next stop North Korea

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english.chosun.com...
lIn reaction to North Korea's sudden change in its mind, denying possessing of a high-enriched uranium (HEU) program, a high official in the U.S. government said Monday that it is regretful that the country was still denying the existence of its HEU program.
The official refuted North Korea's claims, saying that the United States has concrete evidence that the North has an HEC operation. North Korea admitted that it has HEU program when U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly visited North Korea in October 2002. The country has recently begun denying that it has HEU program.

I don't think we're going to war with North Korea. Why? Because they have WMD's. Which makes it all the more confusing. We go to war with Iraq and find no WMD. Yet we haven't even announced going to war with North Korea and they even said we have WMD. Does this make sense to anybody? Something very odd is going on with our government issues. What exactly that is, I just don't know.

I don't think we're going to war with North Korea. Why? Because they have WMD's. Which makes it all the more confusing.

Lol, I would hope war does not occur again, I think the koreans would put up more of a fight then the Iraqis.

Deep

Originally posted by mrmulder
I don't think we're going to war with North Korea. Why? Because they have WMD's. Which makes it all the more confusing. We go to war with Iraq and find no WMD. Yet we haven't even announced going to war with North Korea and they even said we have WMD. Does this make sense to anybody? Something very odd is going on with our government issues. What exactly that is, I just don't know.

Maybe they are bluffing?

Originally posted by ZeroDeep

I don't think we're going to war with North Korea. Why? Because they have WMD's. Which makes it all the more confusing.

Lol, I would hope war does not occur again, I think the koreans would put up more of a fight then the Iraqis.

Deep

Agreed. Having said that Zero Deep doesn't it seem we go to war with weaker countries than our own? Maybe we're scared to go to war with N. Korea because we know they would put more of a fight than Iraq. Maybe we're scard to lose.

Maybe they are bluffing?

You could be right as well SwordMaster.


[Edited on 5-2-2004 by mrmulder]

Originally posted by TheSwordMaster
Maybe they are bluffing?

yeah, you could be right. before this war iraq had been saying that any troops to enter would have been attacked by chemical and biological weapons. did that happen? not that i know of...

[Edited on 5/2/2004 by cmdrkeenkid]

Originally posted by ZeroDeep

Lol, I would hope war does not occur again, I think the koreans would put up more of a fight then the Iraqis.

Deep

The Koreans dont take any # from anybody. The US will not dare attack NK because they have nukes. And remember we only invade countries we know dont have WMD. Because if Saddam actually had them... he would have used them and we would be bringing thousands upon thousands of soldiers home in body bags.

Gee what if the US invades NK because they threaten to have WMD and will use them,

then the US goes in and kicks their arses,

then they find out ole' lil' Kim was lyin' will then everyone cry about how it was unfair to go into NK?

Lets just hope none of these stipulations occur.

Im not too sure how NK army would size up against Americas? Any one know?

Deep

I think you are missing the point. N.Korea has very little in value to start a war with. Iraqi was about the oil or more simply who controls that oil. It was begining to be bad buisness dealing with Sadam and he clearly wasn't going to change so.....

But what does NK represent? Cold infertal waste lands, we have plenty in the Dakota's. They are only a destablizing influence in that theater of the world. If they step out of line by aggression agianst the South or Japan we take the out fast and hard without troops. Period!

Simple, we are afraid that NK will nuke Japan or SK.

The complex system of caves and underground bunkers ensures that a nuke exchange may not ensure immediate defeat by NK. So the only thing the US gets is a huge debt responsibility of irradiating millions of people in the region. And can not ensure the tactical ability of NK will be knocked out swiftly.

This is not a win win situation. There is no gain from NK accept the stability of the region.

It is MUCH wiser for the US to partner with CHINA to force a resolution then for the US to intervene militarily. We would rather have an accord with CHINA to absorb NK and leave SK alone then try and use military force to make NK conceed.

What do you mean? NK has heroin and lotsa cheap labour, plus it has strategic location on China's border. Why do you think China invaded it in the first place? To make a buffer between Westernized South Korea.

Decent accessment, I don't think we are prepared or would have the time to mobalize so as to repeat the last Korean war. It's all about buisness and it would be bad buissness to have S.Korea dragged into a war.

If CHINA truely wants to be the Pacific Police I've read they are interested in, then they will eventually have to step up to plate and deal with this issue. NK is alone in this as I understand it.

Last I knew herion didn't have much nutritional value , and China has plenty of opeuim. Great Britian made sure of that...

The only evidence that they have this supposed program is the word of an American.

They have never stated this themselves, and deny saying it at the meeting.

They accuse us of lying.....

Why would they bother with this when they already have moderated reactors to produce Plutonium?

Originally posted by leejones
click link for full info

english.chosun.com...
lIn reaction to North Korea's sudden change in its mind, denying possessing of a high-enriched uranium (HEU) program, a high official in the U.S. government said Monday that it is regretful that the country was still denying the existence of its HEU program.
The official refuted North Korea's claims, saying that the United States has concrete evidence that the North has an HEC operation. North Korea admitted that it has HEU program when U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly visited North Korea in October 2002. The country has recently begun denying that it has HEU program.

In My Opinion:
(what do I know, I'm just a girl)

The admitting then denying the possession of HEU and even nuclear weapons is standard operating procedure for North Korea, part of their usual drama they love to perform.

It is believed to be their strategy to try to keep the US and western nation's intelligence services, media and general public off balance in their assessment of the situation as well as an attempt to drive a diplomatic wedge between the west and South Korea.

(In this post I will be using "nuclear" as a generic term not a specific term (citing the difference in atomic & nuclear weapons)

Chances are there will be no war with North Korea unless Kim Jong Il:

(1) decides to get openly aggressive, by:
a) attacking South Korea
b) attacking Japan

(2) tests a nuclear device
(he can't keep even an underground blast a secret- there are many eyes of differing wavelengths watching N. Korea from above)

(3) Is caught transferring nukes to other rogue or rogue-wanna-be nations

I was in S. Korea back in November and the Korean people continue to be hopeful that there will be reunification without war and without the south capitulating.

Currently, reunification strategists in Seoul are hopeful on information/speculation that Kim Jong Il is not well and may actually have a terminal condition... It is said that Kim may be grooming his son to take power in the next couple of years if his health does not improve.

The problem with the US invading N. Korea, (aside from NK's nukes) is the 58,000+ artillery pieces aimed at Seoul. It is said by military intelligence that Seoul could be nearly destroyed in the first 24 hours of a conflict with over 1 million casualties.

I am speculating here, but the only way the US could invade N. Korea and hopefully prevent Seoul from being decimated would be with a pre-emptive nuclear assault on the front lines where there are over half a million NK regulars in numerous caves, deep underground tunnel complexes and bunkers. In fact the northern side of the DMZ remains one of the most heavily armed areas on the planet.

This pre-emptive assault would have to be timed to coordinate with stealth air assaults on all known launch vehicles and facilities for No-Dong, Taepo-Dong 1 & 2 and Scud missiles. Of course theater-wide missile defense would have to be in place and as error-free as possible, as well.

a very difficult equation to say the least, even for the US Air Force, and the penalty for a botched attack could be Seoul and Tokyo glowing in the dark...

War with N. Korea?

Probably not~

intelgurl

[Edited on 5-2-2004 by intelgurl]

Of course America can send in the Mercenaries,

SARS & Bird Flu come immediately to mind....

Originally posted by THENEO
Gee what if the US invades NK because they threaten to have WMD and will use them,

then the US goes in and kicks their arses,

then they find out ole' lil' Kim was lyin' will then everyone cry about how it was unfair to go into NK?

Its not simple as that..

Even with their conventional forces DPRK can kick USAs arse..

On their own land..

And maybe in the whole penisula..

(Well.. the penisula is their land if we think of it..)

NK doesn't have the nuclear capabilities to hit continental united states...I think Bush might be aggressive towards North Korea, but if not it will be because of causing problems with their allies, and more tension from larger countries.

After Iraq, I'm sure lots of people will go along with the "concrete evidence" that has been found.

[Edited on 5-2-2004 by Shoktek]

I would have to agree with intelgurl......
There would have to be clear nuclear implications or a direct attack against the south for the US to go to war because of all that artillery in place.

The problem lies in the fact that our ally (and the only reason we are over tehre in the first place) would sustain huge losses. I dont think our soldiers would take the losses people think though, because we would hold them back while we bombed them into the stone age.

I think that this would make a whole lot of sense once we perfected our laser systems, because they have already shot down artillery shells with them. If the US could get them to the point where they were around 90% effective, and make them have a reasonable power suply, I could see the US pulling a pre-emptive.

Let's all hope that the N. Korean dictator dies, and reunification comes together in a democratic form.