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New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea as it Warns of Pre-emptive Nuclear Attack

nytimes.com

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Re: New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea as it Warns of Pre-emptive Nuclear Attack

#91

Post by zokier »

damian2000 wrote: post #51
irmbrady wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US military had a big involvement in the Korean War (88% of the South Korean force [1]), and to this day are posted at the demilitarised zone in the Korean Peninsula. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War [1] Here is an interesting read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_Korea

Interesting article - the division is similar to how Germany was divided into east and west.

Kinda similar, but then also different. Afaik the relations between east and west germanies were peaceful, while north and south koreas are at war, albeit in extended ceasefire. I'm not sure if DPRK even acknowledges ROK as a lawful government/entity.

Re: New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea as it Warns of Pre-emptive Nuclear Attack

#92

Post by vonmoltke »

bdunbar wrote: post #76
pyre wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would non-explosive artillery shells detonate prematurely?

> non-explosive artillery shells Artillery shells contain explosives in the nose.

And in the rest of the shell.

Re: New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea as it Warns of Pre-emptive Nuclear Attack

#93

Post by arethuza »

iSnow wrote: post #88
arethuza wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a separate incident - just happened to be right before Able Archer.

I see, my bad. Nice to know that we came that close to annihilation twice in 1983.

I can recommend watching Threads to get some idea of just how grim things would probably have been in the UK had there been a war at that time.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/

NB Threads, although it depicts an absolutely devastating attack on the UK (~90% dead within a few years), actually uses a rather optimistic attack plan - a real attack would actually have been far worse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Leg

Re: New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea as it Warns of Pre-emptive Nuclear Attack

#94

Post by zokier »

raverbashing wrote: post #52
Someone wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is a different thing, but they don't have to send it that far away. Seoul is just 30 miles from the border. The problem is more one of having a small enough nuclear device and of keeping it intact during launch than of range.

Yes, they can send it by plane, maybe even a suicide mission Much easier than packing it for deployment in a rocket 30 miles is approximately 5 to 15 minutes of early warning depending on plane speed (considering time after crossing the border, but I'm sure Seoul has monitoring capabilities that go beyond)

Planes are slow and large targets that are easy to intercept. You bet ROK monitors everything and anything that comes anywhere near the border, and has enough anti-air to stop anyone from reaching Seoul.

Re: New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea as it Warns of Pre-emptive Nuclear Attack

#95

Post by saosebastiao »

DRPK's military is still stuck in the 1950's.

Our military got caught with its pants down when going up against a military that was trained in the hills of Afghanistan in the 1980's...and responded by combining its perfected 1950's style warfare with a 2010's style drone warfare, and fairly quickly learned its lesson with the 1980's style warfare.

I can't imagine what it would be like to go up against a military that has skipped 2 generations ahead of yours. North Korea either truly has no clue what they are up against, or they are just trying to get more aid money again.

Re: New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea as it Warns of Pre-emptive Nuclear Attack

#97

Post by CamperBob2 »

jbooth wrote: post #85
adventured wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. China could dismantle North Korea in a heartbeat, by pulling all support at a minimum or telling the military junta it's over and if they want to survive at all they have to play ball. Kim would be served up on a platter the next day. North Korea is nothing but a way for China to poke the US constantly.

Eh. I'm not saying that Chinese leadership doesn't enjoy the ability to poke the US, and play that up for domestic political reasons, but indications I've seen are that they've been getting sick of North Korea's shit. Check their language in these periodic crises from the late 90s until now -- they practically sound like they're on the US's side now compared to the late 90s. There's a more practical reason for them t…

(Sorry, didn't mean to mod you down, but pre-touchscreen HN decided it was a good idea to separate the up and down arrows by 1 pixel.)

Re: New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea as it Warns of Pre-emptive Nuclear Attack

#98

Post by scarmig »

jbooth wrote: post #87
uxp wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there is one thing that marathoning Mythbusters on Netflix has taught me its that gasoline is a poor explosive for everything except looking pretty.

I think the 5 gallons of gas is the amount it would require to drive from NK to Seoul.

Closer to $5 worth of gas than 5 gallons of gas. Seoul is about as close to NK as San Francisco is to PA.

Re: New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea as it Warns of Pre-emptive Nuclear Attack

#99

Post by scarmig »

adventured wrote: post #60
benjoffe wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A rational North Korean state would not engage in nuclear war in just about any scenario as it would mean almost certain destruction for itself in response. To help persuade their enemies not to invade they try to appear as irrational as possible. There's an interesting segment in this psychology lecture about irrationality that seems related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5IrSEIPdwk#t=44m36s There is some advantag…

I don't believe there's any advantage to being irrational or having a temper. Sooner or later someone is going to call your bluff. If you initiate violence, you might get your ass kicked by someone stronger. If you flip out irrationally, they can simply laugh at you as you flail about, or begin ignoring you / avoiding you. When someone calls your bluff, it's game over. Everything changes from that point forward. Eith…

Do you or any of your family members live in Seoul?

Re: New Sanctions Imposed on North Korea as it Warns of Pre-emptive Nuclear Attack

#100

Post by bd_at_rivenhill »

pilom wrote: post #39
pilgrim689 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't Seoul protect itself like Isreal did with the Iron Dome?

Iron dome shoots down rockets with other rockets. The US has some tech in forward operating bases in Afghanistan to shoot down rockets and mortars with 300 round/minute 50 caliber Gatling guns ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-RAM ). Both of these technologies only work against explosive/fueled rounds because you can blow them up. The artilery that North Korea has pointed at the south could be just slug launche…

Artillery doesn't fire slugs unless you count tank rounds that are designed to kill other tanks (e.g. discarding sabot depleted uranium rounds). Most artillery rounds are fused for air burst to spread shrapnel around efficiently.
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