quote: Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the military is "watching" that situation "very closely," and would have "some concerns" if North Korea launched a missile in the direction of Hawaii. But he expressed confidence in U.S. ability to handle such a launch.
So how long do you really think we'd let the capitol of North Korea stand if they were to lob a missile at Hawaii?
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
From what I understand, Hawaii is outside the range of even their best missiles.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Really? I thought from the various articles I read, it was only the mainland that was still out of their range.
But perhaps the media is being slightly misleading in the way they are presenting it.
Even if they could launch a missile that far, they're nowhere near to being able to launch a nuclear weapon in any of their long-range missiles.
And if they launched some conventional missiles at us, we'd flatten them.
(Also, their missile launches have been at best mediocre successes, so a range of "up to" some distance is probably only practical at a good deal shorter for a while to come.)
Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
And keep in mind that China is holding the leash, so to speak. As long as that's the case, they probably won't do anything terribly stupid.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: From what I understand, Hawaii is outside the range of even their best missiles.
It, and some parts of Alaska, are within the theoretical high end range of the Taepodong 1 (yes I know I spelled it wrong, I'm doing it phonetically from memory). But thus far missile tests from North Korea have been lackluster.
If it hit Hawaii, it'd be more from luck than design.
Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :
The news regarding their nuclear tests said that their nuclear range was 80 miles (130 kilometers).
Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn:
quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: From what I understand, Hawaii is outside the range of even their best missiles.
It, and some parts of Alaska, are within the theoretical high end range of the Taepodong 1 (yes I know I spelled it wrong, I'm doing it phonetically from memory). But thus far missile tests from North Korea have been lackluster.
If it hit Hawaii, it'd be more from luck than design.
They're scared to go after Alaska. Palin's out on her porch keeping a lookout. She'll shoot it out of the sky.
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
quote:How far is it from N. K. to Hawaii? If their missile has a range of 4,000 miles?
That'd be the Taepodong-2, I believe. It's just under 4600 miles from Pyongyang to Honolulu.
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quote:They're scared to go after Alaska. Palin's out on her porch keeping a lookout. She'll shoot it out of the sky.
That's the funniest thing I've seen all day.
Posted by malanthrop (Member # 11992) on :
I doubt the missiles are the major concern. We have the ability to shoot down missiles. What S Korea is afraid of is the massive amounts of artillery that is aimed at Seoul. Artillary that cannot be shot down and could lay waste to that city in short order. The have threatened to unleash their artillary if the west intervenes.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
North Korea's behavior makes my normally pacific tendencies go sideways. Part of me says, "Who the <BLEEP> do these idiots think they're dealing with? Let's pound 'em flat until they stop pulling this nonsense and finally recognize their relative importance on the global map, shall we?"
...And then I take a breath and am glad cooler heads make these kinds of decisions...
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
quote:...And then I take a breath and am glad cooler heads make these kinds of decisions...
I do hope we'll all have cause to continue to be glad of those cooler decision-making heads. Sometimes, though, I don't expect we will.