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North Korea conducts nuclear test

Polynikes

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North Korea conducts nuclear test | U.S. | Reuters


SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said it successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday, a move certain to further isolate the impoverished state which argues it has no choice but to build an atomic arsenal to protect itself in a hostile world.

"(North Korea) successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way," the North's official KCNA news agency said.


No time to really comment. North Korea did register a 4.7 magnitude event according to the USGS. So I take that it was a successful test, any estimates on the yield?


10-degree Map Centered at 40°N,130°E


Predictions of President Obama's reaction?
 
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"You people better just stop doing that testing, ya hear?"
 
Nrth Korea confirms nuclear bomb test

In a stunning foreign policy victory for the Obama Administration, North Korea announced, shortly after the USGS reported a 4.7 magnitude disturbance, a successful underground nuclear test.

Nuke Test

North Korea has conducted its second nuclear bomb test, the country's state news agency announced Monday.

This screen grab from North Korean television on April 9 shows leader Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang.

The confirmation came little more than an hour after the U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude 4.7 seismic disturbance at the site of North Korea's first nuclear test, in October 2006. The North Korea's Korean Central News Agency said Monday's test was conducted "as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way."

"The current nuclear test was safely conducted on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control and the results of the test helped satisfactorily settle the scientific and technological problems arising in further increasing the power of nuclear weapons and steadily developing nuclear technology," KCNA announced.

So far, the Obama administration is speechless.
 
Re: Nrth Korea confirms nuclear bomb test

You might want to merge this thread.
 
USGS is calling it a nuclear test. I wonder what the yeild was, their first test in 2006 barely counted as an atomic explosion
 
Any confirmation of this claim?
not yet in the UK.

The loony did say some time ago they were going to test.

He has no missiles with the capabilities to deliver a nuke!

Its a sales promo.
 
not yet in the UK.

The loony did say some time ago they were going to test.

He has no missiles with the capabilities to deliver a nuke!

Its a sales promo.

What does he need missiles for? He could do significant damage to South Korea with a really big slingshot.
 
North Korea conducts nuclear test | U.S. | Reuters


SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said it successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday, a move certain to further isolate the impoverished state which argues it has no choice but to build an atomic arsenal to protect itself in a hostile world.

"(North Korea) successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way," the North's official KCNA news agency said.


No time to really comment. North Korea did register a 4.7 magnitude event according to the USGS. So I take that it was a successful test, any estimates on the yield?


10-degree Map Centered at 40°N,130°E


Predictions of President Obama's reaction?

The same as every other President. Calls for inter national talks to decide on the action to take.

What would you have him do? Invade?
 
What does he need missiles for? He could do significant damage to South Korea with a really big slingshot.

And then he's regime would be forcibly removed from power. The last thing it wants. People have these notions that states like North Korea and Iran will act in a manner that results in their regimes' end despite years of doing everything they can to stay in power.
 
And then he's regime would be forcibly removed from power. The last thing it wants. People have these notions that states like North Korea and Iran will act in a manner that results in their regimes' end despite years of doing everything they can to stay in power.

Well put. The massive spending on military is due to the fact that the DPRK is surrounded by potential invaders; it is seen more so in the DPRK than other countries because their doctrine - Juche - is based on self reliance and a stronger focus on national self defense.
 
The massive spending on military is due to the fact that the DPRK is surrounded by potential invaders; it is seen more so in the DPRK than other countries because their doctrine - Juche - is based on self reliance and a stronger focus on national self defense.

Yet the ironic thing is that no one is ever going to invade them. The regime derives legitimacy from appearing strong in national defense yet in reality faces no actual enemies. In fact the biggest threat to North Korea is China as China could shut down the country in a week by closing off fuel and food.

They spend vast quantities of money as their people starve on defense against South Korea, the US and Japan (who will never invade) and yet the biggest existential threat to North Korea is the PRC's intolerance of what amounts to welfare. The world is a sick, sick joke.

The biggest problem with North Korean nukes is that the Conservatives in South Korea holding on to the views from the Korea War will want to get nukes. Then Japan will. And that's the beginning of an Asian Sh*t storm of everyone in the region trying to get nukes.
 
And then he's regime would be forcibly removed from power. The last thing it wants. People have these notions that states like North Korea and Iran will act in a manner that results in their regimes' end despite years of doing everything they can to stay in power.
Saddam Hussein did everything he could to stay in power, including running the Mother of All Bluffs about weapons of mass destruction...which resulted in him getting his neck stretched.

Governments will generally act to preserve and enlarge their power. What is far from certain, however, is which choices will accomplish that and which choices will accomplish their demise.

The concern should be less that North Korea will behave irrationally and more that North Korea will behave rationally but erroneously.
 
Yet the ironic thing is that no one is ever going to invade them. The regime derives legitimacy from appearing strong in national defense yet in reality faces no actual enemies. In fact the biggest threat to North Korea is China as China could shut down the country in a week by closing off fuel and food.

I do think, though, that at the time the DPRK was founded, the threat was very real, and only really collapsed after the invasion of Iraq was deemed a disaster. The Iraq invasion, though, posed a real threat, as it was the first "preemptive invasion", which basically made the threat that the US could/would invade any nation it wanted without provocation. Considering the fact that the DPRK has historically been one of the US's biggest enemies, I think that the threat, while not incredibly real or pressing, is understandable when perceived in such a way.

They spend vast quantities of money as their people starve on defense against South Korea, the US and Japan (who will never invade) and yet the biggest existential threat to North Korea is the PRC's intolerance of what amounts to welfare. The world is a sick, sick joke.

I don't know exactly how true this is. Last I heard aid and trade to the DPRK were being further restricted by China, South Korea and Japan, which leads me to believe that the allocation of resources to military expenditures isn't the sole reason for the food crisis in the country. South Korea has for some time been using aid and trade with the DPRK as a political lever.

Saddam Hussein did everything he could to stay in power, including running the Mother of All Bluffs about weapons of mass destruction...which resulted in him getting his neck stretched.

This was actually denied by him. The US was the one making this claim.
 
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Re: Nrth Korea confirms nuclear bomb test

In a stunning foreign policy victory for the Obama Administration, North Korea announced, shortly after the USGS reported a 4.7 magnitude disturbance, a successful underground nuclear test.



So far, the Obama administration is speechless.

What would you like them to do?
 
Re: Nrth Korea confirms nuclear bomb test

In a stunning foreign policy victory for the Obama Administration, North Korea announced, shortly after the USGS reported a 4.7 magnitude disturbance, a successful underground nuclear test.



So far, the Obama administration is speechless.

Wrong, so far Obama hasn't released any comment. The administration is far from speechless. But then again when you make dishonest characterizations like this it serves your agenda better.

N. Korea Says It Conducts 2nd Nuclear Test, Reportedly Fires Short-Range Missile.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Andy Laine said: "At this point, we've seen the reports and we're trying to get more information, but we're not able to confirm at this time." An official said the U.S. was gravely concerned by the claim and was analyzing the data.
 
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Re: Nrth Korea confirms nuclear bomb test

What would you like them to do?

He doesn't actually know and it won't matter what they do anyway. He will mischaracterize it I'm sure and subject us all to his signature strain of rhetoric.
 
And then he's regime would be forcibly removed from power. The last thing it wants. People have these notions that states like North Korea and Iran will act in a manner that results in their regimes' end despite years of doing everything they can to stay in power.

People also have these notions that an aggressive action by a nation will always be met with the destruction of that regime's power.

I don't have the slightest shred of doubt that China will make a move toward Taiwan at some point in the future. Does that mean they're going to lose control of their country? No, it means they're going to do it at a time when they believe the reward is worth the risk.

Similarly, countries like NK or Iran may very well take action that you or I would consider irrational, because they may view things differently.

The view you're espousing is a nice one, because it would mean that no belligerent nation would ever do something risky and out of line. I think that's too much to hope for.
 
People also have these notions that an aggressive action by a nation will always be met with the destruction of that regime's power.

I don't have the slightest shred of doubt that China will make a move toward Taiwan at some point in the future. Does that mean they're going to lose control of their country? No, it means they're going to do it at a time when they believe the reward is worth the risk.

Similarly, countries like NK or Iran may very well take action that you or I would consider irrational, because they may view things differently.

The view you're espousing is a nice one, because it would mean that no belligerent nation would ever do something risky and out of line. I think that's too much to hope for.

Much like when Saddam invaded Kuwait. He didn't think we come throw his ass out. He was wrong.
 
Yet the ironic thing is that no one is ever going to invade them.

The reason why nobody will ever invade them is because they have 15,000 guns fixed on Seoul and could kill 1-3 million within 20 minutes. When you look at it from that perspective, their actions here are perfectly rational and even more dangerous.
 
Much like when Saddam invaded Kuwait. He didn't think we come throw his ass out. He was wrong.

Or like when Russia invaded Georgia. Or like when Israel invaded Lebanon. Or like the conflict in Darfur. Nobody in those conflicts thought that we (or anyone else) would step in and stop it, and they were right.

Fact remains that in the majority of conflicts where a perfect world would demand an international response, nobody in the real world does anything about it.
 
Or like when Russia invaded Georgia.

Would were we supposed to do? Risking nuclear war over protecting the miserable government in Georgia wasn't worth it. The cold war may be over, but Russia can still destroy the world.

Or like when Israel invaded Lebanon.

Lebanon was launching a full scale artillery attack on Israel. Why would prevent an ally from defending themselves?

Or like the conflict in Darfur.

If we weren't busy fighting 2 other wars, we might have been able to intervene. Furthermore, although the genocide in Darfur was truly horrific, it was an internal matter.

Since WW2, nobody has managed to perform any major land grabs, and there have been no big wars between real powers. That is pretty damn impressive. The world is probably more peaceful today than it ever has been since humans started civilization.
 
Would were we supposed to do? Risking nuclear war over protecting the miserable government in Georgia wasn't worth it. The cold war may be over, but Russia can still destroy the world.

And what will we do if China invades Taiwan? Risk nuclear war over protecting them?

Lebanon was launching a full scale artillery attack on Israel. Why would prevent an ally from defending themselves?

I wasn't limiting this to US actions. Nobody else intervened either.

If we weren't busy fighting 2 other wars, we might have been able to intervene.

And we're fighting two wars now, so what makes you think we'd be more capable of intervening in anything else?

Furthermore, although the genocide in Darfur was truly horrific, it was an internal matter.

According to China, Taiwan is an internal matter.

Since WW2, nobody has managed to perform any major land grabs, and there have been no big wars between real powers. That is pretty damn impressive. The world is probably more peaceful today than it ever has been since humans started civilization.

You don't consider Korea and Vietnam to be major land grabs or big wars?
 
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