North Korea sets off its 3rd nuclear test

[IndyColtsFan]

Nothing! Other than sanctions and threats of sanctions against North Korea.

This.

Those of you calling for a "regime change" in North Korea are overlooking several factors:

1. North Korea has no value to the world whatsoever. AFAIK, the only real resources it has are certain heavy metals and those are available elsewhere (and in greater quantities).

2. Any regime change, no matter how quickly done, would likely result in thousands of casualties.

3. If the goal of "regime change" would be for the reunification of North and South Korea, do any of you realize the sheer magnitude of that undertaking? Reunifying East and West Germany was a monumental task that some say isn't entirely done and this would be one or two orders of magnitude harder. The North is starving and has little or no infrastructure outside a few major places like Pyongyang.

4. The masses are probably brainwashed (at least to a large extent) and are extremely malnourished. It is difficult to foresee how they would respond to an attack.

5. North Korea will not launch a pre-emptive strike on South Korea without Chinese support, and that will never, ever happen.

6. For those of you thinking that the sanctions will make NK increasingly desperate to launch a strike, think again. I can assure you that the leaders of NK are not suffering in the slightest from sanctions and have all the luxuries their hearts desire. Because the people are brainwashed, malnourished (see #4), and unarmed, there is no chance of a successful revolt by the population.

China (and to a lesser extent Russia) created this monster. By all accounts, China is tiring of NK's antics as well. Let them deal with the mess they created and as far as the US is concerned, we should just defend SK and Japan from any NK attack should one occur. There is no need to risk any lives on a pre-emptive strike.

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2936

NK is not going to attack the US so why do you care if they have nukes?
They know they're gonna get leveled if they attack.

And this. Guys, make no mistake -- the North's leadership isn't insane and stupid. The bravado and talk of "defeating" the US is just propaganda designed for their brainwashed masses. The North's leadership knows that any major attack at this stage would mean the end of their regime and they're not about to go that far.

 

[stlc8tr]

China (and to a lesser extent Russia) created this monster. By all accounts, China is tiring of NK's antics as well. Let them deal with the mess they created and as far as the US is concerned, we should just defend SK and Japan from any NK attack should one occur. There is no need to risk any lives on a pre-emptive strike.

China would rather have a nuclear capable NK state than an unified Korean state (and US ally) on it's border so they won't do anything to destabilize NK.

Any word on if this was yet another plutonium-based weapon or have they finally gotten around to using enriched uranium?

 

[klinc]

You might want to read up about the US's history with regard to missile security (re: passwords) before advocating that everyone else should follow a similar line. At least it was probably unlikely that those guarding the US's missiles were likely to be bribed. The US's location also would have made nicking a nuke rather difficult.

http://www.damninteresting.com/ive-got-the-same-combination-on-my-luggage/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_Action_Link

+1 the comment about logic vs. crazy.

The thing that I don't get is what NK hopes to achieve from this childish hostility (saying that the US is their sworn enemy etc). NK's only kind-of allies are going to be annoyed by their behaviour as well.

Lets not forget about Clinton and Nixon losing the Football a couple of times

 

[klinc]

China would rather have a nuclear capable NK state than an unified Korean state (and US ally) on it's border so they won't do anything to destabilize NK.

Any word on if this was yet another plutonium-based weapon or have they finally gotten around to using enriched uranium?

Em Canada ship enrich uranium to any shit hole that order it or they sell them the CANDU reactor. Let them test and do whatever they want. All the US need to do is stir up shit and let the starving North Korea people stand up for themselves and start a civil war.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

China would rather have a nuclear capable NK state than an unified Korean state (and US ally) on it's border so they won't do anything to destabilize NK.

China won't start a war, but they won't stop reunification either should it occur.

 

[Doppel]

Or an implosion such as East Germany

This is my guess. I would give very long odds on NK ever attacking SK in an all out way. It has nothing to gain, all to lose. Won't happen.

NK will continue on until it simply collapses.

For all intense purposes North Korea's regime is pretty much self-sustaining due their hermit kingdom mentality and decades worth of brain washing propaganda.

They aren't. If the borders to NK were shut it would be finished. It imports too much oil, food, and already it's continually on a knife's edge. My guess is that if the entire world conspired to keep its borders locked the regime would either crumble or have a last-ditch fuck y'all final attack on SK and whomever else just for lols. My guess it he former.

To be honest although I think a border lockout would work I don't know what the repercussions would be, and I personally have no fear over NK's nukes. It cannot project power and won't be able to any time soon, that's for sure, and even if it could it would have no will to.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

Uhmmm...no. It will likely end in neither of those.

I would like to know what your preferred north Korea policy is though.

Believing that the situation will continue as the status quo is absurd and naive. Whatever the best course of action maybe it will eventually be decided by those at the top in this nation but one thing is for sure our current plan is not working and does not and has not served as a deterrent for North Korea's ambition to develop nuclear weapons and the eventual a arsenal they will in the future develop and expand.

Thus right now we are already beyond the threshold where any policy of appeasement or punitive sanctions would mean anything to North Korea. They have demonstrated the ability and means to create a military nuclear device and test it on 3 occasions now. All they need is more time to further refine their tests and than eventually once they are ready they will head into full production and build up an arsenal.

Once North Korea establishes a sizable arsenal of nuclear weapons they will have a shield of deterrence in which to act. Either the world sits back and allows them to continue on their marry way with meaningless sanctions and finger wagging which will result in a foreseeable future escalation of conflicts between the North and South or we act in meaningful way today so as to avoid the potentials of a greater and more destructive conflict in the future. To pretend otherwise is to put one's head into the sand and hope that the threat posed to South Korea from a nuclear armed North Korea will just go away if we continue on the same failed path which did not accomplish the goal of preventing North Korea from developing, testing and eventually attain nuclear weapons as means of defense.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

This is my guess. I would give very long odds on NK ever attacking SK in an all out way. It has nothing to gain, all to lose. Won't happen.

NK will continue on until it simply collapses.They aren't. If the borders to NK were shut it would be finished. It imports too much oil, food, and already it's continually on a knife's edge. My guess is that if the entire world conspired to keep its borders locked the regime would either crumble or have a last-ditch fuck y'all final attack on SK and whomever else just for lols. My guess it he former.

To be honest although I think a border lockout would work I don't know what the repercussions would be, and I personally have no fear over NK's nukes. It cannot project power and won't be able to any time soon, that's for sure, and even if it could it would have no will to.

I agree economically they are very dependent on their border with China and Russia in which they sneak in supplies. Yet China and Russia both see North Korea as a useful wildcard to use against the US and its allies.

However politically North Korea is very much self-sustaining. Even with the harsh sanctions which have caused untold hardships and deprivations toward their citizens and including the recent transition of the previous regime of Kim Jong-Il to Kim Jong-Un the political dynasty which holds power in North Korea has not suffered one bit.

Hence they will not collapse anytime soon unless the ruling dynasty/regime is overthrown and destroyed from within and that unfortunately is not likely to happen anytime soon because even though the average North Korean may be starving and miserable they still cling to and revere the leadership in North Korea because the majority of them have been completely brainwashed since birth.

 

[Doppel]

majority of them have been completely brainwashed since birth.

Yep, they have. It's really a very interesting nation, that it still exists in the year 2013 so backwards as it is. I'm positive the average person in NK has no idea that there are so many nations across the planet so comparatively rich to NK that people can more or less sit around watching TV all day, surfing the net, and eating themselves to death. The culture shock they'd get if they saw even how their neighbors to the South are would be immense.

 

[klinc]

Yep, they have. It's really a very interesting nation, that it still exists in the year 2013 so backwards as it is. I'm positive the average person in NK has no idea that there are so many nations across the planet so comparatively rich to NK that people can more or less sit around watching TV all day, surfing the net, and eating themselves to death. The culture shock they'd get if they saw even how their neighbors to the South are would be immense.

They are not brainwashed they are afraid. Bunch of pussies if you ask me.

 

[stlc8tr]

China won't start a war, but they won't stop reunification either should it occur.

That might be their public stance but I believe that it's just for show.

They'd much rather have a semi-puppet state like NK than a reunited Korea at their borders so they will do what they can do prop up NK.

 

[mikeymikec]

They are not brainwashed they are afraid. Bunch of pussies if you ask me.

I think we've found a solution here. We send klinc in, and like his favourite character he'd go in like Rambo, lead an armed uprising, and hey presto! Problem solved. If he can't find enough support amongst the "cowardly masses", then like Rambo, he can do it all himself.