Psychotic North Korea

[Nickdfresh]

North Korea warns U.S. of preemptive nuclear strike
By Jack Kim | Reuters – 1 hr 10 mins ago

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea threatened the United States on Thursday with a preemptive nuclear strike, raising the level of rhetoric while the U.N. Security Council considers new sanctions against the reclusive country.

North Korea has accused the United States of using military drills in South Korea as a launch pad for a nuclear war and has scrapped the armistice with Washington that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea, which has one major ally, neighboring China, threatens the United States and its "puppet", South Korea, on an almost daily basis.

"Since the United States is about to ignite a nuclear war, we will be exercising our right to preemptive nuclear attack against the headquarters of the aggressor in order to protect our supreme interest," the North's foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

North Korea conducted a third nuclear test on February 12, in defiance of U.N. resolutions, and declared it had achieved progress in securing a functioning atomic arsenal. It is widely believed the North does not have the capacity to deliver a nuclear strike on the mainland United States.

The North's unnamed foreign ministry spokesman also said it would be entitled to take military action as of March 11 when U.S.-South Korea military drills move into a full-scale phase as it had declared the truce invalid.

It is the latest in an escalation of tough words from both sides of the armed Korean border this week as the U.N. Security Council deliberates a resolution to tighten financial sanctions and a naval blockade against the North.

North Korea, which held a mass military rally in Pyongyang on Thursday in support of its recent threats, has protested against the U.N. censures of its rocket launches. It says they are part of a peaceful space program and that the criticism is an exercise of double standards by the United States.

But North Korea's shrill rhetoric rarely goes beyond just that. Its latest armed aggression against the South in 2010 came unannounced, bombing a South Korean island killing two civilians. It is widely accused of sinking a South Korean navy ship earlier in the year, killing 46 sailors.

North Korea was conducting a series of military drills and getting ready for state-wide war practice of an unusual scale, South Korea's defense ministry said earlier on Thursday.

South Korea and the United States, which are conducting annual military drills until the end of April, are watching the North's activities for signs they turn from an exercise to an actual attack, a South Korean official said.

"It hasn't been frequent that the North conducted military exercise at the state level," South Korea's defense ministry spokesman, Kim Min-seok, said. "The North is currently conducting various drills on land, at sea and aerially.

"We are watching the North's activities and stepping up readiness under the assumption that these drills can lead to provocation at any time."

Kim declined to confirm news reports that the North has imposed no-fly zones off its coasts in a possible move to fire missiles, but he said any flight ban limited to near the coast would not be for weapons with meaningful ranges.

A top North Korean general said on Tuesday said Pyongyang was scrapping the armistice. But the two sides remain technically at war as the civil war did not end with a treaty.

South Korea's military said in a rare warning on Wednesday that it would strike back at the North and target its leadership if Pyongyang launched an attack.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)

Yahoo News

[FORD]

The idea of NK reaching the US with nukes is slightly LESS probable than the idea of them invading the US.... as they did in that recent horrible remake of Red Dawn.

BTW, if you haven't seen it yet, don't bother. Or at least get really high first so you can laugh your ass off at the stupidity of it.

[BITEYOASS]

North Korea invading the USA?

I'm sure most of their ships aren't even seaworthy, added to the obvious fact that they have no refueling aircraft. Plus, the last time they invaded, big daddy Mao had to help them. And that won't be happening this time around since China has joined in the UN sanctions.

[FORD]

I'd rather be invaded by South Korea..... as long as they brought lots of kimchee, bulgogi, and 100mbps internet access with them.

[Nitro Express]

I like Korean food. I sometimes eat Korean noodles that are hot as hell. I mean you start sweating when you eat them (good snow shack food). I even like Kim Chee which is a hate it or love it type food.

As far as the tensions go, let's settle it with a game of basketball. Obama and Kim can play one on one.

[Nitro Express]

Kim playing with some of his toys. When you are the dear leader you get to have gold plated binoculars.

[katina]

I have a korean close friend, and I have some books of korean cuisine, sometimes I cook some basic korean dishes,
they have a special fridge to keep only the kim chee, because it´s so strong. And I love Melona ice pop.

She invited me to her wedding and to her 1st. year daughter birthday, it is a big celebration for them.

[Nickdfresh]

I like Korean food. I sometimes eat Korean noodles that are hot as hell. I mean you start sweating when you eat them (good snow shack food). I even like Kim Chee which is a hate it or love it type food.

As far as the tensions go, let's settle it with a game of basketball. Obama and Kim can play one on one.

Korean "noodles"? WTF? In Wyoming?

[Nitro Express]

Korean "noodles"? WTF? In Wyoming?

Yeah. We have Chinese food too. I wish we had a decent Japanese place.

[Nitro Express]

I have a korean close friend, and I have some books of korean cuisine, sometimes I cook some basic korean dishes,
they have a special fridge to keep only the kim chee, because it´s so strong. And I love Melona ice pop.

She invited me to her wedding and to her 1st. year daughter birthday, it is a big celebration for them.

I hear about it when I open the Kim Chee. I really catch a lot of shit when the kitchen is full of Kim Chee smell. I'm the only one who likes it. I actually put Kim Chee on hamburgers.

[VetteLS5]

The idea of NK reaching the US with nukes is slightly LESS probable than the idea of them invading the US.... as they did in that recent horrible remake of Red Dawn.

BTW, if you haven't seen it yet, don't bother. Or at least get really high first so you can laugh your ass off at the stupidity of it.

WOLVERINES!

To be fair, at least the film makers stayed consistent by creating a horrible remake of an equally horrible original.

[ELVIS]

LS5...

[Nickdfresh]

WOLVERINES!

To be fair, at least the film makers stayed consistent by creating a horrible remake of an equally horrible original.

Oh c'mon, the original is stupid, but fun. It also was slightly less completely fucking implausible like a (lol) North Korean invasion of the continental U.S. I'm not sure they can any longer even invade the South Korean peninsula. At least the both the Soviets and the Cubans had strong armies with paratroops and the actual cargo aircraft to drop them...

The original script was supposed to be China I guess, but they took the easy politically correct way to a bad film because they were afraid of the fallout from the Chinese...

[Nickdfresh]

North Korea can't hit America, but South Korea and Japan in range
By Jack Kim | Reuters – 42 mins ago


North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) talks with officers at a guard post during his visit to the Jangjae Islet Defence Detachment and Mu Islet Hero Defence Detachment on the front, near the border with South Korea, southwest of Pyongyang March 7, 2013 in this picture released by the North's official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang March 8, 2013. REUTERS/KCN

5 hrs ago

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has plenty of military firepower even if its threat this week of a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States is a hollow one, with South Korea most at risk from the isolated regime's artillery and rockets.

Japan, separated by less than 1,000 km (625 miles) of water and a frequent target of North Korea's ire, is also in easy range of Pyongyang's short- and mid-range missiles.

In pure numbers, North Korea's military looks formidable, much larger than the more affluent South in both personnel and equipment. The North's 1.2 million soldiers face off against 640,000 South Korean troops who are backed up by 26,000 U.S. personnel stationed in the country.

However, Pyongyang's capabilities are not what the figures would suggest. Impoverished North Korea has all but abandoned running a conventional military that can engage in sustained battle because of scarce resources and has instead focused on nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology, experts said.

"A conventional military is very costly, and overwhelmingly so for North Korea. It quickly becomes a money fight and North Korea cannot win that," said Shin In-kyun, head of the Korea Defence Network, an alliance of defence experts based in Seoul.

Nevertheless, a defence policy statement from South Korea in December noted that North Korea's frontline artillery pieces could launch a "sudden and massive" barrage on the capital Seoul, a mere 50 km (31 miles) from the Demilitarized Zone border that separates the two Koreas.

North Korea has around 12,000 artillery guns, many arrayed near the border. It also has an arsenal of intermediate range missiles in operational deployment, some of which can travel more than 3,000 km (1,875 miles). That puts South Korea and Japan in range as well as the U.S. territory of Guam.

"They have the capability to strike anywhere in the South and Japan," said Shin.

North Korea has also shown it has submarine capabilities.

In 2010, a North Korean submarine was widely believed to have sunk a South Korean naval vessel, killing 46 sailors. Pyongyang has denied it was behind the attack. In the same year, North Korea shelled a South Korean island in a disputed area, killing civilians.

One military expert said the North might be careful before launching another blatant attack, given Seoul has vowed to respond vigorously next time.

MAXIMUM CONFUSION

"The greatest realistic threat from North Korea is a type of attack that will create maximum confusion in the South but one that will be confusing as to who instigated it so that it will not invite immediate retaliation on Pyongyang," said Song Young-keun, a retired Army general who was once head of the intelligence arm of the South's military, the Defense Security Command.

Cyber warfare or a possible attack on the intricate communication and utility networks in the South could have just as much impact as any outright military action, Song said.

Outside its artillery and missiles, North Korea struggles to match the South.

Many of the soldiers that make North Korea the world's most heavily militarized state are poorly trained or even properly fed and are deployed in hard labor or farming to supplement the meager resources of their units.

The North's air force has more than 820 fighter jets, according to South Korea's Defence Ministry, but it does not have enough fuel to fly sorties or conduct needed drills to maintain combat effectiveness. South Korea has 460 jets.

North Korea has 4,200 tanks, according to South Korea, although Seoul's 2,400 are more modern and better maintained.

The question of North Korea's atomic capability was thrust to the headlines when Pyongyang on Thursday threatened the United States with a nuclear strike.

That came in the wake of accusations from Pyongyang that Washington was using military drills in South Korea as a launch pad for a nuclear war.

Experts say North Korea is years away from being able to hit continental America with a nuclear weapon despite a decades-long push toward an atomic capability.

The core of the North's unconventional military focus is a stockpile of fissile material that could be enough for six to eight nuclear weapons, and up to 5,000 metric tons of biological and chemical weapons that can wipe out a mid-size industrial city.

North Korea claims to have developed a miniaturized nuclear weapon while the launch of a long-range rocket in December that for the first time put an object into orbit indicated progress in its attempt to build an intercontinental nuclear missile.

"But for a weapons system to be viable, it has to be in production and deployed. I don't think we can say that about the Unha-3," Shin said, referring to the rocket launched on December 12.

Song said the general consensus was the North had yet to shrink a nuclear warhead to put on an intercontinental ballistic missile and more crucially there had been no tests to prove it has mastered the re-entry technology needed to bring a payload back into the atmosphere.

"It's hogwash, blackmail," Song said of Thursday's threat against the United States.

(Editing by Dean Yates)

Yahoo News

[VetteLS5]

The original was making the rounds about a week ago on one of the cable channels. Some of the acting is pure (though unintentional) comedy gold. And excellent weapons handling technique by "Baby" from Dirty Dancing, lol.

What's amazing is the number of actors in that film that were recycled into what seemed to be damn near every movie made for a 3 year stretch in the 80's. Funny to see the dad shout "avenge me", and then change the channel and see him comforting Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink.

Isn't that new Olympus Has Fallen movie also about an NK invasion? Man, that one looks like a real stinker.