North Korea: why bother with a test?

1.) A mid-range weapon like the one they're testing *wouldn't* be able to hit America with a nuke. To hit the West Coast, they'd have to trade off the weight of an atomic warhead for a lighter ballistic weapon due to the amount of fuel it would take to give the missile it's best range. It's a simple issue of weight.

Yes, they could hit America - but if they did, it would not be able to be an atomic warhead of any type.

2.) What Kim may have is a hydrogen bomb - like the one we dropped over Hiroshima. Yes, thats bad - but you'd need about 3-5 of them to destroy a modern city, and apparently Kim doesn't have all that many to begin with.

3.) Fallout is bullshit. Nuke weapons clean up fairly quickly. This isn't to say there'd be no radiation poisoning but it wouldn't be the end of the West Cost by a long shot.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Duo Maxwell

The DPRK does have long enough range delivery systems

No, it doesn't. A Taepodong-2 type missile is midrange. A long-range delivery system would be able to hit well within America's midwest if launched from Korea. Also, the fuel/payload ratio is completely different - a true long-range missile would have the capacity to hit America with a nuke.

This situation is no different than the Cuban Missile crisis - down to the range of the missiles.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Monkey King

Personally, I think countering by launching an unarmed ICBM right into the middle of Pyongyang would be an appropriate response. Doesn't do any real harm, but gets the point across quite effectively.

I hope to God you're kidding.

I don't think you understand the level of destruction a single ICBM can cause, warhead or not.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by YeOldeButchere

Essentially, it means that if they do manage to make a missile capable of hitting America, which I doubt is possible for now, it's likely they'll be able to use a nuclear warhead.

In the words of Scotty - "You can'na change the laws of physics!"

They have a missle that can hit America - but the weight of a nuke warhead PLUS the fuel needed to make it to our shores would render it too heavy to move. It's one or the other. They do not have another type of missile (as far as we know) that can reach farther than that and theres no modification that can undo or change the laws of gravity to get that missile any farther than it can.

If Korea had a warhead capible of hitting the midwest, it would be labeled an ICBM and the entire world would be shitting it's self over this.

Originally Posted by YeOldeButchere

...The only design that I know of

You lost all sense of legitimacy here.

Apparently, all ballistic weapons around the world need your approval or something? Yes, I'm sure they do, generic internet jerk.

Originally Posted by YeOldeButchere

Besides, they have plutonium, it's already been established. It's not (was not?) in a usable form yet, being part of nuclear waste, but North Korea has a reprocessing plant, so they essentially have access to plutonium.

They have it - but they don't - but they have it! Make up your mind.

The truth is they have the ability to create enriched plutonium which could be used in a warhead, yes. But they lack the delivery system, as well as anything substantially viable as a detonation package, according to the reports. See, they could flip the switch and detonate the so-called enriched uranium - but it may not create the explosion that you'd expect given their limited technology with this stuff.

Originally Posted by YeOldeButchere

What we'd need to know is, can they make the bomb small enough so it fits in their missiles.

What we need to know is if they have access to better missile technology. See, they CAN put it into their missiles that we know of - what we have to worry about is them finding longer range materials.

Originally Posted by YeOldeButchere

It wouldn't be the end of the west coast, but to say there is nearly no fallout is somewhat untrue. It all depends, quite frankly. It's difficult to estimate, it depends on the strength of the bomb, the material used, plutonium or uranium, and how well the bomb works, that is, its efficiency. Those are a few of the factors, but I don't know enough to actually be able to agree of disagree with you.

It would take obscene amounts of nuclear strikes to cause a Hollywood style fallout. The Bikini Islands are (mostly) free from radiation - and look how many times we tested there?

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