N.Korea says war with South would go nuclear | Hacker News Reader

N.Korea says war with South would go nuclear

news.yahoo.com

14 pointsMithrandir13 comments

Sad news. North Korea starves millions of it's own people to build weapons, which shows the current leadership would rather kill it's own people than give up broken ideals that have lead the country to nothing but poverty. Hopefully when Kim Jong-Il passes away the country can unite again, and the North Korean people can then eat without worry of starvation and live a life they choose to lead.

South Korea is one of the great places on earth right now, and North Korea is just the polar opposite. Very strange.

kill it's own people than give up broken ideals

Broken ideals? Ideals? Tyranny usually rarely have anything to do with ideals.

My father-in-law is a VP at Northrup Grummon in their aerospace division (which includes satellites, missiles, and missile defense) who is responsible for making sure these systems can withstand what the enemy sends our way. He has consistently said for the last 10 years (yes, even during the heyday of 9/11 and after) that the most dangerous place on earth right now is Korea.

That would end North Korea.

And they know that very well. This is just FUD and what it's really about is Kim Jong-Il trying to consolidate his relationship with the army before his son takes over his position so that the power transfer will be as smooth as possible.

Seoul is just 20km south of the DMZ. Very likely, the North already has a couple of tunnels leading close to the city.

A nuclear war would be the end of South Korea too.

It will not end South Korea. Has Japan ended? (it got two bombs). However, it'll cause so much damage, a damage that might need years and years to mend, a damage that South Korea would never want to see.

Of course it would not end South Korea. But South Korea geographically is in a much weaker state than Japan was during WWII. First, half of South Korea's population is located in Seoul. Second, Japan is roughly three times as large, and has many more cities with larger populations. Needless to say though, any war is tragic, and hopefully a continuation of the war via violence will not happen, and especially not with nukes.

In a war against North Korea, Seoul would fall quickly and suffer heavy damages either way. It's just simply indefensible, it's way within artillery range. Especially against an enemy that's very well known for its cold disrespect for human life. It's wasting asset and strategist in South Korea and its allies know that very well. I believe (or at least, hope) that South Korea has plans to evacuate Seoul very quickly in case war becomes imminent as they have no chance defending it.

(And it's actually 40 kilometers or 30 miles and not 20, sorry to be pedant, can't help my inner geography geek)

I don't think NK really thinks things through so much. The only country to EVER use a bomb in wartime has a doctrine of pre-emptive strike, annihilation, and more than enough weapons to turn South Korea into an Island.

Sometimes domestic realpolitik looks like foreign policy.

Did they completly forgot what Albert Einstine said about the 4rth world war. Its a sad news for not just koreans but for the world.

Aside from their military, North Korea is a sticks-and-stones empire. How's that for irony.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com