North Korea: Diplomacy Hits the Wall (possible N.K. missile tests 5-8 days after Iraq war starts)

NEWSWEEK via independent.co.kr ^ | Feb 10, 2003 (publishing date) | Richard Wolffe

[TigerLikesRooster]

Feb. 10 issue For the Bush administration, the worsening nuclear crisis in North Korea is turning into an exercise in frustration. For years conservatives inside the administration have longed to face down the Stalinist state. But now that they have a cast-iron case satellite pictures show the North is moving its stockpile of nuclear fuel rods they can only shrug their shoulders.

[TigerLikesRooster]

An interesting time we live in !

[LibWhacker]

“If a country is hellbent on developing nuclear weapons,” says one official, “what can you do?”

Nuke 'em back to the Cretaceous Period?

[Steel Wolf]

But now that they have a cast-iron case satellite pictures show the North is moving its stockpile of nuclear fuel rods they can only shrug their shoulders.

That's what you think, gaijin. Bush has quietly slipped the noose over North Korea's head and tied the other end off to the roof of the United Nations. All we have to do now is wait. We can't stop them from starting to build nuclear weapons, but we can put them in such a bad position that they'll wish they never started. U.N. sanctions are coming, the same ones that NK threatened to declare war over. Bush aims to strangle the regime, using their own bellicosity against them in the civilized forum of the U.N.

Strategery.

(What I'd really love to see is a ballistic missile defense test that 'coincides' with the NK missile test.)

[John Valentine]

(What I'd really love to see is a ballistic missile defense test that 'coincides' with the NK missile test.)

Perhaps that could actually be within the realm of possibility. It would sure tickle my fancy.

[TigerLikesRooster]

RE #3

I did not post this article because I agree with the author 100%. If you have a beef with this article, bring it to Richard Wolffe.:)

The reason I picked this article is that it is the first media piece to mention a possible N.K. missile test at the onset of Iraq war.

[Let's Roll]

I still think Soddamn is paying NK to cause as much trouble as possible.

[Steel Wolf]

Hehe, I realize that it wasn't you who wrote it. My response was to the article itself. Anytime you post something you have to expect some idiot to post 'to you' when he is actually replying to the article.

[FreeCanuckistan]

The NK's keep raising the ante'. What does this tell you about where we are going here?

[cactusSharp]

as a rule I disdain nukes , except wednesdays , of course.
but I'd nuke the N Koreans in nine seconds if I could.

[Brimack34]

How many nukes can a sub hold? We could park one near NK and tell them if they pull anything they are done.

[Centurion2000]

The NK's keep raising the ante'. What does this tell you about where we are going here?

Well, we're not going anywhere ..... NK may go into the furnace soon if they keep this up.

Russians could be 'trusted' with nukes because while commies they were rational.
With China, they have too much $$ and face to lose (for now)
The US, Israel and Britain ... long time allies.
The French and India can be made to see that using them would be a very BAD idea. Once again, rational behavior.

Islamics and North Korea's nukes should be strangled in the cradle.

[Centurion2000]

How many nukes can a sub hold? We could park one near NK and tell them if they pull anything they are done.

IIRC, 24 D5 Tridents each with a possible 5 MIRV warhead collection. Each warhead can be upwards of 500kt to 1MT (once again IIRC). About 120 nukes ...

Now you could have an SSGN with 154 tactical nuclear Tomahawks as well.

[FreeCanuckistan]

That's more or less where I figure we're going with this. You see....we gotta take it to em'.

[Norman Arbuthnot]

Russians could be 'trusted' with nukes because while commies they were rational.

We really didn't have any choice but to trust the Russians from the early 1960's onward. We came darn close to blowing each other up on a few occasions. We are lucky it didn't come to that.

Dr. Evil over there in NK is acting rationally, in his own perverse way. He's gambling, that's for sure, but this is time to do it. It is obvious that the NK's don't believe that we can handle two large scale high intensity ground wars at the same time and probably believe that we wouldn't hit them with a pre-emptive nuke strike. A conventional strike that takes out their nuke facilities is very possible, but that entails a high degree of risk because Seoul is vulnerable to a counter-strike and they don't even have to get across the DMZ to do that. Sure, we take them out, but at what price? They are betting that we will cave before putting SK at risk. That may be a risky bet, but Kim may figure he's next, after Saddam, so he has little to lose in the end?

Any way you cut it, we are in a difficult position.

[Robert_Paulson2]

or vice versa...

[John Valentine]

So are they.

They cannot make good on their threat to the South without total destruction of the North.

The problematic questiuon is what happens if they continue their peace offensive with the now appeasment happy South while proceeding apace with crating and adding to a nuclear weapons inventory.

The 64 dollar queston is: "Will we allow it?"

I think we have to make it totally clear to BOTH Koreas that the answer to that question is a solid NO. NAd that any attemt to push the issue will result in a the military eliimination of the North's potential nuclear capability.

[AntiGuv]

The 64 dollar queston is: "Will we allow it?"

We will have no choice. Everyone seems to focus on Seoul and forget Japan. Wanna ponder what would happen to the global economy if a mushroom cloud blooms over Tokyo?

[John Valentine]

I have to say that I find your response perplexing.

You seem to be saying that we must allow North Korea to develop nuclear weapons if we are to avoid a nuclear attack on Japan by North Korea.

Do I have that right?

[struggle]

You're telling me. I live in Kyoto and have a feeling that Kyoto will go first. Kyoto defines Japan.

[John Valentine]

We should cooperate with Japan by announcing that no missile launch will be permitted from North Korea.

We can test our airborne laser in a real time scenario.