A Question About North Korea

Greetings, ATS!

I'm hoping you can help me understand something that I find very confusing.

If a government intends to declare war on another government, or is planning a first strike....why would they warn the enemy?

Now, I understand political posturing in order to avoid a war.. Kinda like that frog that will puff itself up to make it look more intimidating to its enemies. I understand this.

What I don't understand is why you would announce to the world that you plan to strike against another country.

So, does that mean that all threats of this nature are just political posturing? Should any of them be taken seriously? How can you tell the difference?

I hope my question makes sense. Thanks for the clarification, ATS.

Happy Easter!

reply to post by smyleegrl


There is something bigger going on here. Someone is trying to drag the US into another war in order to bankrupt the country. The true purpose of WW3 which dont kid yourself, is in full swing and has been since early 2000s. The war is being fought on many different fronts, financial markets, the internet and even on the ground. Mind you the gound war is expensive.

NK is hoping to draw the US into the fight. SK wouldnt stand a chance against NK even if NK sent them their entire battle plan by email. Im thinking NK is hoping to draw the US in and then flase flag their asses into bringing CHina into the fight. China doesnt want a war involving the US at their doorstep, one small mistake could have dire consequences. Also the US being tied up in NK would make it nice and easy for any other nation to start something and the US would bankrupt itself fighting on multiple fronts.

SO the announcing of battle plans is merely a ploy to make the US drop the ball somehow. Also, its what NK is using to make their people think they are taking the fight to their enemies thus raising morale and such.

NK's history has been one of:

Make announcements about war with SK, the US, Japan, etc. Receive aid in food and money from countries. NK accepts it and goes quiet for a while.

Kim Jr.'s father did this quite a bit, and it worked, over and over.

However, with Kim Jr. in charge, the aid was refused, and instead of accepting it and going quiet, the threats have progressed, and they've instead gone through with things that they've threatened in the past (IE detonating a nuclear bomb, test launching long range missiles, etc).

So that is what is being looked at. NK is no longer following the pattern that they've used in the past, but are now instead showing a different pattern. And so far that pattern is making good on their threats or announcements.

As to making threats that normally you would not do if you actually intended to do something (IE start a war), there could be several things going on:

1) Saying these things in order to "save face".
2) Saying these things and being brandish enough to do so because you have "no fear" and mean to do it.
3) Something completely new from NK that we've not seen before (IE making threats but not accepting the aid).

reply to post by smyleegrl


If your blustering scares the world into removing sanctions, you win. You get your luxury goods.

If not, then you follow through and you get to feel like a big man who stood up to the super-power. For a while.

/shrug

Only a coward throws the first punch without warning.

The Romans used to throw a spear into the land of a nation they were declaring war on amongst other things.

I think its mostly about having honour.

Not many nations are as low as America who uses the CIA to do sneaky terrorist things to other nations while they sit back and act like angels that only exist to help and shine goodness upon the world. Most countries have far more honour and respect for themselves than America does. Most nations are brave enough to own their actions.

Noth Korea has a history ramping up the brinksmanship after a new president takes office in Seoul, and seems to be their way of gauging how much B.S. the new South Korean leader will take, how they react/respond, etc. It's rhetoric in the truest sense (a bombastic display to induce a reaction). Since they have little-to-no contact diplomatically it is the North's infantile way of gathering information about their Southern counterpart. Yet...one always has to take violent threats seriously, no matter how empty they may have been in the past. Pyonyang knows this and I think they use the uncertainty to their advantage to try and get what they want.

reply to post by wemustbreakyou


that is just bigotry at its finest, to answer the OP, North and south Korea, are already at war, either side could shoot at each other at any time, without having to do the diplomatic thing as in declaring war, also, there are no rules in war, so to think of such a thing is naive no one has to declare anything in a war surprise is a good element of strategy going as far back as Sun Tzu..

reply to post by wemustbreakyou


I'm smelling troll bait. Are you looking to derail this thread with yet another pointless argument? ATS is flooded with this nation vs. nation garbage.

Originally posted by wemustbreakyou
Only a coward throws the first punch without warning.

The Romans used to throw a spear into the land of a nation they were declaring war on amongst other things.

I think its mostly about having honour.

Not many nations are as low as America who uses the CIA to do sneaky terrorist things to other nations while they sit back and act like angels that only exist to help and shine goodness upon the world. Most countries have far more honour and respect for themselves than America does. Most nations are brave enough to own their actions.

Orly? Is china owning up to the hacking they have done recently? Is iran owning up for the actions of its proxy groups who tried to assasinate people in the US? Is Mexico owning up to intentionally promoting illegal immigration? ALL NATIONS with a intelligence apparatus do dirty tricks not just america.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Those are good questions and probably just kim Jung Un could answer them. The way I see it is that there are three possibilities:

1 - He refused aid and is posturing to get a bigger package...

2 - He's a new leader and wants to show the world that he's not afraid of the biggest military in the world...

3 - He wants to get back to a Korean war...

There could also be 4 - He's insane but I don't think so.

My money would be on #1 & #2 but as I said, only Un could really reply appropriately.

Just my 2 cents worth... S&F.

reply to post by smyleegrl


It's a combination of three things, IMO. First, I think it started as something quite different than where it's now ended up. I don't believe Kim intended it to go this far, at this particular point in time. He's just not sorry it has, either. The farther it's gone though, the more it's about saving face as much as anything. That starts with publicly defending himself (which is offense in his thinking...must be what they teach at the Kim il-sung University) but war works for him too.

Which is number 2... He's supremely arrogant and overconfident in my opinion. He's unrealistic and bordering on what I really fear maybe be delusional in a literal and clinical sense, not just sarcasm here. He's got a wide variety of "surprises" and "next generation weapons" ...again, to his thinking, with the mother of all whammys to assure success in war. The battle plans from his Father, which were studied long before taking power and his military basically learned as a graduate course ...specify overwhelming speed, force, wholesale destruction and a flat RACE to the Southern tip before outside forces can respond. They believe that once physically taken and legally annexed, it's over.

Number 3 ...is his hold card and it's the whammy. Those battle plans they've grown up over there refining and seeing as truly divine by inspiration (That's literal, by the way...not figurative like 'divine inspiration' for our Constitution or something) is what I've debated even mentioning from all my stuff ...but it's going to be laid out in my 3rd series part tonight. Chemical weapons..... It's insane and it's just not realistic thinking...but this is North Korea. The final element to their planning is holding Japan at risk to chemical warhead strikes into major population centers. If the US stays out? No launch....If the US interferes? Well... Tokyo and other cities get slimed. That's how their own planning reads.

That is what I think drives his almost suicidal level of confidence and arrogance. HE (and a couple who share power but not the spotlight, with him) believe the "shock and awe" of the 'mighty North Korean' war machine will allow the dash for victory that was attempted but failed in the 50's. He thinks he can succeed where the family history failed, horribly.

It's the Baby Bush syndrome with homicidal instability thrown in, as one way to see it, IMO.

I hope that helps, at least by my take on things offered into the mix.

reply to post by SonoftheSun


Interesting that just after Rodman visits he would be "posturing to get a bigger package". I think in reality though, he is just pissed about the trick we played on him with the last package. Remember, he opened it but it was addressed to MC Hammer and he couldn't touch it?