North Korea News

[TheReal_ND]

The MSM gives their punditry, and they all say the same thing, the liberal media orthodoxy, "they need nuclear weapons because they fear regime change", but that just tells you these people have no clue what North Korea is actually all about, they're just projecting a template on it.

There's no danger of regime change in North Korea, there's no dissident faction against Juche, there's nobody up there who isn't Juche, Juche is all emcompassing, there's no regional factions, there's no alternative governing structure, they're all North Koreans, and they're all Juche, so what regime change do these idiots think they fear? Regime change into what? The regime wasn't deposed when they had mass starvation, wasn;t even under any pressure about it, the regime is under no threat at all.

The NK's didn't think "hey, if we got hydrogen bombs which could hit America, they wouldn't invade and overthrow us", that's absurd, they did feel threatened by the Americans because the Americans were standing in their way, but what they thought was "if we get nuclear weapons which can hit America, we can force them out of our way, and without the Americans, the South will be forced to capitulate to our terms, and then we win."

[Smitty-48]

Another liberal media orthodoxy; "The North Koreans are rational actors, they know that they can't use nuclear weapons, because they know that America would retaliate and destroy them with nuclear weapons"

But that's not what the North Koreans think, the North Koreans are actually confident that they could use nuclear weapons and America wouldn't be able to retaliate with nuclear weapons.

"The Americans can't execute a nuclear counterforce", see Grumpy's points on "the whole world would rise up against America"

"The Americans can't retaliate countervalue", see Capps' points about Russia and China.

The North Koreans agree.

So, what is it again, exactly, that is actually detering them from using a nuclear weapon against the CONUS?

No counterforce, no countervalue = no nuclear deterent.

[TheReal_ND]

Looks like the nuke warhead of Hwasong-14(화성-14) is not MIRV but a unitary warhead.
That may be one consolation.

Still, one can dream.

[Smitty-48]

They're not MIRV'd up yet, MIRV's are hard, because you have to fit the two stages of the warhead inside the cone, and you use oval stages to fit them in there, and making the stages perfectly round is not too hard, but making them perfectly oval; hard.

You look at the design for the W88 on the Trident SLBM, that's a fuckin' masterpiece, that's top o' the line. If the NK's had those, they could MIRV, but the MIRV's they could make for the missiles they have now, wouldn't fit on the missile.

To MIRV the bombs they have, they'd need a huge missile like the Russian R-36, which is out of their league, but on the other hand, they'll just go for more smaller missiles instead of big MIRV'd ones, and still be able to get some through the American defenses, and really, they only need to get one through, and if they get to dispersed on alert, there's no way the Americans could get them all.

All they gotta do, is get one big hydrogen bomb through, and, since the Americans won't use counterforce, and, the Americans can't retaliate countervalue, America has no nuclear deterent against it, and, the Americans can't even retaliate with conventional weapons, because the North Koreans will still have their tac-nukes in reserve.

Basically, the way the North Koreans see it, they can use nuclear weapons on the Americans, and no matter how much America blusters and threatens about it, there's not actually much America could really do about it, and then America would basically have to sue for peace and capitualte to their terms.

[Ex-California]

Meanwhile, on Reddit

[SuburbanFarmer]

Another liberal media orthodoxy; "The North Koreans are rational actors, they know that they can't use nuclear weapons, because they know that America would retaliate and destroy them with nuclear weapons"

But that's not what the North Koreans think, the North Koreans are actually confident that they could use nuclear weapons and America wouldn't be able to retaliate with nuclear weapons.

"The Americans can't execute a nuclear counterforce", see Grumpy's points on "the whole world would rise up against America"

"The Americans can't retaliate countervalue", see Capps' points about Russia and China.

The North Koreans agree.

So, what is it again, exactly, that is actually detering them from using a nuclear weapon against the CONUS?

No counterforce, no countervalue = no nuclear deterent.

The point is that they have to shoot first. No nation can afford the backlash of an unprovoked nuclear attack, except the norks. If they actuallt take the shot, then all the world joins hands to melt them. We just can't do it first. That's the paradox of nuclear power.

[Speaker to Animals]

We don't need to use nuclear arms, and striking North Korea is not "unprovoked". We are at war with them already. They violated the truce so many times they have had it coming for a while now.

[ssu]

You guys are itching for war or what?

Well, let's see.

I think that Mattis' response was usual and understandable to the nuclear test.

[Speaker to Animals]

We are at war with them, genius.

[Smitty-48]

The point is that they have to shoot first. No nation can afford the backlash of an unprovoked nuclear attack, except the norks. If they actuallt take the shot, then all the world joins hands to melt them. We just can't do it first. That's the paradox of nuclear power.

Yeah, sure, whatever helps you sleep at night, but if you think you're going to get the green light from the Russians and Chinese to retaliate with nuclear countervalue, you're deluding yourself, just like the rest of American is.

No counterforce, no countervalue; no nuclear deterrent.