N Korea Threatens to Turn Japan into "Nuclear Sea of Fire"

Yonhap News (South Korea) ^ | September 23, 2004 | Kim Hyung-jin

[El Gato]

Uhh...psst. North Korea. It will only take one nuclear bomb

NK is small, but not that small. They've only got a few cities worth a "city buster" type nuke. They do have lots of tunnels and other dug in stuff that is hard to kill, even with a nuke. Of course you can make it so they can't get the stuff out of the tunnels.

[Steel Wolf]

They're gonna nuke Japan? Come on. Do something original.

As wrong, wrong, wrong as your comment was, you raise an interesting point. Imagine if, at some point in the future, two American cities had been nuked, and some lunatic dictator threatened to do so again.

It would be like the Ayallatollahs of Iran telling us, 'We're going to hijack some planes, and crash them into your skyscrapers'. We'd take it a lot more seriously, because it would be not only a threat of violence, but a cultural insult.

[pke]

Why don't we just launch a sensitive pre-emptive nuclear strike!

[the rifleman]

This whole stinking situation is the fault of the Chinese. They saved his father in a war that he started and left him in power. Sure he was an ally, but Damn! The first Kim was crazy, the second doesn't even seem human.

Now they want/have that favored nation status and just love that good business as usual, while their little monster spouts threats against humanity.

I know why they do it though, they are only interested in the jewels of the orient, not the garbage dump up on the hill that they created.

[birbear]

Oh... I don't necessarily have a problem with a pre-emptive nuclear strike on North Korea if the scenario warrants it. I'm just saying that a lot of things would have to go horribly wrong in order for us to end up in that position. (i.e. Diplomacy failed, conventional weapons would fail, China would be involved, possibly more intense armed conflict between India and Pakistan. Basically, the whole wide world would be in a hot war, and we'd have so many of our conventional resources scattered amongst the globe that what we currently have in the Korean Peninsula would not be enough to deter North Korea and China from invading South Korea and Japan.)

And not to play Devil's Advocate, but if I were the leader of North Korea, and I got nuked, one of my first retalitory strikes would be at U.S. bases in Japan.

To my way of thinking his whole comment was a "Duh!" moment.

[Poohbah]

The Pyongang Chia Pet wants some attention.

[Richard Kimball]

Yeah, and despite the rather crude way in which I expressed myself, this was exactly what was on my mind. The original Godzilla movie was an expression of Japan's collective psychosis after the nuclear attacks.

The original Godzilla, if you can get past the outdated Japanese special effects, is a pretty frightening movie, particularly when viewed in the context of the Japanese experience.

I do not believe Japan will tolerate being threatened in this manner.

It amazes me that Jimmy Carter, after all the damage he has done to the world, including negotiating the treaty that allowed this madman to get ahold of nuclear weapons, has the nerve to criticize anyone about foreign policy.

[Joe Boucher]

You are correct in that individual nations should look after their own security interests. However most know that for 50+ years, Canada,Japan,South Korea and most of west europe have spent a small % of their g.n.p. on defence knowing that they have had the U.S. to foot the bill.

[dyed_in_the_wool]

Why isn't Bush arming Japan and South Korea with nukes?
It would seem that might force China to bring their dog to heel.