So, How About That North Korea?

They are more than serious. This has been brewing for decades....it is sheer craziness.

I'm not "scared" but I'm definitely paying attention. Kim Jong-un is young. He is restless and he wants to prove himself. He has a million-man army - and I don't know if they have confidence in him or not as a leader.

No, I don't doubt they have the capability to launch - they have been doing a lot - you realize they put a satellite in orbit last year? If that's the case - then they can put something anywhere on the planet, in theory.

They DO have the long-range missiles. Even the HuffingtonPost reported on them...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/01/kim-jong-un-nort...

I do NOT think they are bluffing.
I do believe they have what it takes to start a war.
I think they would be crazy to do it. But hey - look at the Middle East? They've been fighting for thousands of years...and I think that's kinda crazy too!!

Well, Austin, TX is supposedly one of its targets... and they don't have the power (ie, ICBM) to do long-range missles yet.....

My daughter lives in Seoul... she isn't military, but is teaching in a private school over there. She's been there for 5 years, and every once in a while, North Korea likes to bluster and threaten a bit.....

I really don't think they have the power to do much of anything.

I've seen a couple of interesting articles on this... the first one, the video is in Korean (it was sent to me by my daughter) and is from North Korea, talking about their "3 day war" where they take over South Korea and take the 154,000 US citizens hostage....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea...

This article pretty much says that it is mostly bluster and bark... not bite...

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-nkorea-threat-may-more-bar...

Wait - I thought Dennis Rodman was solving everything. Why are you so worried?? :)

Well here I am in the Pacific ocean... we are supposed to be a target of his.

I am not worried.

As usual the media is instilling FEAR in Americans since that's what keeps us buying things to make ourselves FEEL better.
If NK nukes us just say your prayers as that will be a really good sign that the end of the world as we know it is very close at hand.
I'm not scared... but I'm sure I'll get a tad nervous if we get bombed.

I'm not scared about it, but I don't think it's just "sabre-rattling" either. I believe what we're seeing is a young new ruler who needs to prove himself. He is making a big deal about the U.S. and the South Koreans because they are easy enemies I believe he hopes to get his people riled up about in the hopes that it will distract them from him. In his propaganda, he blames the U.S. in particular for his people's problems. Never mind that President Obama was preparing to send them food and financial aid if they would simply stop their nuclear testing; that aid was never received because Kim Jong Un felt the need to do more tests right before the shipments were to arrive just to prove a point.

I do think he is going to continue to push the envelope because he doesn't want to be predictable. The things that concern me are: 1. regardless of what happens, his people will suffer even more than they are now 2. that the actions our current administration are taking (flying stealth fighters etc. during the military drills with South Korea) are fueling Kim Jong Un's determination to prove himself 3. that this is going to lead to a bigger conflict if other countries (Russia or China or both) side with North Korea instead of staying out of it and 4. that we are going to wind up in yet another drawn out, ultimately unresolved war overseas that we can't afford.

Scared? Lol!
I don't think they could fire anything past the next block.
I feel sorry for the people living under that tyrant!

I think Kim Jong Un wants to finish his father's work/dream. (Kinda like George W. with Iraq).

I do take him seriously and feel that he wants to start something. He likes being in the news so he could attempt to show the world that his country is an alleged nuclear superpower.

He reminds me of a toddler in the fact that if we ignore him for a while, he will throw a tantrum, except his is a potential nuclear one.

I feel the most for his people, who suffer from starvation and human rights issues, just so Kim Jung can have his nuclear toys.

Sigh...

As for the online and cable news reports? Meh! They need ratings. We may see the story a lot but it's really the same story produced in different ways.

he may be serious, but i am not worried about it. if he does do something stupid, it may be the way for the western world to help those poor people.

China needs to get their yappy little dog back on it's leash.
And I also think that if they do try something that we need to turn NK into a parking lot. At the very least cut the head off the snake. The people of NK are starving and basically enslaved.
I also think that little man is trying to make a name for himself and step out of his dad's shadow. He opened his mouth and if he doesn't follow through he will look like a fool to his people and the world, and if he does he knows he's in deeper than he can get out of.

They are just crazy enough over there to make me nervous....but I wouldn't say I am scared...yet.

The family in power is full of insanity and they have been for decades. This son is no better than his father was. He just might be even crazier. Do I think he's insane enough to think that he's serious? Yes.

Do I think he has much chance of harming anyone other than his own trapped people? Not really. He'll end up cutting off his own nose to spite his face just because he can and so that he can say blood was spilled.

What I think is that this has far less to do with "us" and far more to do with him grandstanding and trying to make a show of power. He's trying to show that he's relevant and threatening. It's going to backfire. The problem will be if we underestimate this guy. That's when he really will be more dangerous.

Ha!
I am obviously in Austin and all we have done is make fun of the whole thing.. There are so many memes out there about why he his mad at us here in Austin..

I noticed the "computer" they showed him sitting at, looked like a computer from back in the 1970's.. SO I am assuming the map he was using also was from the '70's. Problem is, we no longer have the Air Force base here.. That thing closed down decades ago!

Any way we are assuming he is angry, because he was not invited to speak at South by Southwest last week..

Or he is jealous of our BBQ..

So many experts on international relations! I'm impressed!

I don’t think they could do anything on their own but you never know what other country would support them. Plenty of other countries hate us.

If they launch a bomb over here chances are that it would never even get close (I am sure it would get shot down first), but all they need to do is have one explode over our country to cause lots of damage.