By Here is why the average South Korean could care less about getting nuked:
Amid all of the concern about North Korea’s nuclear program, experts are warning that its stockpile of chemical weapons is just as much of a threat.
An international security think-tank says the North is believed to have between 2,500 and 5,000 tons of chemical weapons.
According to the International Crisis Group, the weapons include mustard gas, blood agents and sarin. They can be delivered with ballistic missiles and long-range artillery.
And the experts say they could cause “massive civilian casualties” in South Korea. [7 News]
You can read the International Crisis Group’s paper on North Korea’s chemical weapons here.
Bottom line is that you are screwed either way if you are nuked or hit by chemical weapons from North Korea. So would you rather get nuked or hit with chemical weapons?
12:16 pm on June 19th, 2009 1
I suspect any use of chemical weapons by North Korea would be suicide for North Koreas leadership. Any argument against military restraint by the South Koreans or the US would be lost and world opinion would fall heavily against the NKs.
It may be a carnage for the South Koreans living within range of such weapons, but it would be annihilation of the North Korean leadership.
2:30 pm on June 19th, 2009 2
It wouldn't be a very long war, that's for sure.
By the way, I'm starting to think that the supposed plot against Kim Jong Il's eldest is a fabrication. It gives the impression that China is distancing itself from North Korea or to divert our attention away from the rumors that the youngest son recently visited Beijing.
4:07 pm on June 19th, 2009 3
As to the question: Which would I prefer? Dead is dead but nuked would be less painful if your close to gnd 0. Obviously. If I MUST choose. But let us hope (plan?) for option III.
2:40 am on June 20th, 2009 4
I remember years back, after the Soviet Union collapsed, reading about Pyongyang getting the small pox virus from the Russians – and questions about whether the Russians had tricked them by giving them a non-working version or the real deal and whether Pyongyang could "weaponize" it.
We know NK has a biological weapons program. Anything like small pox getting out would be a big bummer for potentially the world…
Just look at the outbreaks of swine flu and the SARS virus in recent memory.
2:44 am on June 20th, 2009 5
I think that would be the ultimate nightmare and a good plot for a Spielberg film: the regime in Pyongyang collapsing, massive refugee flows into China and/or South Korea, and some die-hard factional leader in the North Korean government infecting some soldiers or civilians with small pox to pass through the refugee flows spreading a world-wide pandemic.
1:05 pm on June 22nd, 2009 6
[...] written by the International Crisis Group on North Korea’s chemical weapons stockpiles, and makes a dry observation regarding South Korea’s attitude towards the north’s nuclear program. GI Korea also [...]
2:14 pm on June 24th, 2009 7
[...] waar we bang voor mogen zijn; Noord-Korea beschikt reeds over een aanzienlijk arsenaal van chemische wapens die in een oorlog met het Zuiden wellicht veel meer schade kunnen aanrichten onder de [...]