Previously N.korea have engaged in many acts seen as aggressive, from
Torpedoing a south Korean ship
Shelling the south
Testing nuclear weapons, again
Stating the time for the souths final destruction is approaching
And now, that it will exercise its right to a pre-emptive strike against the "imperialistic americans"

In further developments, N.korea have also ensured that the south isnt left out. North and south korea never actually made peace, they have essentially been part of one of the worlds longest ceasefires.
Which they have now scrapped

Heres a neato timeline of N.koreas antics

Also, i thought this was really interesting, theres a playlist on youtube, where a guy actually snuck into north korea and went all over the country. I knew they were in a bad way, but this was really something else
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24R8JObNNQ4&list=PL10943F1A08C72A17

Fun fact, south Korea has the 2nd highest suicide rate in the world. I dont think this will help much.
Is this more big talk, or do you think N.korea is actually going to start a war?

Incidentaly, this is a good site. You can view maps and satelite images of nuclear sites, P.O.W camps, airfields etc etc
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9962372/North-Korea-enters-state-of-war-against-South-Korea.html

further developments:
korea has cut military phone hotlines between north and south korea, the north has shut down the joint economic facility in north korea. it employs 50000 north koreans and is managed and funded by south korea.
they have announced they will reopen a nuclear test site, and are preparing missiles to launch off the east coast. its expected this is a test and they will fire into the ocean. japan has said that if it enters japanese air space they will shoot it down. launch is thought to be hours away (friday 12 april 7pm server time)

dude lol everyone in the world is going to go after them if they even try lol noone wants necular war and N.korea gong to get crushed

I think North Korea has no means or the power to start a nuclear war or even a full scale war of any kind. Sure it has, if I remember right, the fourth biggest army in the world and a huge military budget but to be serious... the whole existence of the nation is based on nothing but propaganda and exploitation of most of its citizens as slave labour. A country like that would not stand a chance in a real combat especially if its biggest allies, China and Russia are not willing to give it any more support. Neither of them really even wish to support the country, but they are afraid of the waves of refugees that would storm out from there and what economical effects it would have in their area in a long run.

So the Stalinist-Orwellian dictatorship will march on unless they really screw up. In my eyes, it is only talk and no action on the NK side.

Brigand :
No doubt they would lose, but the question is, are they stupid enough to start a war?

thenumberone :

I think not.  I guess the elite there are smart enough what to see what actually is going on in the world and don't believe in their own propaganda. Also Kim Jong Un was not raised in a barrel so to speak. He studied abroad and saw what the world outside was.

But who really knows what is going on in there. The Kim family might just be figureheads and the true power might be in the hands of some age old generals who still believe its the cold war.... But when it comes to NK,  propaganda has always been harsh. My own guess though it is just a "paper tiger".

Brigand :
Its worth noting that mr kim jong un failed almost everything he was educated in.
But yeh, they have rarely walked the walk.

Thanks for the news "Number One".
I think it to be a good practice to "keep tabs" on countries that might be considered a threat on any level.
Keep the news hits coming.

Good Luck To All.
I'm done. Stick a fork in me.
Peace.

thenumberone : "Stupid enough" indeed. I don't know if they would, but with as many troops as the U.S. has at millitary bases in other companies, even if no one else did anything, they would still be crushed by the U.S. forces. That said, I think several nations would strike them immediately, and they know that. They also know that they would be wiped out practically over night.

Will they do it? Not if they're smart. Do they care enough not to? I don't know. No offense to anyone from N. Korea, I'm saying anyone launching a nuke would be dumb.

Eirinn :
"no offence"
Youre safe enough. You need a license for internet in n.korea.
And only party officials can access non n.korean webpages.
So no one can object

Daddy was crazy, but he wasn't insane. I'm pretty sure he knew that any attempt to do a nuclear strike would obliviate his country.
Let's hope Lil Kim has that crumb of sanity, for whatever sake left for "the people" of North Korea

I did not know that. Sorry for the double summon last time, thenumberone. :

This is just another attention grab for North Korea. They will not pre-emptivley attack the United States. They may have a large military and large military budget but their beliefs are all a facade. I would guarantee 95% of all North Koreans would jump at the chance to live in China or South Korea. And 99.99% would risk their lives to get to the United States. No one in the region with the exception of maybe some Islamic extremist groups would support any unprovoked attack against the US.  Anyone with any respect for the continuation of society knows nuclear attacks will result in mutually assured destruction. These whackos have been threatening attacks on the US for decades. It's just not gunna happen. If it did, it would go back against NK 100 fold. Their people are dying of starvation and follow based on fear alone.

mgriffith27 :

They don't actually have anything to threaten the USA with. They don't even have one missile to reach that far and Usa has a missile defence system to knock out even worse attacks. They might get one chance of bombing South Korea or even Japan but that would be their only shot. After that, I think they would be screwed.

How many of the people would actually defect given the chance is hard to say, since they might not even have a basic concept of geography and most of them are either slave labour or ignorant peasants outside Pyongyang. But when you think about how China is unwilling to push them too far. Would your country be willing suddenly to deal with 20 million refuges who are poor, mostly unskilled, doesn't speak your language and all come at once and have no concept of how to live in a free world to begin with?

Brigand : China wants no part of what would happen if the borders were opened up. But if push absolutely came to shove China would back US/UN/IAEA rulings against North Korea. China has too much money invested globally to ruin their stake within the international community over a ultra traditional communist dictatorship like North Korea.Last IBCM NK tried to loss was a joke. I think it barely made it off launch and failed miserably.. But you can count on the US becoming involved almost instantly if Japan. South Korea or even China somehow faced a military altercation with NK.

mgriffith27 :
"last ibcm"
Actualy, they tried again recently, and it worked.
Then they did a 'miniturise' nuclear device test a few weeks later.
Blatently trying to make a nuclear missile.

I thought that timeline was pretty neat. I learned some things I didn't know. 

And I can tell you this, since I am in the Army... I have not heard anything on the subject. Sorry.

thenumberone : They have the short and mid range technology to launch missiles the long range stuff is still not there for them. They could attack US interests not the country itself. They made modifications to the Unha -3  to be more designed towards the satellite launch and it still needs work to be used a ballistic missile against the US. The rocket just made it into orbit and did not travel a significant distance after that.

I almost hope they do start a war so the dictatorship can finally fall. I don't care if the North Koreans want a unified Korea or if they stay separate but the North Koreans need freedom from the dictatorship they have suffered under for the last 60 years.

geeogree :
That occured to me too.
A lot of people over look the fact that the biggest victims in this are the koreans themselves

thenumberone : my wife is half Korean (southern) so we tend to try and follow the happenings of North and South Korea as much as we can. We don't see a lot of news about either unless NK is launching another test missile or something so it's not always easy.

I don't really care if they attack "US interests" outside of North America. The US shouldn't be in a lot of the places they are anyway.