By I find this hard to believe:
North Korea will by next year have developed a downsized nuclear warhead that can be attached to ballistic missiles and fired onto the U.S. mainland, a senior U.S. strategist predicted this week.
The rogue state will continue experimenting with intercontinental ballistic missiles that put the U.S. within striking distance until it succeeds in 2012, said Larry Niksch, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. [Chosun Ilbo]
The North Koreans have not demonstrated an ability to successfully launch an ICBM to strike the US with, so I don’t see how Mr. Niksch can say that the North Koreans next year will have not only a small nuclear warhead, but a functional ICBM to put it on?
She hasn’t seen...
5:45 pm on June 19th, 2011 1
When are your next elections? 2012, right? How convenient.
6:04 pm on June 19th, 2011 2
… and defense spending is now being seriously questioned, and we are probably going to be winding down in the middle east, his “sponsons” need a new boogieman.
If North Korea comes close to putting a nuke warhead on a missile, it’s neighbors — South Korea, Japan and maybe even China, have much greater incentives to deal with it than we do.
8:02 pm on June 19th, 2011 3
They can’t even nuke Japan without the missiles falling into the Sea of Japan- err; silly me, the East Sea.
8:40 pm on June 19th, 2011 4
#2,
Nah, man. It’s got nothing to do with “sponsors”, really. American politicians have been exploiting fear long before they had even won the American Revolution. It’s tribalism.
8:42 pm on June 19th, 2011 5
Well, that didn’t come out as I wanted it to. What I meant was, “sponsors” or no “sponsors”, exploiting xenophobia would still go on.
8:57 pm on June 19th, 2011 6
More Federal Money for defense based Korean Studies – GO!!
10:50 pm on June 19th, 2011 7
If they’re thinking about launching their nuke with this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR2006070501551.html
then I would say they’re offering up a free nuke warhead to whomever can get to it first when it splashes down somewhere in the East Sea…
11:56 pm on June 19th, 2011 8
As I recall the NK nuclear tests were partial duds, there were nuclear detonations but the yield was quite small. Also the ballistic missile test have not been very successful. Those idiots can’t even build a hotel correctly (google Ryugyong hotel). I’m sure eventually they will develop the required technologies but I think it will be later rather than sooner.
12:10 am on June 20th, 2011 9
Agreed – the US should not feel threatened by the DPRK’s nuclear ambitions… it’s doubtful they could successfully deliver weaponized material… I think 38north.org had a great article on this issue a few months ago.
But I also believe that they have no intention of being agressive with any serious missile technology. They know full well the firestorm of hell that would rain down on them if they tried to instigate any sort of firefight. The government may be trying to preserve some sort of internal mystique about the military’s might – but the leadership is not deceived about the real balance of power. Missile capability, and by extension, nuclear weapons have always been, and continue to be about regime legitimacy.
I’m convinced that the bigger disaster facing the Korea peninsula is not war, but a revolution and resulting refugee crisis unlike any in modern history. Neither China, nor South Korea is prepared to handle some 20 million refugees streaming across the borders.
2:14 am on June 20th, 2011 10
#7, wouldn’t it be funny if NK tried to launch a nuke at the USA, and it dropped out of the missle and nuked Dokdo by mistake?
8:14 am on June 20th, 2011 11
OMG! (runs for duct tape…)
duct tape is good for everything, right? At least it was when I last resided in the ROK…
7:39 pm on June 21st, 2011 12
This is about Japan, not the USA.
9:37 pm on June 21st, 2011 13
“#7, wouldn’t it be funny if NK tried to launch a nuke at the USA, and it dropped out of the missle and nuked Dokdo by mistake?”
That is fcking hilarious. I can just see NK trying a stunt where they actually do launch a nuke, and it drops down and hits Dokdo, or some other island in the pacific. The funny part was that it wouldn’t even detonate.
2:00 pm on June 22nd, 2011 14
They don’t have enough electricity to light up traffic lights, how can they get the electricity to launch a nuke across the Pacific.