Missiles of North Korea

https://missilethreat.csis.org/country/dprk/

by aburan28 • 10 years ago

48 71 10 years ago

missilethreat.csis.org

gerardnll3• 10 years ago

What about the missiles of US, Russia or any other western country? I may be afraid of them too

mikekchar• 10 years ago

They have you covered: https://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/

cm2187• 10 years ago

Curiously this page makes safari on ipad crash...

gerardnll3• 10 years ago

ty!!

vpol2• 10 years ago

US is last on the list.

acqq• 10 years ago

Somehow even an estimate of the number of missiles or nuclear warheads isn't shown there?

Luckily, another site has it:

https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohasw...

baby• 10 years ago

It's not only about the missiles, but also about how you deliver them. I believe France also has the best air fleet in the world, so that helps.

sgt1012• 10 years ago

The summary is simple; they have missiles that can hit anywhere in the world at any time.

There you go!

gerardnll3• 10 years ago

Same as the other nations I mentioned.

toomanybeersies• 10 years ago

It's not like security staff would cheat in their assessments, impairing their proficiency [0]

0: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-ai...

forvelin• 10 years ago

It will be interesting to see that who will 'liberate' North Korea and how.

JumpCrisscross• 10 years ago

who will 'liberate' North Korea and how

A 2011 article from The Atlantic concerning Pakistan's nukes [1] offers clues as to how North Korea's arsenal might be rendered safe:

"This 'disablement campaign,' as one former senior Special Operations planner calls it, would be the most taxing, most dangerous of any special mission that JSOC could find itself tasked with—orders of magnitude more difficult and expansive than Abbottabad.

...

JSOC would take the lead, however, accompanied by civilian experts, and has been training for such an operation for years. JSOC forces are trained to breach the inner perimeters of nuclear installations, and then to find, secure, evacuate—or, if that’s not possible, to 'render safe'—any live weapons. At the Nevada National Security Site, northwest of Las Vegas, Delta Force and SEAL Team Six squadrons practice “Deep Underground Shelter” penetrations, using extremely sensitive radiological detection devices that can pick up trace amounts of nuclear material and help Special Operations locate the precise spot where the fissile material is stored. JSOC has also built mock Pashtun villages, complete with hidden mock nuclear-storage depots, at a training facility on the East Coast, so SEALs and Delta Force operatives can practice there.

At the same time American military and intelligence forces have been training in the U.S for such a disablement campaign, they have also been quietly pre-positioning the necessary equipment in the region. In the event of a coup, U.S. forces would rush into the country, crossing borders, rappelling down from helicopters, and parachuting out of airplanes, so they could begin securing known or suspected nuclear-storage sites. According to the former senior Special Operations planner, JSOC units’ first tasks might be to disable tactical nuclear weapons—because those are more easily mated, and easier to move around, than long-range missiles.

In a larger disablement campaign, the U.S. would likely mobilize the Army’s 20th Support Command, whose Nuclear Disablement Teams would accompany Special Operations detachments or Marine companies into the country. These teams are trained to engage in what the military delicately calls “sensitive site exploitation operations on nuclear sites”—meaning that they can destroy a nuclear weapon without setting it off. Generally, a mated nuclear warhead can be deactivated when its trigger mechanism is disabled—and so both the Army teams and JSOC units train extensively on the types of trigger mechanisms that Pakistani weapons are thought to use. According to some scenarios developed by American war planners, after as many weapons as possible were disabled and as much fissile material as possible was secured, U.S. troops would evacuate quickly—because the final stage of the plan involves precision missile strikes on nuclear bunkers, using special 'hard and deeply buried target' munitions."

[1] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/12/the-ally...

Pyxl101• 10 years ago

It's interesting that the article says, "In the event of a coup, [US special forces will invade to take control of missiles]". Is the phrase "in the event of a coup" just a pretext for having such plans in place, or is it an actual recognition that the current government is not crazy enough to launch a suicidal offensive campaign at the rest of the world? And so the concern is future regimes or terrorists...

Anyway, I hope NK understands that any kind of unprovoked offensive nuclear action on their part will result in the rest of the world banding together to crush them. I think they do understand that. It would probably happen to any country that uses a nuke offensively, and maybe defensively too.

trhway2• 10 years ago

NK couldn't and can't be liberated because it has tens of thousands of artillery pointing toward Seoul, a city of 10M+.

Avalaxy• 10 years ago

That is always being repeated, but I wonder if it still holds up with modern systems like the iron dome, and especially laser weapons that are being tested right now. A combination of pre-emptive strikes on NK's artillery, combined with anti-artillery radars and a laser weapons air defense network could render NK powerless.

Edit: that assumes that SK would be the 'liberator', but chances that it would be China are probably higher.

anticodon4• 10 years ago

I doubt this is a main reason. Main reason is that they don't have valuable natural resources that can be exploited, they have not so important strategic location. Investment in "liberation" of NK will hardly be as beneficial for US (main "liberators" in the contemporary world) as "liberation" of other more lucrative countries (that has oil or somehow threat stability of US dollar).

Jean-Philipe• 10 years ago

Also, AFAIK, the people in NK are actually behind their leader.

sfifs• 10 years ago

It's not in anyone's interest to do so. No valuable natural resources to strip. Too much integration cost for South Korea. China finds a buffer state useful. US gets an excuse to keep troops and millitary equipment stationed in China's backdoor.

crdoconnor5• 10 years ago

Due to the growing obsolescence of North Korea’s conventional military capabilities, North Korea has pivoted towards a national security strategy based on asymmetric capabilities and weapons of mass destruction

North Korea's nuclear weapons program stems from a reaction to the US deploying cannons and missiles on the border and pointing them at them in 1958.

This freaked them out a little.

astebbin4• 10 years ago

What do you mean to imply? Do you refer to a specific incident in 1958? Or, do you blame US military aggression for the North's current nuclear program? Perhaps if North Korea hadn't invaded the South in 1948, there would be no need for a militarized border and heavy US defensive presence.

Rather than a vanguard invasion force, I've read that the 28,500 US military personnel in Korea today exist as a sort of political tripwire. There aren't enough of them to hold the line, let alone successfully invade the North, but their deaths in the event of a conflict would commit the US to the fight.

crdoconnor5• 10 years ago

Simply that the North Korean nuclear program was largely a reaction to deployed US nukes on the 38th parallel.

I'm bemused that this is considered a controversial fact.

Edit : I meant to say nuclear missiles and artillery were deployed in 1958 which is what NK reacted to, they had conventional weaponry deployed before that.

anticodon4• 10 years ago

You also forget that South Korea pays significant amount of money for US "protection".

sanxiyn• 10 years ago

1958 is the year US deployed tactical nuclear weapon in South Korean bases.

willvarfar2• 10 years ago

For those interested, here's an article on the NK ballistic missile sub: http://www.hisutton.com/North%20Koreas%20next%20Ballistic%20...

And ballistic missile subs of the world: http://www.hisutton.com/Nuclear%20Missile%20Submarines.html

jzwinck• 10 years ago

I walked into an NK submarine from 20 years ago. I was not impressed. It had a regular old VCR sitting on a regular shelf like in a motorhome. And construction that would make a Victorian pipefitter blush. It ran aground during routine operations which is not so surprising given the utter lack of precision instruments evident. I would be surprised if in the past 20 years they went from that to a usable nuclear missile platform.

You can see photos from someone else here: http://www.catracing.org/hendrb/out-and-about-in-korea-tongi...

oceanofsolaris• 10 years ago

Your link explicitly mentions that the equipment found in this specific vessel is probably not the original one:

Speaking of equipment, it was obvious the submarine was stripped of any useful electronic equipment, such as navigation or communication equipment. In its place were items taken from a dump.

I imagine that all the original equipment was removed and analyzed by a South Korean Intelligence Service before the Sub became accessible to the public.

mrskeltal• 10 years ago

The artwork is fantastic

ainiriand2• 10 years ago

How many countries has North Korea invaded so far? I think that they are only trying to cover themselves from foreign threats.

willvarfar2• 10 years ago

The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) began when North Korea invaded South Korea

First paragraph of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War

ainiriand2• 10 years ago

I don't think that North Korea was a sovereign state at the moment, more like a puppet to other countries. NK was 2 years old and it was conceived by URSS.

TulliusCicero2• 10 years ago

Only one, but then again they have a mostly backwards economy and military with essentially no force projection power.

karmacoda2• 10 years ago

What is NK's goal? They know perfectly well that to launch a nuke against another country, especially the US, could result in NK being entirely obliterated. ~30 mostly little cites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_North_Korea How far along has this strategy been considered?

weavie• 10 years ago

Does NK as a country have any goals? I think it is more just the few at the top just want to stay at the top, and play whatever games they deem necessary in order to do so.

roryisok• 10 years ago

Everything that NK does is in order to keep those people at the top. It is the absolute definition of a dictatorship. Kim Jong-un only wants to maintain his own wealth and control. That is the only goal

throwanem• 10 years ago

What is NK's goal?

To preserve its sovereignty, and preserve the inflow of foreign aid that the regime uses to prop itself up by preventing the starvation and likely resulting chaos that'd occur if forced to try to support its population from its own ill-managed resources.

I'm sure at least someone close to Kim knows that to actually nuke an American city would invite massive retaliation. But seeming plausibly crazy enough to do it anyway is a good way to make an otherwise absurdly insignificant little country seem like one that needs to be reckoned with. They're banking on the idea that the US will go far out of its way to avoid even the remote possibility of even a minor nuclear strike, and thus far it's worked out for them.

wruza• 10 years ago

They know if you're going to obliterate their country anyway, they have a little present for you. And you know it too. That's how nuclear weapons work.

karmacoda2• 10 years ago

So you're saying it's only self defence? In that case what's the fuss?

crdoconnor5• 10 years ago

Probably immunizing themselves against invasion.

gozur88• 10 years ago

The North Koreans have no hope of beating the South in a conventional conflict. Strategically, they're in the same situation as Pakistan, which acquired nuclear weapons as a guarantee against an attack from India.

The Norks have also gotten a lot of mileage from their blackmail/bullying behavior over the years. They may be calculating other countries will be willing to make concessions to keep the crazy guy with nukes quiet.

rhcom2• 10 years ago

Maybe something along the lines of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory

darkhorn• 10 years ago

I remember that the USA was telling us that Iraq had missiles reaching West Europe. This is same lie. Execration!

WatchDog2• 10 years ago

It seems more likely to me that North Korea would deploy nukes via lower tech means. Commercial shipping or aircraft from mainland China, maybe even smuggling nukes into Mexico and across the border.

Their missile systems have a lot of scrutiny upon them and they seem unreliable at best.

North Korea already moves a lot of people and trade via China, they could probably co-ordinate Nuclear strikes on several coastal cities just by putting them onto shipping containers.

devoply• 10 years ago

You understand the nukes are for show right. That sort of land mass would be completely decimated by whoever they decided to use those against. Like utterly and totally destroyed. What US worries about it N. Korea giving it to other countries against their interests, countries that they wish to keep under their thumb like Iran.

WatchDog2• 10 years ago

Right they clearly couldn't win any conflict, but it doesn't stop them trying to inflict as much damage as they can before going out.

Missiles of North Korea

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