The US has requested an urgent closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council on North Korea's latest missile launch. North Korea said it has successfully test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which analysts said could reach Alaska.
http://news.sky.com/story/us-seeks-urgent-un-talks-on-north-korea-missile-launch-10937149

this will end badly for lots of people but mostly the north Korean people. you have to feel sorry for them because the crack pot leader who none of them want will get them killed. someone needs to assassinate this fool before its to late.

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There never was a neat solution to this. China gave up protection of North Korea too late, the West didn't want a drawn-out land war, and now they got nukes. This is shit creek incarnate.

We need to neutralize North Korea before they start doing more stupid shit

Why can't there be peace everywhere in the world and at all times, it doesn't seem so hard when you think about it but will probably never be achieved.

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I understand people are worried about it but there's no easy solution to it. Invading NK would likely result in one of the worst massacres in human history.

Betty is right in that I don't expect them to actually start an attack unless they are pushed.

What you guys (Betty & zigra) said, but at the same time, how can you, as Betty suggested, in good conscience trade with despotic assholes like the North Korean leadership?
Ah right, we (the West) are doing it with Saudi Arabia all the time.
F*ck me, the world is depressing sometimes.

But whenever you think everything is going to shits, just look 100, or even just 10, or in some cases, 2 years in the past, and you see, ultimately things are getting better.
Hell, Germany only passed an equal rights law last Friday. Good things still happen occasionally.

If you think the Syrian immigration crisis is bad, wait till North Korea collapses. It will be one of the toughest challenges for South Korea and China. Not only they will be relied upon to rebuild North Korea economically but to also fix their society.

On the other hand, you have a government and culture (South Korea) perfectly willing to absorb much of the cultural pressure. West Germany did it with the GDR, and obviously this will be a lot harder because more time has passed, but it can be done.

VivaStPauli wrote:On the other hand, you have a government and culture (South Korea) perfectly willing to absorb much of the cultural pressure. West Germany did it with the GDR, and obviously this will be a lot harder because more time has passed, but it can be done.

Indeed. But it's there to see how willing China are to let Korea unite. They'll be concerned about the hold USA will have.

Also wonder how sheltered North Korean people are. Main cities probably know what happens in the real world but can expect a lot of remote areas to be oblivious to anything outside of North Korea. Probably believes in every propaganda thrown to them.

From what information has been smuggled out, it's pretty close to the worst case. Tons of people think the South is starving, the glorious leader being great at golf, everything. It will be some tough shit.

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Kim Jong Un received some hot shit into his hands when his father died. The nukes are a way for him to maintain the propaganda of a strong powerful North Korea to his own people. Stuck between the urgency of upgrading his country's most basic necessities and the urgency of showing the citizens that he is the true heir of his grandfather.

The way of peace is negocations with North Korea. First of all they don't have much to offer in terms of natural resources and knowledge is "carefully distilled", so they cannot create a market economy by their own. If Kim Jong Un is of good intentions, he'll have to add water to his wine and negociate with USA/China. This nuclear madness needs to cease, this will be the sine qua non condition.
If the Leader is of bad intentions/doesn't care, i don't know what will happen but i can see their little aristocracy implode within 20-30 years at most.

Late 90's was the right time to zakkk Kim Jong Il imo. I don't like to wish death on people, but if someone deserved a bullet in his brain it clearly was him. The world let north korean people down big time ever since.

The West needs to start a concerted effort to negotiate or deal somehow with North Korea.

You can say as much about "defense" as you want for North Korea, but they aren't a highly rational state with what seems to be to us a highly irrational leader as well. Any aggression on their part would lead to their destruction but we can't just keep kicking this can along the road. Something needs to happen before further escalation of their program leads to other Asian nations (Japan, South Korea, perhaps others) to believe they need to develop nukes as well.

We got this far because we kicked the can down the road, we can't just keep on this route

CBarca wrote:The West needs to start a concerted effort to negotiate or deal somehow with North Korea.

You can say as much about "defense" as you want for North Korea, but they aren't a highly rational state with what seems to be to us a highly irrational leader as well. Any aggression on their part would lead to their destruction but we can't just keep kicking this can along the road. Something needs to happen before further escalation of their program leads to other Asian nations (Japan, South Korea, perhaps others) to believe they need to develop nukes as well.

We got this far because we kicked the can down the road, we can't just keep on this route

Technically Japan isnt allowed to develop nukes, or have an outside military thanks to the treaty that ended WWII.

If Japan had a military this probably would have ended up in a war in the 90's.

the USA will look after japan if war breaks out

North Korea just fired a missile over Tohoku, which includes part of Fukushima(reactor site).

As far as I am concerned a state of war now exists between North Korea and Japan.



We cant go on like this.

https://www.jpost.com/international/china-sent-team-with-medical-experts-to-advise-on-nkoreas-kim-625831

reports coming in that Kim Jong Un had a failed heart surgery and is now in a vegetative state. Wonder what happens next

Well, if he is a goner, it would be entertaining if there was a bloody power struggle over there.

Wonder if there was an assassination attempt

Art Morte wrote:Well, if he is a goner, it would be entertaining if there was a bloody power struggle over there.

seems like his sister is the favorite to take his place, iirc she's in charge of intelligence

May he RIP.

Hope he goes to hell, or whatever's the worst possible place

So will his sister be the same?

by all accounts yes but we won't know until she assumes control

I think I read that she doesn't have the support of the military

no proper reporting about it yet, is there

JPost/Reuters report is a bit all over the place