Thoughts on North Korea's newest threats against the U.S.?

Empty chest pounding is what it is.

I take what they say seriously.

I’ve seen several documentaries and read articles and a book depicting life and politics in North Korea, and I have to say I find it terrifying, bordering on inconceivable. I don’t believe we civilians have the least sense of what that nation and society might be capable of or what it would be like for us if we challenged them directly. I hope it never comes to that.

It is a volatile situation not to be taken lightly. Let’s hope Obama’s diplomatic skills are up to the task.

In an actual war situation, North Korea would collapse pretty quickly. They don’t have the infrastructure and food supply to support themselves at peace time, let alone war time.

Their initial attacks would be the major concern, but quite frankly I put little stock into their abilities to strike the US on our soil. The one or two rockets they have that can supposedly reach our shores, would very easily be blown out of the sky by our own interceptor-rockets.

The real concern would be the damage they could do to South Korea and Japan with the short range rockets they have constantly pointed at them.

I also doubt any nation would side with North Korea given the current scenario. Even their closest ally, China, condemned them.

Par for the course.

Let me answer in a few days, I’m reading about the Korean War now to clarify the past, so I can reasonable assess the future better.

I am glad this question came up. Glad to see my beloved fluther community is concerned about this.

While I could write a wall of text, I just have one line of thinking at this point. And it has to do with a document I found after I saw today’s news and decided to do some research.

The document I sought out was a report of US aid given to N. Korea in the past. You know what’s funny? The cost of N.Korea’s recent rocket launch was the same as the total price of aid the US has given them up to 2011 ($1.3 billion).

But we are their “sworn enemy” and we are the “target of their newest threat”.

More evidence of FAILED FOREIGN POLICY by our present administration.

Here’s the link to the PDF I found in my research, which shows just how much of a “sworn enemy” the US is to NK: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R40095.pdf

Uh huh.
It seems you want to imply that the Obama administration has been pampering NK, and because he is so soft, NK does not appreciate the money Obama gave them.

Yet your very own source says this:
”Between 1995 and 2008, the United States provided North Korea with over $1.3 billion in assistance: just over 50% for food aid and about 40% for energy assistance. Since early 2009, the United States has provided virtually no aid to North Korea.”

You know, it is quite funny, is it not? I constantly hear conservatives saying that the US should stop giving money to their enemies, like Pakistan.
That they should stop being soft on them.
But when Obama does just that, stops giving money to a hostile state, NK, and stops being soft on them, and it backfires, suddenly they raise their fingers and say “Haha, another failure of Obama, see, see?”, when they advocated the very policies that led to the result they now decry.

@gambitking If the current administrations policy is failed, so is every other administrations policy going back to the advent of North Korea.

The only major change in policy towards NK in the last 50 years is dealing with them more directly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

FWIW: The Obama administration has more global support in their approach (IE China and Russia backing them) than any other presidency has before.

@tedd
“FWIW: The Obama administration has more global support in their approach (IE China and Russia backing them) than any other presidency has before.”

They will see that as a failure, too, because they are still in the cold war mindset. “Russia and China are our enemies, therefore any support by them means that Obama is a communist and a failure.”

North Korea could become a glassy wasteland with minimal provocation.
I do not believe China even gives a royal shit what happens to these goofy bastards anymore.
I feel sorry for the North Korean People being saddled with the government they have and would urge our Government to go after the political elites of the country since the common folk are just being dragged into this conflict with no say and little recourse.