The fear of North Korea

[FBM]

You're not drunk?

Sorry.

[pErvinalia]

Yeah, it would probably have to be tactical nukes. Too much threat of pollution if they turn half the country into glass.

[pErvinalia]

You're not drunk?

Sorry.

I'm disappointed.

[FBM]

I was wondering what the response to an NK nuke would be. Massive nuclear response? Counter-productive. Tactical nuke strike against NKs remaining nuke facilities to stop them launching another one? Massive conventional response and invasion?

Local news has only been reporting about potential SK/USFK responses to conventional attacks. Nothing about responses to a hypothetical nuke. Wrt the response to a conventional attack, the word is 'surgical.' If it were a nuclear attack, I think the response would be to turn Pyongyang into a glass parking lot and get it over with. At this point, I don't even think China would object too much.

[Clinton Huxley]

I was wondering what the response to an NK nuke would be. Massive nuclear response? Counter-productive. Tactical nuke strike against NKs remaining nuke facilities to stop them launching another one? Massive conventional response and invasion?

Local news has only been reporting about potential SK/USFK responses to conventional attacks. Nothing about responses to a hypothetical nuke. Wrt the response to a conventional attack, the word is 'surgical.' If it were a nuclear attack, I think the response would be to turn Pyongyang into a glass parking lot and get it over with. At this point, I don't even think China would object too much.

This is the problem, though - too much blowback from a response like that.

[FBM]

I was wondering what the response to an NK nuke would be. Massive nuclear response? Counter-productive. Tactical nuke strike against NKs remaining nuke facilities to stop them launching another one? Massive conventional response and invasion?

Local news has only been reporting about potential SK/USFK responses to conventional attacks. Nothing about responses to a hypothetical nuke. Wrt the response to a conventional attack, the word is 'surgical.' If it were a nuclear attack, I think the response would be to turn Pyongyang into a glass parking lot and get it over with. At this point, I don't even think China would object too much.

This is the problem, though - too much blowback from a response like that.

If NK dropped the first nuke...well.

And anyway, what better message to send to Iran? (From Washington's perspective.)

[Clinton Huxley]

You always hear this "turn x into a glass carpark" as if the consequences would politely stop at the border of the country destroyed. I think the consequences of such an action, even for the "winning" side, would make it an idiotic gamble.

[pErvinalia]

What about pollution, FBM? They (both sides, actually) better make sure the wind is blowing the right way.

[Clinton Huxley]

What about pollution, FBM? They (both sides, actually) better make sure the wind is blowing the right way.

Plus, the overwhelming number of people killed are non-combatants.

[klr]

I don't think there's any question of 'Yang being nuked as a retaliatory measure. What would likely happen is that any and all military and related targets in NK would be hit with massive conventional force, and to hell with the collateral damage that would entail. Nukes would only ever be used to destroy important installations that were too well buried, and even that's a big stretch IMHO.

[Clinton Huxley]

I don't think there's any question of 'Yang being nuked as a retaliatory measure. What would likely happen is that any and all military and related targets in NK would be hit with massive conventional force, and to hell with the collateral damage that would entail. Nukes would only ever be used to destroy important installations that were too well buried, and even that's a big stretch IMHO.

I concur.

[SteveB]

We shouldn't risk upsetting the North Koreans by merging these two North Korean threads.

[FBM]

If the nuke detonates above-ground, like with Nagasaki (and I think Hiroshima), the fallout is minimal. Maybe even negligible. The problem with fallout comes when the nuke detonates on or near the ground, lifting up massive quantities of irradiated material into the atmosphere. I seriously doubt NK has the refined tech to detonate their nukes above-ground, so fallout would most likely be a big issue for SK and Japan.

But the SK/USFK response wouldn't be so crude. Fallout would be minimal and the least of the worries, I think.

[FBM]

We shouldn't risk upsetting the North Koreans by merging these two North Korean threads.

ISWYDT.

[klr]

We shouldn't risk upsetting the North Koreans by merging these two North Korean threads.

... but they may be merged nonetheless. See you at Panmunjom for further discussions.