North Korea has 1,000 missiles, South says, page 1

Quite an amount one would say, more than enough to protect from an attack or to launch a pre-empitive one. A very concise claim as well, the South Korean's have probably turned some N Korean's to become double agents.

uk.news.yahoo.com...
www.nytimes.com...
www.globalsecuritynewswire.org...

However I do wonder how many missiles South Korea have pointed at the North and how many U.S missiles are also pointed at N.Korea? I am not trying to defend Kim Jong, he treats his people like crap. But its not as simple as the North is the aggressor and the South is completly innocent.

If you were Kim Jong and you had 25,000 American troops www.globalsecurity.org... stationed in South Korea, with thousands re-deployable from Japan within hours what would you do?.





[edit on 17-3-2010 by Peruvianmonk]

reply to post by SaturnFX

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Wow, i wasn't aware of this secret missile defence system. I know you say its secret, but do you have any links to some information on the programme? I always see these missile defence systems as a kind of red herring, like the U.S 'Star Wars' project and Israeli 'Iron Dome' system.

Yes 1k is a lot when your people are starving and suffering. I suppose it is a detterence thing. Similair to the MAD doctrine employed by the Soviet Union and U.S during the 'Cold War'.

reply to post by Now_Then

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From the news sources this number appears to cover short-range, medium and inter-mediate range missiles.

North Korea has about 1,000 short- and medium-range missiles that are capable of hitting U.S. military facilities in Japan and Guam as well as South Korea, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Wednesday.

They also are said to hold plenty of weapons grade Uranium.

Kim told a forum in Seoul that the North is also believed to have 30 to 40 kilograms of highly enriched uranium.

www.koreatimes.co.kr...



[edit on 17-3-2010 by Peruvianmonk]

reply to post by Peruvianmonk

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If you were Kim Jong and you had 25,000 American troops www.globalsecurity.org... stationed in
South Korea, with thousands re-deployable from Japan within hours what would you do?.

I would discreetely arrange for spies to be leaked information about how many thousands of nuclear warheads I have. Whether or not I actually have them.

It's been demonstrated to be an effective deterrent.

reply to post by LordBucket

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Ha ha yes indeed. The world though does appear pretty convinced that N Korea do possess nuclear/atomic weapons due to that 'test' in October 2006.

www.timesonline.co.uk...

The test was reported to be somewhat of a failure, although 3 1/2 years later you feel they may have ironed out any problems.

reply to post by Peruvianmonk

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They also tested a nuke last year that was successful.

reply to post by john124

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Thanks John. Do you have a link for this so i can read up on it? I do not remember hearing about it.


[edit on 17-3-2010 by Peruvianmonk]

reply to post by Now_Then

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Do you think, as they appear to not have enough Uranium, according to the overlord Wiki, this means they have not developed a nuclear weapon?

Can you develop a crude nuclear device out of smaller amounts of Uranium such as N Korea are reported to have?

reply to post by Peruvianmonk

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Here you go:

North Korea tests nuclear weapon 'as powerful as Hiroshima bomb'

North Korea today risked further international isolation after it claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear weapon as powerful as the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

edition.cnn.com...

The U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting Monday after world leaders reacted with outrage to North Korea's latest nuclear test.

North Korea earlier said it had tested the weapon in an underground explosion, provoking an angry response from the world's governments.

You must have been somewhere isolated last May not to have heard about this. It led to UN sanctions supported by China to prevent N.Korea shipping in or out weaponry.

Defying Sanctions, NKorea Vows to Make More Nukes

North Korea responded to new U.N. sanctions with more defiance, promising Saturday to step up its nuclear bomb-making program by enriching uranium and threatening war on any country that dares to stop its ships on the high seas.

Last year as N.Korea barked, some predicted war on the horizon. N.Korea always threaten, then return to the table for negotiations and then back to making threats.

[edit on 17-3-2010 by john124]

reply to post by john124

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That was in the middle of my exam period i believe, so i think i basically was in isolation.

I agree they are full of bluster. Still it is bluster backed by a considerable amount of ordance. If the U.S or S. Korea antagonise the Northerners too much with their 'war games' you could see somthing kicking off, hopefully in a limited form.

Originally posted by Peruvianmonk
Can you develop a crude nuclear device out of smaller amounts of Uranium such as N Korea are reported to have?

Well yes and no..... That would really depend on what sort of weapons grade material they actually have.... Of course the (fabled?) suitcase bombs I think will be using something like 10 or 15 KG's of some sort of weapons grade stuff, what it would be I don't know, not uranium though.

Every different type of fissionable material (ie your Uranium, your Plutonium, there are others look here ) all have a minimum critical mass, so if you had a sphere of a particular material and the mass of that sphere was above the minimum for that material it would go from sub critical (stable, not doing much) to super critical (doing interesting things, such as get very very hot, good for power stations, or explode!!! Good for nukes!)...

So lets stick with Uranium 235, you need at the very least 52 kg of the stuff, and then you have to basically get that mass to go supercritical way when and where you want it to - which can actually be quite simple in a gun bomb design, or very very complicated as in the implosion method).

If you make a weapon with any less than the critical mass then you would not have a nuclear explosion... You could of course use that weapons grade material for a dirty bomb, but that's not a great idea, it's clearly very difficult to get in large quantities and there are many many other sources of radiological material just hanging around that are easy enough to get hold of.

Nope if Lil Kimmey really does only have 30 - 40 KG's he's gonna want to be laying his hands on a whole lot more... Or just try to obtain the ready build bombs from somewhere else.

reply to post by Peruvianmonk

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So the North Korean Nuclear threat aside just what is the big deal ?
I would say that one thousand thousand missiles would be expended in combat very quickly . Since North Korea has only acquired two hundred missiles in two years that we know about it doesn't look like they replace the missiles they expend during war time .

The main threat comes from infiltration of North Korean agents and troops into South Korea via tunnels or other means .If I were in charge of the defence of South Korea I would have geologists looking for the tunnels I just mentioned , once they are found they could be destroyed or quietly booby trapped .

reply to post by xpert11

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That's a fair point Expert. The same thought did cross my mind in regards to how quickly the N Koreans could produce missiles in a time of war.

Still 1000 is more than enough to start a conflict, as is the American presence in South Korea. However i do not see anything happening in the near future, but as relations between the U.S and China become straind(which of course they will) Either side may use this as an excuse to either destroy or conquer the other.

We could see 1950 all over again.

Then again when Kim Jong finally passes, you may see a less oppresive more open regime take hold. One can hope, for the N Korean people's sake more than anything.

.

reply to post by Peruvianmonk

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Since force has to be concentrated to be effective it stands to reason that North Korea will launch missiles and use other conventional forces such tanks during the outbreak of war . This would drain the majority of North Korea fuel reserves so there would soon come a point where they simply couldn't launch any more missiles . Towards the end of the war Germany produced fighter planes that they had no fuel to fly its a similar situation what we are dealing with . Iran has the same problem missile launch's make for great internal propaganda but they require much valuable war time resources to make use of them .

What people fail to grasp is that the real threat is from sea mines they are cheap and easy to produce and don't require fuel oil to run .

reply to post by TheImmaculateD1

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From a conventional strategic point of view the problem for the South Korean defenders would be or is that they face the sea . There North Korean enemy has a land border with China a sort of armed belligerent . I wouldn't rule out North Korea using nukes in the future even against their own people . IMO unless it accompanied by a nuclear weapons strike I don't think that North Korea would launch a direct invasion of South Korea . Such a thing they would have done already .

North Korea no longer gets the same idealogical support from China and Russia instead they receive just enough aid to keep the regime going . This is why North Korea has had to tone down its terrorist activity's instead relying on such things as illegal drug smuggling .

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