My personal belief is that Kim Jong Un and his top brass have figured out that their country is unsaveable and the only way out of the situation is to provoke a nuclear exchange that demolishes their state apparatus, which gives them an excuse to disappear without having to blame their failure on reality. All North Koreans seriously believe, or at least know better than to express anything but total belief, that their country is the richest and most successful and most advanced that has ever existed. When the economic hammer drops, which is going to be soon, they're going to have an unprecedented psychological break. Kim and his buddies want to be far, far away in a walled compound in Africa or Dubai when that happens.

I honestly think that, if they had a nuclear warhead, they would have used it by now (or at least tried to). Nope, it's not happening.

stop making stupid polls, theres a comments section for this shit

There's no such thing as a stupid Slog poll!

Why isn't "How is losing Colorado Springs such a bad idea?" one of the poll choices?

@5:

The town might not be much (although I would sincerely mourn the loss of my niece and her family, were such a thing to happen), but losing the operational capabilities of U.S. Space Command and its subsidiary units at Peterson AFB, along with (presumably) back-up systems at nearby Cheyenne Mountain would be pretty devastating, if it were successfully targeted by North Korea.

Plus, you know, losing the Stargate would be a shame too...

Not to worry, we have things other than the ones the Navy admitted to.

Depends on your definition. Bomb on a stick ... probably. Able to target within 500 miles and avoid actual countermeasures, no.

@5 - Remember, they seem to think that Colorado Springs is a suburb of Austin, Texas.

It's not a nuke -- it's a pressure cooker full of kimchee.

Which is more inhumane? YMMV

I'm more worried about our nuclear arsenal being located beneath Christian Warrior ground zero than anything North Korea can lob our way. Thankfully, I'm not all that worried about the former.

I'm not even going to mention the C.H.U.D. threat.

Someone's threatening our C.H.U.D.s?

Those bastards.

Since North Korea can't seem to even find Colorado Springs on a map, I'm just a little skeptical of their ability to nuke us. They have the most laughable propaganda machine in the world.

They most definitely have over 10,000 artillery pieces and a million man army. Seoul is only 30 miles from the DMZ. North Korea may be a basket case, but if they lost their minds and went full "scorched-earth" it would get extremely ugly for a while. But one thing is certain, the Chinese would be much more likely to invade them than to save their asses this time around.

@13, armies are worthless without supply chains. DPR Korea can't feed their troops when they're sitting in their barracks, let alone on the march to...where, exactly? In the 50s North and South were equals; now the South is one of the economic powers of the world, while the North is on the verge of collapse. The average North Korean may believe that they would swarm to an easy victory but the people at the top don't, unless they want to go full Jim Jones.

I honestly don't think there's going to be a North Korea much longer.

Judging from their propaganda videos, the North Koreans have no fucking idea where Colorado Springs even is. If we want to be absolutely safe from NK nuclear attack, we should probably all move to Colorado Springs.

Reminds me of the old Ghost Shadows gang in New York's Chinatown. The only person ever safe from one of their shootings was the intended target. Anyone else in the same restaurant was far more likely to take a bullet than whoever they were shooting at.

@13, @14, I tend to think they're looking for a little more financial aid to feed their people. China will give them a little as well, just enough to keep them standing. China wants to maintain the NK as a buffer to Westernized democracy and values reaching their people; they also don't want to deal with hordes of NK refugees crossing the border if NK totally collapses. China will do what they need to do to keep them functional and won't let the "Pyongyang doughboy" do anything stupid if at all possible.

@13 North Korea is not going to attack South Korea or anyone else. China is not going to invade North Korea.

There's a good reason why very few people in South Korea are concerned about North Korea attacking, in spite of Seoul (and 75% of the country's population) being so close to the border.

This "crisis" is belligerent rhetoric from North Korea and follows the same cycle that it has in the past.

@14 It's in China's interest to keep North Korea stable, just as much as it's in South Korea's interest to keep North Korea stable. Chances are, North Korea will be around longer than anyone expects.

I face palmed. Are you seriously acting like they have a chance to get through our defense system? lol

I agree with Fnarf. It's all show (or else Kim is a mad man). What? He's going to lob a nuclear weapon somewhere on our or allied land? Yep. That'll be pretty bloody awful. Terrible beyond words. But in retaliation we could fry his tiny little fiefdom thousands of times over - every square inch. He wouldn't be able to come out of his hole (and I'm sure he has a luxurious one somewhere) for a many, many years.

Of course, this is assuming that he's able to evaluate cause and effect.

I'm not so sure why anybody cares if North Korea knows where Colorado Springs is. If they DID have the capability to chuck one over here, would you be happy if it missed its target by a thousand miles and hit LA or Minneapolis (or Austin) instead?

Korea doesn't have a nuclear warhead, but it does have a nucular warhead, which is even more dangerous. Nucular warheads are known to cause pre-emptive attacks.