Surprised there isn't a thread on this, apologies if there is!

Looks like all this 'rhetoric' may have some substance, gulp.

The North Korean army says it has final approval to launch "merciless" military strikes on the US, the official KCNA news agency said.

The statement quoted the General Staff of the Korean People's Army as saying it was formally informing Washington that reckless US threats would be "smashed by .... cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means".

"The merciless operation of (our) revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified," the statement said.

"The US had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation.

The statement said a war could break out on the Korean peninsula "today or tomorrow".

"The moment of explosion is approaching fast," it said.


The North's rhetoric has been met by a display of US military strength
"In view of this situation, the KPA General Staff in charge of all operations will take powerful practical military counteractions in succession."

They are nutters but as deperate nutters they are dangerous. The big danger of course is China's position in all this, which I am unclear of.

I think China are far less supportive of North Korea than in the past. They appear much more concerned with Taiwan/Japan and their own economy and certainly wouldn't stand with the DPRK if they continue on toward war for no apparent reason.
If the North Koreans are serious, which I doubt but if they are, then they're making a huge mistake. This kind of war is one certain Americans in the Pentagon have been dying for. A chance to use the full might of their staggering nal.

If anybody fancies a holiday with a difference my friend has a travel company that organises trips to Pyongyang.

[urlhttp://www.lupinetravel.co.uk/[/url

Nothing will happen, NK are just making a lot of noise hoping it'll keep the Yanks away, over playing their hand comes to mind.

They don't have long range missiles and even China and Russia would think twice picking a fight with America, a relatively insignificant country like N.Korea wouldn't last 5 minutes if America threw everything at them.

Considering America was relatively reserved when fighting Iraq and Afghanistan (In America's definition of reserved) they'd be bat crazy to kick off with America.

I suspect some of this is KJU trying to look as strong as his father in the NK public's eyes.

It's pretty much all for internal consumption. N. Korea seems to be run like a compulsory national Daily Mail collective; most of its citizens will likely swallow this wholesale and actually believe that fat boy is the godlike ultimate world leader and their country the cock of the world. The rest won't dare even think the contrary, a bit like watching the compulsory NK masses trying to outgrieve each other at state funerals.

Weird place. I bet no Romanians head in that direction.

It seems that experts do not believe that NK has anything like the capacity to launch long-range strikes.

[url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/german-commentary-on-decision-in-north-korea-to-restart-nuclear-plant-a-892031.html#ref=rss?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitterSome snippets of analysis here, from a range of German papers[/url, which give a quite interesting view.

[iSüddeutsche Zeitung[/i's question is particularly interesting: "But beyond the riddle of his motives there is a greater problem that makes the latest saber rattling sound particularly dangerous. What, pray tell, counts as reality for this young dictator? Is the new commander, amid all the bluster, still a rational actor? Or does he see the world through a lens made especially for him? Perception is everything in the end, and nowhere in the world is there a more idiosyncratic view of things than in North Korea. For 65 years, the regime has lived in a fantasy world. It's possible that Kim believes in this world so much that he would be willing to fight for it – making him a victim of the regime's own propaganda."

I suspect its a dangerous game to try to ratchet up tensions to gain US aid in return for disarmament. In other words, a sign of desperation allied, perhaps, to a younger leader wishing to embark on a degree of modernisation without losing face - in effect by trying to get and sell it as a victory over the US.

Another possibility is that they will try to attack Japan with missiles and gamble (or maybe know?) that China would be supportive. That would be very dangerous.

I have equal concern for North Korea's nuclear capability and that of Castleford.

It is said that there are divisions within the North Korean leadership and that this bluster by Chubby boy is a way of showing how strong he is and that's he's standing up to those nasty Americans. The USA would wipe North Korea off the face of the earth so quickly the North Koreans wouldn't have an inkling as to what happened.

I believe Gideon is manipulating KJU's mind, creating this whole NK/USA situation just to try and detract from the budget. I wish they'd just stop threatening and actually DO something though, the news is relatively boring these days

[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/04/north-korea-trident-david-cameron?CMP=twt_fdYou'd best have a word with this barmpot then[/url

Fighting lunacy with idiocy

Never going to happen.

I would bet any money that right now China is moving troops to their border with DPRK. They have a mutual defence pact with them, but the China that signed that treaty is a completely different thing to the China of today. If they're doing that at all they're doing it to:

1) A show of force to deter a first strike against DPRK.
2) A force to deal with any refugees
3) A force to deal with any contingencies

This is not going to be a second Korean War. China was playing a short game then, which was to prevent the US establishing bases on its border. China is playing a long game now, and sanctioning a war against its major economic partners isn't going to put it in any kind of position to do that. They are getting rich from that long game. Their cities are now populated by a burgeoning middle class who will lose everything when China's trade with the rest of the world falls through the floor. There are entire generations who know only double digit growth year on year. Those are the seeds of major civil unrest, and they are not going to go down that road.

All of this is under threat because of a yapping little dog that it was useful to keep in the back yard when Mao was consolidating power. It's a yapping little dog that produces billions in counterfeit Chinese currency and undermines its economy. It's a yapping little dog that has broken free of its leash but which the world continues to see as being fed raw meat by China. The only benefit of its continued existence to China is the prevention of foreign bases on its most important border. It very definitely does not want a proliferation of nuclear targets that close. Not when the actions of others determine whether the nukes are going to fly or not.

Make no mistake, China would like to stop that thing from snapping at its ankles just as much as everyone else would. An attack of any significance by DPRK against any of Japan, ROK or the US in this climate means DPRK gets whacked. If something like [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Yeonpyeongthis[/url happens in the current climate the DPRK gets whacked. If the DPRK gets whacked then the RoK is now the whole Korean peninsula. China cannot prevent this without getting involved, and they cannot get involved without trashing everything they've been working towards since Nixon visited a little over forty years ago and everything they planned their entire economy and mode of living around working towards for the next forty years.

What China wants is a DKRP that can be brought to heel. [url=https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=north+korea&hl=en&ll=39.53794,123.640137&spn=13.933225,19.753418&client=ubuntu&channel=cs&hnear=North+Korea&gl=uk&t=m&z=6Look at this map[/url. Look at what's 200 miles directly west of the border. See why it's the most important border?

China is not going to fsck around with this. This is 2013. It's not 1950.

Do a search on RIMPAC 2014. China just accepted an invitation from the US.

It's hard to imagine a bigger slap in the face to DPRK than that.

Well, I for one believe that the North Koreans could hit the White House with one of their missiles. Given that their leader got (I think) eight holes-in-one on his first ever round of golf, this would be easy by comparison and he's clearly a damn good shot.

Plus, he has got a pair of binoculars.

Awesome

Wasn't that his dad?

sigh

The deterrent effect is clearly nonsense if other countries are so determined to acquire weapons (if you accept DPRK are even capable of doing so)

And if Palin could see Russia from her house...

What a tool he is.

[url=http://www.sportspickle.com/news/4124/kim-jong-un-shames-north-korea-with-7-under-64Kim Jong-Un Shames North Korea with 7-Under 64[/url

To be fair, his turds come out already polished.

I'm more concerned about the threat of Arsenal's Gervinho than I am about the North Korean nuclear nal.

Pretty close to the mark.

I bet North Korea isn't too bad ( maybe ? ) but I'd not fancy being followed by a North Korean Government agent as I tink you are just to make sure you don't do anything they may take offence to.