So let's just suppose, hypothetically, that North Korea were to decide to launch a nuclear missile at somebody. Doesn't matter who- it could be South Korea, or it could be Pakistan or Syria or Iran.

That would be the end of North Korea.

Seriously. It would take about 15 minutes (maybe 20 minutes if the PM of Great Britain and the President of the US decided to have a quick chat first and then inform the President of Russia and the PM of Japan not to be alarmed when they see low-flying objects passing over their countries), and after the dust settled, North Korea simply would not be there anymore. There's just be a Pyongyang-shaped hole in the ground surrounded by a lot of farmland. They would cease to exist.

 

There wouldn't be any low flying craft, their own missile would destroy their country when it failed to launch.

 

No matter what way the wind blows, you're going to have fallout on a country we don't want to **** off. It's only 100 miles to SKorea and even less to China. Although we do have the capability, the world wouldn't like it very much if we did.

And if we did nuke Pyongyang, the North would engage it's artillery... it's estimated that within just a few hours, every city/town/village within 20 miles of the border will be on fire, completely destroyed, or underneath a cloud of chemical gas, and they've got guns with enough range to hit Seoul... which you can be assured they'll save their "special" ammo for.

They've also got some fairly bad-*** SOF types that train for missions aimed at specific towns/villages where they infiltrate from submarines or air-drop, hit the town, kill everybody, and destroy/cripple the infrastructure there.

The US forces there are not unprepared in the least, but at last count (no matter how inept they may be), the North has about a million people active in their army, but since miltary service is mandatory, EVERY SINGLE ADULT MALE in the whole country has been trained as a soldier (they're all technically reservists), they would completely control the south in a few days if they marched. If it came down to giving each one a gun and marching them across the border, the 20,000 or so we have there isn't going to slow them down much. The South has a decent enough military (like 500,000 soldiers), but it just comes down to sheer numbers.

If it comes to actual war, millions will die (lots of Americans), millions will flee to China (who may take sides with the North), gas prices will skyrocket, Japan will FREAK THE SHIZ OUT, we'll be the bad guys if we use nukes even if they use them first, the South Korean economy will go instantly into the crapper, which will destabalize world markets, etc... a chain reaction of epic suckage.

 

North Korea just wants attention.

 

I don't see it. I don't think NK is really that stupid, and I don't think any of the current crop of leaders on our side has the stones to toss even a low-yeild nuke.

 

Good points Sam.

Kim Jong-il was an extreme narcissist, I imagine his kid is too. Narcissists do crazy things for attention, but I think their biggest threat is them selling something dangerous to somebody will ill intent.

 

Am EMP attack would be the scariest scenario.

 

Do you own a Faraday cage?

 

I agree, but you're forgetting two key facts:

1. China will never, ever let this happen. There are millions upon million of DPRK refugees waiting to stream over the border into China if the regime there ever falls, or if war ever breaks out, and China doesn't want any part of that.

2. South Korea is a reasonable target, assuming their missiles can long-jump the DMZ, but until Pakistan, Syria, or Iran move their governmental operations headquarters to ships within ~5 miles of the coast of North Korea, they can probably sleep at night knowing that they are untouchable.