Frighteningly Close To North Korea

[dragonboy]

I suddenly feel frighteningly close to North Korea.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5096470.stm

Does this scare the shit out of anyone else?

[ratsprayer]

it doesn't scare me, and not just because of where i live.  north korea is a bullshit distraction; they only exist in the 'axis of evil' to make people think the war hawks are not just going after arab nations.  north korea is flat out ready to perform a long-range missle test, and they're just being warned?  yet, iran only has a fucking power plant, and plans are being made to invade any time now?  north korea was named, along with iraq and iran, in the axis of evil years ago, and they've basically been ignored to this point.  the neo-cons have many more nations to invade before they start worrying about north korea, me thinks.  

[dragonboy]

I don't follow politics that closely & could well be wrong but isn't one of the reasons the US haven't attacked NK is because they have Nuclear Warheads?

[primushead]

They're just hungry for attention.  

The embargos and what not have really put a stranglehold on a country that barely produces enough to feed itself.

I think Kim Jong Il is just threatening us because:

1.) he has an ego problem
2.) somehow he wants the world to supply food to him

I dunno...I can't really take him seriously.

Even if he did fire a missle at us, it would be easily shot down by our many anti-missle systems along the west coast.

[SMc55]

They're just hungry for attention.  

I dunno...I can't really take him seriously.

I think that makes this all the more frightening. He's a crazy attention seeker with long range missiles.

north korea is a bullshit distraction; they only exist in the 'axis of evil' to make people think the war hawks are not just going after arab nations.    

Really interesting point ratsprayer.

[Easy Morning Rebel]

Koreans are cool... and cute.
I'm actually supporting Korea Republic in the World Cup.

And no, it doesn't scare me either. I don't think they are too serious about it. I think it's only to frighten the world (especially US {Read: G.W. Bush and the government}) or something. They {Read: Kim Jong Il and his staff} want to feel bigger and stronger than the rest of us and think this is the method.

The same thing about Iran.

[Jaimoe]

Koreans are cool... and cute.
I'm actually supporting Korea Republic in the World Cup.

And no, it doesn't scare me either. I don't think they are too serious about it. I think it's only to frighten the world (especially US {Read: G.W. Bush and the government}) or something. They {Read: Kim Jong Il and his staff} want to feel bigger and stronger than the rest of us and think this is the method.

The same thing about Iran.

I agree Koreans are cool... South Koreans. Kim Jong is a lunatic. The North Korean people are starving en masse while their war machine rumbles on. A few years ago, North Korea fired a missle into Tokyo harbour "as a test". No sane ruler would mess with the US and to a smaller extent NATO just to prop-up perceived power, unless they had other "designs". I don't have the same feelings towards Iran... at this point. At least, from what I've read, the people of Iran are not starving in order to fuel their war machine.

[dragonboy]

I think that Easy Morning & Jaimoe have valid points.
Kim Jong II is a lunatic & the world would be better off without him but I have to be brutally honest & say that I feel the same way about Bush.
I'm not contradicting my first post, being this close to NK scares the shit out of me right now but so does G W Bush being in power of the strongest nation in the world.
I agree with Easy Morning's point about NK 'wanting to feel bigger & stronger'...the US has Nuclear capabilities & the rest of the world has seen how far it will go to serves it's own (or should I say his own?) purposes. Considering that, what country in their right mind wouldn't want nuclear weapons simply to protect themselves?
There are two sides to every story...I'm sure many countries consider the US to be 'an axis of evil' & this isn't about Bush bashing or being anti-US, I'm sure many countries feel the same way about Tony Blair & the UK.
 

[Jaimoe]

Considering that, what country in their right mind wouldn't want nuclear weapons simply to protect themselves?
 

That Cold War mentality doesn't really work in most of these situations. Russia and China (to a smaller extent) were world powers when the Cold War formed. Iran, Pakistan etc... would get blown to bits without a missle ever landing on North American soil. I think Kim Jong is afraid of death, or he would have started a war by now... and North Korea would disappear forever.

Those other nations may make some nuclear missles, but getting them off the ground or organzing an extensive nuclear missle program is a ways off - and something that would be difficult in establishing considering today's political climate.  

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

it's not the missles or warheads that scare me;  it's the 50,000 troops we have in south korea guarding the DMZ that scare me.  why do we have them there?  south korea isn't america-i've always been confused as to why american troops are guarding the border to another country, and not our own.  

the missles are just a ruse.  anyone recall 1984 when everyone is at war all of the time?

[Jaimoe]

Not only the South Korean "occupation", US troops, bases and naval ships are located in many areas and countries around the world. I was never a fan of the US airbase in Gander Newfoundland, that until a year or two ago, was still in operation.

There's always a chance of North Korea invading the south. The US takes its time relocating troops after a confict. Just look at Vietnam, Japan etc...

[Dorothy_Mantooth]

kim jong illin'

[Angry Ewok]

I don't think this has anything to do with George Bush in particular, but I'm not really surprised that he'd be fingered just because... It's getting old, really. Reminds me of how in the new Star Wars movies, everything, even the smallest and dumbest shit, relates back to evil ol' Emperor Palpatine and his plot to control the universe and it's smallest operations...

How I see it, is simply that Lil' Kim is just chomping at the bit to get some attention - he's jealous of Iran because he sees how Iran has been handled so differently from Iraq... He wants that special attention, but probably realizes the US doesn't have the same interest in Korea as it does the Middle-East... so he tries to compensate by doing amazingly retarded shit (like building missiles and mobilizing)...

A South Korean friend of mine (who served in the SK Navy) said that he felt as if the Korean people would unite into one whole if only it weren't for Lil' Kim's regime... So maybe someday the old guard will change out and that torn country will be allowed to quietly heal?