they have a missile program.

The administration won't go to war, the American people would never tolerate all the body bags coming back home.

I respectfully disagree. And if NK uses nukes, there may not be any body bags coming home.

Not only that, there is the EMP threat too.

a reply to: dianajune

Well, good luck getting a firmly entrenched high moral North Korean army to submit. This wouldn't be like chasing Iraqi armour across the desert. Trump can negotiate a deal if he wants peace, he can start a war if he don't care about 100's of thousands dying. China has said there is ways to get the Norks to stop their Nuke program, I guess the Americans don't want to pursue that option.

a reply to: D8Tee

Thats because the Korean war never ended. The only thing both sides agreed to was a cease fire and nothing more. Secondly North Korean actions are in violation of UNSC resolutions (that China / Russia voted in favor of) not to mention our defense treaties with S. Korea.

N. Korea floated the idea of aa treaty ending the war between N. Korea and the US. That proposal NEVER included S. Korea. The north wants the US / UN gone at which point I could see them invading the South.

originally posted by: dianajune

originally posted by: D8Tee
a reply to: dianajune

It looks like this is going to war.

Meh, North Korea tests missiles. Thats what they do, they have a missile program.

The administration won't go to war, the American people would never tolerate all the body bags coming back home.

I respectfully disagree. And if NK uses nukes, there may not be any body bags coming home.

Not only that, there is the EMP threat too.

NK doesn't currently have a practical capability to deploy a nuclear weapon. It's not deliverable on a missile yet, so the only way they could try to hit us with one is to drop one from a plane ala Hiroshima. The difference was we had a vast air superiority over Japan at the time. If NK tried to do that right now with SK or Japan the plane carrying the bomb would be shot down before it reached its target.

That is why some analysts think we need to do something now. It would be messy but it'll be a lot messier if we are ever forced to do something a few years from now after they've developed the capability to actually use their nuclear weapons on us.

a reply to: face23785

Check this out:

A top expert has claimed North Korea’s military is just one step away from launching a nuclear–tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US. Jeffrey Lewis, an American expert on Kim’s Jong-un’s military, believes the only hurdle left is to develop a warhead capable of handling the extreme heat encountered during re-entry into our atmosphere.

Mr Lewis said: “North Korea almost certainly has a compact fission warhead capable of fitting on a future ICBM.

“The major question now is not whether the warhead is small enough to mount on an ICBM but whether it is rugged enough to survive the shock, vibration and extreme temperatures that a nuclear warhead would experience on an intercontinental trajectory, in which it would be shot into space and then re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

“The warhead fitted to the Hwasong-12 experienced heat loads similar to those of an ICBM (although for a shorter period of time) and survived.

“Separately, North Korea has published images of an apparently successful ground test of a re-entry vehicle last year.”

S ource

and this:

New satellite photos have emerged that suggest North Korea's nuclear programme is growing more quickly than first believed. Experts claim the images show a test site in the Asian country that could soon be capable of launching a missile that could hit Alaska or Hawaii.

Satellite image firm Planet has provided the photos and say scorch marks in the ground are evidence Kim Jong-un may be testing the Hwasong-12 rocket, which is able to travel 2,500 miles, North Korea claims. It would mean targets in Guam, Alaska and Hawaii would be within range of a nuclear attack.

Jeffrey Lewis, the director of the East Asia non-proliferation program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told Quartz.com tests at the site would 'continue for the foreseeable future'.

He said: 'The conclusion I draw is, it is an active nuclear weapons test site and there is stuff going on there all the time.
'On a broad level, we should be expecting tests at the site every year for the foreseeable future.'

Source

and this:

North Korea has satellites perfectly positioned above the US that could be used to launch an unprecedented attack on the country. Kim Jong-Un's recent belligerence escalated in the past week after he tested the country's first solid-fuel missile - which would be launched with little warning.

The communist dictatorship also has two satellites positioned in an "ideal altitude" above the US to cause irreparable damage to the country's financial system. According to a Fox News report, politicians in the US are alarmed by the growing threat of a high-altitude nuclear blast and its resultant electromagnetic pulse.

An EMP attack would fry the circuitry of mobile phones and wipe out online banking, food resources and global financial systems. The short burst of electromagnetic energy would also potentially take down aeroplanes in flight and cause trains to stop in their tracks.

Source

I agree that something needs to be done now. Even if NK didn't have nukes, they still have plenty of chemical and biological weapons. They can do alot of damage - putting it mildly - even if they stuck to attacking its immediate neighbors and our bases in the region.

Lil' Kim needs to be stopped asap before millions are killed. If a despot of that sort is capable of having members of his own family whacked, he is capable of anything.

Has anyone heard about whether or not our aircraft carriers have left the Korean Peninsula? I was watching a video on YouTube the other day which made this claim but have been unable to find a report.

a reply to: dianajune

I'm gonna point out a few key words/phrases:
"one step away" (contradicted later)
"believes" (based on what?)
"almost certainly" (cute euphemism for "not certain")
"future ICBM" (contradicts 'one step away' - so they have to finish developing a working ICBM, and figure out how to get the warhead to survive re-entry, that's at least 2 steps away if my math is right)

The 2nd source is about a test site, not sure how that demonstrates operational capability.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not downplaying the threat. Quite the opposite. I'm just saying, they're not there yet. I think we're in full agreement they should be stopped before they get there. Sitting back and just hoping he isn't stupid/crazy enough to use it isn't a realistic strategy, in my opinion.

a reply to: face23785

I understand you're not downplaying the threat. What I don't get is that things seem to have crawled to a standstill in the region. The video I referred to was basically asking why the US backed down from a conflict with NK.

This seems out of character for President Trump, who, imo, gives the impression that he wouldn't back down from anything. Especially if we and our allies are put at risk.

a reply to: dianajune

I'm not sure we really backed down from anything. As was pointed out earlier in the thread, sending the carriers over there and flying bombers and everything the media was reporting like it never happened before was relatively routine. It didn't indicate military action was imminent.

If I had to guess he's taking some time to see if China finally pulls the reins back like we've wanted for years. We still don't know the substance of his discussions with Xi a few months ago. Perhaps they worked out some sort of deal, and Trump is waiting to see if that pans out. As I recall, the last stated position of the White House is that the current strategy doesn't involve military intervention. That could change quickly though.