Kim To N. Korean Military: Be Ready To Use Nuclear Weapons At Any Time (reuters.com)

PolygamousRanchKid writes with this story from Reuters, excerpting: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and to turn its military posture to "pre-emptive attack" mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, state media said on Friday. The comments, carried by the North's official KCNA news agency, marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday imposed harsh new sanctions against the isolated state for its nuclear program. South Korea's defense ministry said on Thursday North Korea launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea up to 150 kilometers (90 miles) away, an apparent response to the U.N. sanctions. ... North Korea has previously threatened pre-emptive attacks on its enemies including South Korea, Japan and the United States. Military experts doubt it has yet developed the capability to fire a long-range missile with a miniaturized warhead to deliver a nuclear weapon as far as the United States. Says PolygamousRanchKid: "Oh, joy oh joy... I knew that 2016 was missing something: the threat of nuclear war!"

Comments

Nuclear weapons aren't the deterrent

[Harlequin80]

There is no real risk of a nuclear strike coming out of NK. The real deterrent they have is the massed conventional artillery pointed at Seuol. Any attack on NK would have to be so overwhelming as to destroy the artillery in a minute. If not millions of civilians die.

Re:Nuclear weapons aren't the deterrent

[Dorianny]

There is no real risk of a nuclear strike coming out of NK. The real deterrent they have is the massed conventional artillery pointed at Seuol. Any attack on NK would have to be so overwhelming as to destroy the artillery in a minute. If not millions of civilians die.

Nobody is seriously considering a first strike on North Korea. All their bolstering about their enemies threatening attack is for domestic consumption. With the new sanctions imposed life in North Korea is about to get even harder and injecting a new dose of fear in the populace helps to keep them under control. The truth is that what South Korea fears as well as China fear most is a rapid collapse of the regime and millions of immigrants making a mad-dash for the borders

Re:Nuclear weapons aren't the deterrent

[ShanghaiBill]

rhetorical threats from a mentally unstable leader

Kim is NOT mentally unstable. His actions are deliberate and rational. The Kim dynasty has been in power for 70 years. They have wrung concession after concession out of the rest of the world. If Kim negotiated calmly, no one would cave in to his demands. But by issuing threats, and using bizarre behavior, he has been able to get his opponents to accept any deal this is even halfway sane.

The North needs to deescalate.

That would be foolish. It would lead to the end of his regime. He needs an external enemy to justify his rule.

Re:Nuclear weapons aren't the deterrent

[Richard_at_work]

Right. Through a minefield designed to stop T-72's. I don't think you realise the enormity of the situation there.

The silver lining around every (mushroom) cloud

[BarbaraHudson]

Look at the bright side - the day after a North Korea 1st strike, the problem with North Korea will be solved. Or at least disappear.

This is when editors really need to step in

[rebelwarlock]

Says PolygamousRanchKid: "Oh, joy oh joy... I knew that 2016 was missing something: the threat of nuclear war!"

We don't need this stupid bullshit in the summary. I'll read the comments if I want stupid bullshit.

His numbers don't add up.

[dsmatthews9379]

So he picks a fight and some good and innocent people die, but 100% of his country gets vaporised in the counter strike. He had better check the weather before he wumps SK too, because at the moment the fallout would poison most of eastern China. Or does he realise that and is trying to intimidate Xi Jinping as well? Somehow I don't think that strategy is likely to go well for him.

Cue cartoons of him in a nappy trying to count on his fingers, because that is the magnitude of his arsenal and the nature of his behaviour.

Re:It's just all bluster.

[thesupraman]

Since you ask a serious question, then why not a serious answer.

My ballpark would be 100,000 people dead depending heavily on the type of ordinance (HE, AP, Incendary, Frag, etc)
so, that is around 1% of the population. Remember, those shells will land roughly randomly - I am assuming they have been
setup to specifically target the population (if totally random then it will be MUCH lower).

However your figures are highly flawed, as you are not allowing for losses in the NK artillery, or for desertions in people who dont
actually want to shell their own families (remember, Korea was only separated a few generations ago), equipment failure, etc.
You are also assuming all of those pieces can reach high popluation densities, however the border is long and the ranges not that great.

By your own claims (and I agree) their most common artillery piece is similar to the D20, around 20km range.
The center is Seoul is 30-40km from the border (30 if you count a specific inset area..), so they only have the closer areas to
target, which are lower density. They would also need to have concentrated all their artillery in a very small and specific region to even
target Seoul.

And, lastly, think about what they would 'gain' by such an attack. The rest of the world would wipe them out.
No more young girl harems for the great leader, no more european sportscars, no more playstation, no more living as kings for the ruling class.
If they are lucky they will be reduced to running and hiding while they are being hunted after the fall of their state.

Hard to see their motivation for such an attack..

Re:Nuclear weapons aren't necessarily missiles

[msauve]

"special operations types are highly capable and have proven it ... the sub ran aground ... recon team executed the sailors ... Most of the recon team was killed..."

"Highly capable" doesn't mean what you think it means.

Re:North Korea's next target ...

[TomGreenhaw]

LOL, hell no.

The fact is Americans love the Chinese. We buy their products like crazy. We love their food. We admire their art, exotic language and respect their ancient heritage. We welcome their people to study and work here. Sure we complain about the trade imbalance and the gamesmanship between our governments. But for the things that really matter they are our brothers and would instantly and without hesitation rally to their aid.

Make no mistake, if North Korea would actually use nuclear weapons in anger against *anybody*, it would cease to exist as a political entity in less than a week.