I found this article after hearing about it-

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/11/world/asia/north-korea-seismic-disturbance/index.html

The next few days will be interesting.


I feel like they want to just feel a tiny bit less helpless when World War III (nuclear war) starts. They'll be literally wiped off the map if they can't defend themselves.

im surprised you just found that,they been planning it for a month.
Its like, there 3rd test too.
Any they recently tested long range missiles too.
Theyre trying to scare s.korea.
And they actualy have a larger army than the south.

thenumberone :

Army size doesn't mean as much. What matters is the size of your ally's army.

unlike the north, the south is much more urbanised. In the time it took the souths allys to mobalise they could do a lot of damage. And they have no regard for there own civilians safety so you can count on them to be unpredictable

This was not the first test they have done, but they have been really busy during the short time Kim-Jong Un has been in command. But what are the UN going to do? Try to make it so that there would be less whiskey and luxury cars send to the elite of the country? If they stop sending food 70% of the people there will just starve to death. And even if they would manage to come up with one decent nuclear cruise missle, I doubt America should be woried about since they (you) have a defence system that could take down way more serious nuclear attac than one flying korean garbage can with a uranium bomb in it.

All in all its just a diplomatic cat and mouse game. The leaders there know they could never win a war if the other nations would really turn on them but they have to look tough as so that nobody would ever try to come to wreck their stalinist utopia since it would be a huge mess. The country is dirt poor, people are totally brainwashed to the point that common sense as a concept no longer exist anywhere. They really have nothing left there except for the propaganda and their military parades. They just want to keep the theathere up and running and hope it wont collapse on them.

I also doubt the South Korea wants the north to collapse simply becausce if the koreas would unite, the rich south would suddenly have to deal with millions of disillusioned unemployed people who have no concept outside the Live action roleplay of George Orwells 1984 they have been living for three generations now. And that would not do them much good. One generation more and there will not be anymore people who have relatives on the wither side who have actually ever lived together.

With north Korea being such a hostile country I don't understand why any country can stand by and watch them become a nuclear power it doesn't make sense, you know I have read recently that the military in north Korea has gone through the country and forced farmers and the civilian population to hand over their food supply.  This has led to people actually eating their children and digging up dead bodies from cemeteries for something to eat, I am not making this up, the north Koreans are out of control and everyone stands by and watches. While the rich in north Korea are fed and live in luxury  the poor starve and die, I don't know maybe some of the worlds powers are hoping for a war to start.

ace3llard :

This is nothing new. It has been going on for decades already. The starvation of the countryside and the luxury of the capital. And eating of the dead and the children. And much worse things. There are ofcource many reason nobody does anything about it. The nukes are ofcource are not the only reason. India, Pakistan and Israel got theirs without anyone raising too many eyebrows. But like I said, there are many economical and political reason not to attack north-Korea.

On top of what I mentioned, they also have if I remember right ofcource, the fourth biggest army in the world which is pretty good for a country that small in size.

I doubt there will be any war. China and Russia will side with the country more or less and USA has already enough problems, especially economical, to start a third war it might not never really win.

Brigand : I agree with you about there being to many political and other reasons.  I just cant believe how many people don't know about some of the things going on over there I mean I tell a friend about the people eating each other he says I make it up, half the people here don't know where Korea is or that we fought a war in the 50's.  I think North Korea is getting more aggressive and hostile the longer the U.N. And the U.S. Allow them to get away with starving the people and creating weapons of mass destruction, but then again a lot of people are saying the only way out of this huge debt is for a war to start because war makes jobs war makes power and war is good population control maybe North Korea feels that way I don't know maybe the U.S. Feels that way I don't know but I do know as a world power we should not allow a leader of a country to let his people starve to death. 

North Korea is like an attention-starved child crying "look at me, I am scary" while the other kids ignore them. It is saber rattling, nothing more.

Honestly, at this point I don't even think that China would back them, as they seem to be constantly annoyed at their actions. Russia... that certainty vanished with the USSR. It certainly would be determined by how any conflict would start... which at this point would have to be North Korea actually attacking someone because the other nations know better than to strike first.

I do agree with the point about South Korea having potential problems with a reunification, it would have a drastic impact on their economy for at least a little while.

One thing that would probably lead to a curtailed conflict though... Google has used their satellites to document the actual landscape and details of North Korea (and because they are a company, not a country, this does not violate North Korean airspace) as well as information from verified citizen cartographers to identify street names, factories, military bases, and prison camps.

Elara :
China wouldnt. They stated they wouldnt oppose reunification, andthey also condemned pretty much everything the north have done this last year. Plus, they no longer need korea. It no longer has an economy and is stirring up problems in their back garden.
Incidentaly, at a un meeting i think it was, just a week or so ago, n.korea said the time for the souths complete eradication was drawing near. I know theyre playing tough, but i wouldnt suggest under rating psychopaths. We judge odds based on a logical outlook, n.koreas leaders arent logical at all. Frankly, theyre unhinged.
Russia might object based on the fact theyre pretty much the only ones that would supply the north with weapons. They're quite protective of their weapon trading. I doubt they'd object too strongly here though.
As for n.korea attacking, they wouldnt attack china, they really dont have the capacity to attack japan (who are pretty much the souths main ally after the usa). I can only imagine them attacking south korea.

While the south could face problems from unification, i think they'd do it anyway. They seem to have a east germany west germany attitude where its those on top enforcing the split.
South korea grants automatic citizenship to any north koream that makes it to the south.

As for maps, I would be surprised if the usa hasent longsince built their own maps of the north.
They knew the north were planning a nuke test because they saw them preparing via satelite photos.

Oh I know that the US gov has maps... we don't have stealth planes for nothing. I just think it's neat that everyone can look at Google Earth now and see where the bases are.

And yeah, I think that if North Korea makes their move, it's going to be to bomb/nuke South Korea. I really don't think they care about unification at this point. And if they were to do that, I don't think anyone would defend them, even Russian arms dealers.

OH OK SO KOREA'S TOTALLY GOING TO NUKE EVERYONE.
HUGE THREAT
ASHAJKFHAKGH


Dude.
We have SDI.
Patriot Missile Systems.


The only people who should be worried are South Korea. (Short enough distance so that our interception systems wouldn't get there in time) But even if they do, after they bomb them North Korea's going to be wiped out in a moment.

China will retaliate.
Russia will retaliate.
Japan will retaliate.
South Korea's going to put up a fight.
I don't even think the US will get there in time to see any actions.

ace3llard :

If you really get down and study what kind of a place North Korea is and how it treats it people and how deep the cult of personality is there, Iraq and Afghanistan were like disneyland. How americans want to deal with it, its not for me to say. But I belive the nuclear threat is based on bluff at most part.