North Korea Plans Third Nuclear Test Against the US

[Grouchio]

Is North Korea really trying to attack us this year? Or are they just idiotically desperate for attention?

North Korea says it is proceeding with plans for a third nuclear test.
In a statement carried by KCNA news agency, the country's top military body said the "high-level nuclear test" and more long-range rocket launches were aimed at its "arch-enemy", the US.
The statement gave no time-frame for the test. North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009.
The move comes two days after a UN Security Council resolution condemned Pyongyang's recent rocket launch.
The Security Council also expanded sanctions against the isolated communist country following its December launch, which was seen by the US and North Korea's neighbours as a banned test of long-range missile technology.
North Korea said the rocket was solely aimed at putting a satellite into space for peaceful purposes.
'Ready' The statement, which came from North Korea's National Defence Commission, hit out at the resolution as "illegal", before pledging a response.

"We do not hide that the various satellites and long-range rockets we will continue to launch, as well as the high-level nuclear test we will proceed with, are aimed at our arch-enemy, the United States," KCNA quoted it as saying.
"Settling accounts with the US needs to be done with force, not with words," it added.
Recent reports from South Korean and US bodies which monitor North Korea's nuclear test sites had said North Korea could be preparing for a third test.
Earlier on Thursday, a South Korean defence ministry spokesman said it appeared that North Korea was "ready to conduct a nuclear test at anytime if its leadership decides to go ahead".
Regional neighbours and the US have urged it not to proceed.
"We hope they don't do it, we call on them not to do it. It will be a mistake and a missed opportunity if they were to do it," said Glyn Davies, the US special envoy on North Korea policy who is currently visiting Seoul.
"This is not a moment to increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula."
A South Korean foreign ministry spokesman said Seoul deeply regretted the North Korean statement and "strongly" urged it not to go ahead.
China's foreign ministry, meanwhile, called on all relevant parties to "refrain from action that might escalate the situation in the region".

Beijing - North Korea's closest ally and biggest trading partner - backed Tuesday's Security Council resolution, something which correspondents say will have angered its northern neighbour.
'High-level' Both North Korea's previous nuclear tests followed long-range rocket launches.
If it were to go ahead, this would be the first nuclear test under Kim Jong-un, who took over the leadership after the death of his father Kim Jong-il in December 2011.
There was no explanation in the statement of what "high-level" test might mean.
Experts believe the two previous tests used plutonium as fissile material, but North Korea is also believed to have been working on a programme to produce highly-enriched uranium.
It is thought that North Korea is not yet able to make a nuclear device small enough to mount on a long-range missile, although the US believes that is Pyongyang's ultimate goal.

Also, this article from the CNN:

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea said Thursday that it plans to carry out a new nuclear test and more long-range rocket launches, all of which it said are a part of a new phase of confrontation with the United States.
The North's National Defense Commission said the moves would feed into an "upcoming all-out action" that would target the United States, "the sworn enemy of the Korean people."
Read more: U.N. Security Council slams North Korea, expands sanctions
Carried by the state media, the comments are the latest defiant flourish from the reclusive North Korean regime, whose young leader Kim Jong Un has upheld his father's policy of pursuing a military deterrent and shrugging off international pressure.
The defense commission statement follows a United Nations Security Council resolution on Tuesday that the United States pushed for, condemning a recent recent rocket launch by North Korea and expanded existing sanctions.
The North's angry statement "should have been the expected outcome" from the U.N. decision, said Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group covering Northeast Asia.
"I think they are completely outraged and insulted by it," he said.
Read more: N. Korea's launch causes worries about nukes, Iran and the Pacific
North Korea, which often issues bellicose statements in its state media, said Thursday that it rejected all Security Council resolutions concerning it.
It described this week's resolution as "the most dangerous phase of the hostile policy toward the DPRK," using the abbreviated version of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Read more: U.S. official: North Korea likely deceived U.S., allies before launching rocket
Analyst: Threat meant as a deterrence
The threats toward the United States, a constant theme in the North's propaganda, have more to do with deterrence than a desire for full conflict, Pinkston said.
"I don't believe they have the capability, the intention or the will to invade or destroy the United States," he said. "They wish to deter interference from the U.S. or any outside powers."
Read more: North Korea's rocket launches cost $1.3 billion
North Korea's successful rocket launch last month nonetheless changed the strategic calculations for the United States, showing that the North's missile program is advancing despite an array of heavy sanctions imposed on it.
Analysts say it still has a lot of work to do to master the technology necessary to mount a nuclear warhead on missile or accurately target it.
Read more: South Korean officials: North Korean rocket could hit U.S. mainland
At the same time, Pyongyang has been hinting for a while that a new nuclear test could be in the cards.
Just before the North sent out its latest hostile statement Thursday, a U.S. State Department official was telling reporters in Seoul that Washington hoped that Pyongyang wouldn't go ahead.
Read more: Huge crowds gather in North Korean capital to celebrate rocket launch
"We think that that would be a mistake, obviously," said Glyn Davies, the U.S. special envoy on North Korea. "We call on North Korea, as does the entire international community, not to engage in any further provocations."
North Korea has carried out two previous nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, both of which were condemned by the U.N.
Pyongyang didn't say Thursday when exactly it would carry out a third test, but it could happen "at any time," according to Pinkston.
He said that it was hard for anybody outside the North Korean nuclear sector to know if the country is technically ready to carry out the test, but that politically, "it seems an appropriate time."
Demands unlikely to sway North
South Korean defense officials said last year that they believed the North had been in a position to carry out a new test whenever leaders in Pyongyang gave the green light.
North Korea's nuclear program is "an element of threat to peace not only for Northeast Asia but also for the world," Park Soo-jin, deputy spokeswoman for the South Korean Unification Ministry said Thursday.
"North Korea should immediately stop its nuclear test and other provocation and should choose a different path by cooperating with the international community," Park said.
That appears unlikely at this stage, though.
After a failed long-range rocket launch in April, North Korea ignored international condemnation and carried out a second attempt last month. That one succeeded in putting a satellite in orbit, Pyongyang's stated objective.
But the launch was widely considered to be a test of ballistic missile technology. And it remains unclear if the satellite, which the North insists is for peaceful purposes, is functional.
Both North Korea's previous nuclear tests took place weeks or months after long-range rocket launches.
Those tests were carried out under the rule Kim Jong Il, the father of the current leader, and the man who channeled huge amounts of money into North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs.
Kim Jong Il died in December 2011 after 17 years in power, during which the North Korean people became increasingly impoverished and malnourished.
Economically, the country relies heavily on trade with its major ally, China.

ASAIK, North Korea's Ballistic Missiles have only the capacity to threaten Alaska. Let's go to war.

[mishkin]

North Korea, the best Korea: safer for foreign countries than the principality of Monaco. They have enough work starving and repressing their own people (and making stupid propaganda).

[Heathen Hammer]

Smart move, if you don't want to get "democratized" like Iraq.

[Dr Zoidberg]

Smart move, if you don't want to get "democratized" like Iraq.

Yes Heathen, because the only thing stopping the US from "democratising" North Korea is that it has nuclear weapons...

[frozenprince]

Yes Heathen, because the only thing stopping the US from "democratising" North Korea is that it has nuclear weapons...

Shhhhh.

Don't let him realize that the country we're guarding and acting as a massive deterrent for, in which we intervened to deny his communist heroes their "hard earned victory" (read: throwing thousands of peasants with little to no training into machine gun nests and hoping they'd clog the firing lanes with bullets). Is one of the most successful in the world and a democracy, while the communist half is the poorest country on earth and a miserable crap hole which has it's entire meager GDP put into it's military and it's most glorious Juche leaders food budget.

[Heathen Hammer]

Attacking a country which has nukes is too risky even for US, so for "rogue states" it is the only way to ensure they won't fall victim to America's next "war on terror". I'm not agreeing with NK's policies, but developing this program is a smart move for them.

[Col. Tartleton]

Attacking a country which has nukes is too risky even for US, so for "rogue states" it is the only way to ensure they won't fall victim to America's next "war on terror". I'm not agreeing with NK's policies, but developing this program is a smart move for them.

That's just politics. We could black ops the out of them.

I think we could take out Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, let alone North Korea's.

[Heathen Hammer]

That's just politics. We could black ops the out of them.

I think we could take out Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, let alone North Korea's.

Everything is possible for US... In Call of Duty lore.
If they actually had such capability, they'd done that already to Iran.

[Vanoi]

Attacking a country which has nukes is too risky even for US, so for "rogue states" it is the only way to ensure they won't fall victim to America's next "war on terror". I'm not agreeing with NK's policies, but developing this program is a smart move for them.

So smart, its alienating them from their only ally. China. Yep, smart move.

[Dr Zoidberg]

Attacking a country which has nukes is too risky even for US, so for "rogue states" it is the only way to ensure they won't fall victim to America's next "war on terror". I'm not agreeing with NK's policies, but developing this program is a smart move for them.

If by smart, you mean idiotic, then yes, you are right.

This is a dumb move. It further isolates them from the rest of the international community, and more importantly, makes it harder for China to continue to provide support.

It starts to look hypocritical (correction: it already is) for China to harp on about being a responsible member of the international community when it is its support to North Korea that gives it the carte blanche to do whatever it wants without serious repercussions.

[Emperor Arcturus Mengsk]

If by smart, you mean idiotic, then yes, you are right.

This is a dumb move. It further isolates them from the rest of the international community, and more importantly, makes it harder for China to continue to provide support.

It starts to look hypocritical (correction: it already is) for China to harp on about being a responsible member of the international community when it is its support to North Korea that gives it the carte blanche to do whatever it wants without serious repercussions.

Don't talk about hypocrisy

When is the last time the US had any serious reppercusions for any of it's international dubious moves?

[ShADoW]

I want to see this.....fail.

[Arbitrary Crusader]

Plz, North Korea, do not embarrass my country, again.

[sabaku_no_gaara]

All of you guys shouldn't thread so lightly over this, yes N Korea is probably about as tough an oponent as Swansey would be to FC Barcelona. But this isn't about military strength.

Even if they have the capability to launch 1 nuke, or simple tactical missile, wich might seem laughably pathetically lame and weak compared to the might of other nations, we shouldn't look at military capability, but at the mental state of the leadership.

Basicly: How crazy is Kim and does he realise that a real threat of attack and evidence of capabillity to attack can have it's influence on stock markets and the global economy.

All he needs to do is treathen to nuke an area that has a high concentration of valuables (food production, oil etc...) or of industry to plunge the world in a new economic crisis.

[hellheaven1987]

North Korea is at least better than the coward Iran and shameless Israel.

[Bobz]

Best Korea's missiles will spread the message of the benevolent Great Leader to all.

[mishkin]

Exactly why would North Korea launch a nuclear attack?
Maybe that guy is crazy, but I doubt that he is a suicide.

[sabaku_no_gaara]

To elaborate on my previous post (Had to scramble to save my burgers, but ruined my hamburgers annyway so meh):

Some years ago Russia suffered from extreme heat, and there was fear of failed grain crops in Russia wich led to an imediate rise of Grain prices, wich in the country where I live (Tiny Belgium far removed from Russia) Beer and bread prices saw an imediate increase in prices. Now with Europeans struggling to overcome two crisses that followed eachother and people reaching their limit of what they can spend on food and basics (elecktricity etc..) a third crisis caused by fears of a crazy North Korean dictator or an actual attack on an important commodity by said crazed dictator would be absolutely disastrous to us, and this would have it's consequences for other economies (snowball effect)

I don't know what kind of man their despot is, to reply to Mishkin: If he's a psychopath he's capable of anything. Heck what if he's manic depressed? And does feel like glorious suicide and taking out the world with it as a statement?

So again, people shouldn't take this too lightly only because they think only in terms of military strength, the world has changed, military strength is allmost meaningless, concidering in todays world a bunch of organised leftists like the RAF was once or the CCC (Communist group in Belgium that commited bombing attacks in Belgium in the 70's), could completely destabilize the worlds economy overnight.

Mental state that's the thing we should fear, not weapons

[Vanoi]

I hope North Korea keeps doing this. They are now even alienating themselves from their only "ally" China. China has now supported the new UN sanctions on North Korea. They are alone.

[Emperor Arcturus Mengsk]

Maybe because the US threatens to shoot down the N.Korean missile attempts everytime, they decided to say that they will launch it towards the US so that you actually have a legit reason to shoot it down ? : )