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If N Korea Proves Their Capable Of Nuking America With Their Next Launch....

rhinefire

rhinefire

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What will be our response to North Korea if their claim of a launch capable striking the U.S. comes to be? Some in position to know say it will mandate a war on them and there is no other way. Note, it was said the chances of their technology doing it now are remote but who knows in the future.
 
rhinefire said:
What will be our response to North Korea if their claim of a launch capable striking the U.S. comes to be? Some in position to know say it will mandate a war on them and there is no other way. Note, it was said the chances of their technology doing it now are remote but who knows in the future.
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If they nuke us? That'd be the last mistake they ever made and I doubt that any other nation in the world would complain too loudly about our response.
 
rhinefire said:
What will be our response to North Korea if their claim of a launch capable striking the U.S. comes to be? Some in position to know say it will mandate a war on them and there is no other way. Note, it was said the chances of their technology doing it now are remote but who knows in the future.
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Why in God's name would declaring war be a reasonable response to learning NK has long-range nuclear capability? You can't use nukes on them but they can on you so you declare war?
 
Lutherf said:
If they nuke us? That'd be the last mistake they ever made and I doubt that any other nation in the world would complain too loudly about our response.
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Seoul is about a hundred miles from Pyongyang. Does that matter?
 
Lutherf said:
If they nuke us? That'd be the last mistake they ever made and I doubt that any other nation in the world would complain too loudly about our response.
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China probably would.
 
rhinefire said:
What will be our response to North Korea if their claim of a launch capable striking the U.S. comes to be? Some in position to know say it will mandate a war on them and there is no other way. Note, it was said the chances of their technology doing it now are remote but who knows in the future.
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We shouldn't do anything. I don't think even North Korea is insane enough to nuke the US. Because if they did, they would shortly afterward cease to exist as a country. There is no way China would continue protecting them in the case that they nuked the US.
 
molten_dragon said:
We shouldn't do anything. I don't think even North Korea is insane enough to nuke the US. Because if they did, they would shortly afterward cease to exist as a country. There is no way China would continue protecting them in the case that they nuked the US.
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South Korea is an ally. How could you nuke the north without collaterally damaging your ally?
Besides, I'd be more afraid of the nuke in a shipping container in New York harbour than the incoming ICBM. You wouldn't know where it came from.
 
Grand Mal said:
South Korea is an ally. How could you nuke the north without collaterally damaging your ally?
Besides, I'd be more afraid of the nuke in a shipping container in New York harbour than the incoming ICBM. You wouldn't know where it came from.
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Good point!
 
Odds are that even if NK nuked the US, we would not nuke them in return.

The US has enough military strength to destroy them conventionally. And so long as we did not nuke them in return, not even China nor Russia would likely bat an eye as we systematically destroyed North Korea and reunified them with South Korea by conventional means.

In fact, I would not be surprised if China took an active part in doing so, for some concessions in their helping to rebuild.
 
rhinefire said:
What will be our response to North Korea if their claim of a launch capable striking the U.S. comes to be? Some in position to know say it will mandate a war on them and there is no other way. Note, it was said the chances of their technology doing it now are remote but who knows in the future.
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Well cut off their cable TV probably. Other then that? Nothing.
 
Casper said:
They can already reach Seoul, you know that, right?
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(sigh)

Yes, I already knew that. Hell, they can go through one of the tunnels and hitch-hike there.
The point is, they can nuke you but you can't nuke them.
 
Casper said:
They can already reach Seoul, you know that, right?
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Seoul is less than 30 miles from the border, they can strike Seoul with conventional artillery.

Not sure what that has to do with the topic however.
 
Grand Mal said:
(sigh)

Yes, I already knew that. Hell, they can go through one of the tunnels and hitch-hike there.
The point is, they can nuke you but you can't nuke them.
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We really don't need nuclear weapons to dismantle that little country.
 
Deuce said:
We really don't need nuclear weapons to dismantle that little country.
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No, you don't. No more than in Japan in 1945.
 
Oozlefinch said:
Odds are that even if NK nuked the US, we would not nuke them in return.

The US has enough military strength to destroy them conventionally. And so long as we did not nuke them in return, not even China nor Russia would likely bat an eye as we systematically destroyed North Korea and reunified them with South Korea by conventional means.

In fact, I would not be surprised if China took an active part in doing so, for some concessions in their helping to rebuild.
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true, we have the ability to destroy them conventionally, are we prepared to suffer the body count?
 
Grand Mal said:
No, you don't. No more than in Japan in 1945.
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Huge differences. The biggest being that one is an island, and the other a peninsula. A peninsula which we already have military bases on.

Yea, we did not need the bombs to eliminate Japan. Just so long as we were willing to accept 2+ million friendly casualties, and 14+ million Japanese casualties.

randel said:
true, we have the ability to destroy them conventionally, are we prepared to suffer the body count?
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It would not be all that high. Consider the Korean War.

That war started in June 1950, and by July the US and South Korean forces were pushed into a little pocket, the Pusan Perimeter. Then in August they pushed their way out, until by October they had 2/3 of the North Korean Army in POW camps, and controlled the entire peninsula. At that time it was a short war, and the casualties were actually fairly light.

Then on 25 October, China invaded. That caused it to drag out for another 3 years and caused horrendous casualties.

But the high casualties were not caused by the North Koreans (force strength 266 thousand), but by the Chinese (force strength 1.3 million).

Personally, I do not think the Chinese would get involved again.
 
Oozlefinch said:
Huge differences. The biggest being that one is an island, and the other a peninsula. A peninsula which we already have military bases on.

Yea, we did not need the bombs to eliminate Japan. Just so long as we were willing to accept 2+ million friendly casualties, and 14+ million Japanese casualties.



It would not be all that high. Consider the Korean War.

That war started in June 1950, and by July the US and South Korean forces were pushed into a little pocket, the Pusan Perimeter. Then in August they pushed their way out, until by October they had 2/3 of the North Korean Army in POW camps, and controlled the entire peninsula. At that time it was a short war, and the casualties were actually fairly light.

Then on 25 October, China invaded. That caused it to drag out for another 3 years and caused horrendous casualties.

But the high casualties were not caused by the North Koreans (force strength 266 thousand), but by the Chinese (force strength 1.3 million).

Personally, I do not think the Chinese would get involved again.
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i would hope you are right about the chinese, but i think they would get involved
 
randel said:
i would hope you are right about the chinese, but i think they would get involved
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If they thought US military bases would be stationed in NK, I expect they would. If it was just about getting rid of the current NK government, and China could shape what comes after probably not
 
Oozlefinch said:
Huge differences. The biggest being that one is an island, and the other a peninsula. A peninsula which we already have military bases on.

Yea, we did not need the bombs to eliminate Japan. Just so long as we were willing to accept 2+ million friendly casualties, and 14+ million Japanese casualties.
Click to expand...

Invading North Korea might not be expensive on the scale of Japan in 1945, but Japan didn't have nukes, either. Just the conventional casualties would be huge, not least because I think you're wrong about China. China won't risk an America-occupied NK, or a last-ditch suicide detonation on their border. Also, by invading NK you'd probably be kissing Seoul goodbye and risking a nuke being delivered to the USA. Hell, for all you know it's on it's way already, a slo-mo delivery by container ship.
 
Grand Mal said:
Invading North Korea might not be expensive on the scale of Japan in 1945, but Japan didn't have nukes, either. Just the conventional casualties would be huge, not least because I think you're wrong about China. China won't risk an America-occupied NK, or a last-ditch suicide detonation on their border. Also, by invading NK you'd probably be kissing Seoul goodbye and risking a nuke being delivered to the USA. Hell, for all you know it's on it's way already, a slo-mo delivery by container ship.
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Remember, the only reason that the US is still in South Korea is because of the beligerance of North Korea.

I bet that if we agreed to leave within 5-10 years of a South Korean led reunification they would be all over it. North Korea has become an embarrassment to China, and is a drain on them in many ways (China is facing a large "illegal immigrant" problem from those fleeing North Korea). And NK gives them very little in any way, but is a drain on their resources (much like Cuba and the USSR, China has been propping up the NK economy for decades).

Having a peaceful and progressive unified Korea would be a big benefit, and I bet that an agreed downsizing or withdrawal of US forces would be a huge incentive for them to agree. After all, they are more then aware by now that North Korea will never unify the country under their leadership, and if they did it would be a disaster.
 
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