TA-ANALYSIS: Pakistani Reports 'NK has nukes;' NK, US at 'brink of nuclear war'

Abdul Qadeer Khan, known as the father of the Pakistani bomb, claimed on Monday he was shown three nuclear devices in an underground base in North Korea five years ago. If true, it would override western intelligence claims that North Korea presently has one or two nuclear bombs.

Pakist ani Report on N. Korean Nuclear Devices

In fact, truth to Dr. Khan's claims indicates that the militant nation is considerably more advanced in nuclear techniques than previously surmised.

North Korea said Saturday that Washington was pushing them to the "brink of a nuclear war."

"Pyongyang has dismissed recent multilateral talks on the region as fruitless... [and] has no choice but to step up its push for nuclear weapons."

www.abc.net.au...

What does it add up to? Without strong U.N. action or pressure in the region, conflict will erupt in the near future. Both Pyongyang and Washington have reputations and goals which could precipate a war. However, a strong U.N. intervention could prevent America from going "lone ranger" into Korean War II.

A final possibility: after seeing what happened to Spain's elections after the train bombings, North Korea could hope to fuddle US elections this fall by putting a mushroom cloud over Seattle, Portland, or Tokyo.

[Edited on 4/13/2004 by Cascadian1]


[Edited on 4-13-2004 by Valhall]

Yep, there's some scary #e going down for sure

It doesn't say in the article what kind of nukes are they? Long range, Medium Range?

Even if North Korea has managed to produce nukes, I doubt they have the ability to deliver it to U.S.

It really wouldnt accomplish anything in the long run for North Korea to nuke the US to mess up out elections. There would be 2 possible reactions 1.) US lanches a retalitory strike with nukes, makes parts of NK uninhabitable for the next 500 years, or 2.) Every nation worth its butt gets on a bandwagon to invade NK and lock it down by force. Either way they would be on the loosing end of the stick.

Originally posted by alternateheaven
1.) US lanches a retalitory strike with nukes, makes parts of NK uninhabitable for the next 500 years

If North Korea launches a nuke, every country with a nuke will launch it back at them. As you implied, couple of nukes would be enough to make the region unhabitable for a long time.

But the problem is NK can sell their nukes to terrorist agencies, instead of launching it themselves, some crazy agency would launch them. This way their enemy gets the beating, but they don't get the consequences.

Originally posted by surfup
It doesn't say in the article what kind of nukes are they? Long range, Medium Range?

Even if North Korea has managed to produce nukes, I doubt they have the ability to deliver it to U.S.

You'd be suprised... that doesn't mean they can't find a way.

They have the ability... they don't have a medic to take out the boot we'd stick up their arse if they did.

Originally posted by Shugo
You'd be suprised... that doesn't mean they can't find a way.

All NK has is the bullets, not the gun, the deliver, which makes the bullets harmfull.

Originally posted by surfup

Originally posted by Shugo
You'd be suprised... that doesn't mean they can't find a way.

All NK has is the bullets, not the gun, the deliver, which makes the bullets harmfull.

As you've stated... they can simply sell their nukes to terrorist orginizations. Trust me... it's possible... but, they don't have anything to back it up with.

Originally posted by Shugo
...but, they don't have anything to back it up with.

Who doesn't have anything to back it up with? The sources?

Originally posted by surfup

Originally posted by Shugo
...but, they don't have anything to back it up with.

Who doesn't have anything to back it up with? The sources?

NK... and it's true they don't. What I'd like to know is if they did sell them to a terrorist organization. Who would it be? AQ?

I've read that NK probably can't reach America, as far as we know. Then again, the CIA thought NK didn't have nukes five years ago, let alone three of them!

I think South Korea or Japan would be targets before America would. After all, NK shot a missile over Japan more than once in the past couple years. However, they wouldn't really need to use a nuke on SK -- they've got thousands of heavy artillery cannons pointed at the capital city alone.

Time will tell.

The target depends on how crazy the guy who has the power of the nuke really is.

If he is really crazy enough, it would be U.S., if he was smarter he would choose terrorist orgs.

Shugo - I don't know, the next time I meet him I will ask him what terrorist organizations.

I will say this and I say it as a Bush supporter(over Kerry at least), that if Bush is re-elected something serious will happen with NK in the next term. Bush wants to be seen as a guy who changed the world and was a bold leader and I dont think he will back down the slightest from NK if all peace talks fail. He simply wont let some nation push him around, nukes or not.

I see your argument Dreamz, but why hasn't Bush done something during this term, for all he knows he may not re-elected next time.

So, why take chance? Why not nail NK when he had his chance? Why wait another term?

They don't have to hit America, South Korea will do.

Also as they smuggle weapons and drugs around the world, then they have the infrastructure to deliver a nuc in a container to any city in America they wish. If they havn't done it already...

Originally posted by surfup
I see your argument Dreamz, but why hasn't Bush done something during this term, for all he knows he may not re-elected next time.

So, why take chance? Why not nail NK when he had his chance? Why wait another term?

Because political it would be a worse disaster than the aftermath in Iraq. He would be going out attacking them before peace negotiations have been given a chance hailing him as someone who really is a war monger, not as a Winston Churchill. He also has Iraq and Afghanistan to deal with at the moment but as both of those wars die down he IMO will turn his attention to NK. Granted something doesnt break out with Syria or Iran. His next term will be filled with wars and the idea that he is a president in rough times trying to change the world for the better, someone who confronts evil and doesnt back down. Again though its just my opinion.

I'm not sure if US could afford to open a new conflict possibly much bigger than Iraq.
I remember hearing defense analysts saying that with troops all over (Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, etc.) the US military is already over stretched.

Originally posted by Cascadian1
I've read that NK probably can't reach America, as far as we know.

They might be able to reach by now.
This is from 1998:

"There is evidence that North Korea is working hard on the Taep'o-dong 2 (TD-2) ballistic missile. The status of the system's development cannot be determined precisely. Nevertheless, the ballistic missile test infrastructure in North Korea is well developed. Once the system is assessed to be ready, a test flight could be conducted within six months of a decision to do so. If North Korea judged the test to be a success, the TD-2 could be deployed rapidly. It is unlikely the U.S. would know of such a decision much before the missile was launched. This missile could reach major cities and military bases in Alaska and the smaller, westernmost islands in the Hawaiian chain. Light-weight variations of the TD-2 could fly as far as 10,000 km, placing at risk western U.S. territory in an arc extending northwest from Phoenix, Arizona, to Madison, Wisconsin. These variants of the TD-2 would require additional time to develop and would likely require an additional flight test."
www.fas.org...

harap.alb said

I'm not sure if US could afford to open a new conflict possibly much bigger than Iraq.
I remember hearing defense analysts saying that with troops all over (Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, etc.) the US military is already over stretched.

They call it the draft, friend.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

N.Korea was the real threat but no, bush wanted to attack iraq who is a much smaller threat than N korea. Well I guess he really wanted the oil.