How long would it take for North Korea's missile to reach the United States?

Question

Would people have time to evacuate? How fast does it travel?

Answer 1

If they had one, about 30 minutes.

Answer 2

Please ignore people who answer questions with "we could blow the universe up" . They don't seem to realise that A: North Korea is right next door to China and Russia and a full blown attack is going to upset the nieghbors. They also don't ralise that the US and the rest of the world will eventually drink the water they contaimnated way over there. It's simplistic and it's all bravado.

How long would it take how fast do they travel ...........I don't know but evacuation seems unlikely. They don't have a big arsenal from what I hear so if one or two was successful that would be it . This isn't the Russian threat of 2-300.

I think the problem lies more in internally placed bombs. North Korea and Iran and a few other countries have the US as a common enemy - how hard would it be for one suicide bomber with a Russian style nuclear suitcase bomb (remember a few of those went missing on the 80's) to simply throw the switch?

There are plenty of people willing to kill themselves for whatever the cause of the day is - it is a much more reasonable plan of attack than trying to get a complex missle off the ground and all the way over an Ocean. If the US in Japan doesn't shoot it down then the US in Alaska will. So for a successful attack to take place that way they would need numbers . Hundreds of missles would have to be simitaneouly launced in order for a few to get through.

The North Korean defence dept hasn't been making a lot public but I don't think that they have the "Jam".

So like every other weaker army they may choose to sneak up from behind. Take Iraq - still fighting the US - clearly a weaker armed force - can't win the normal way - then we will cost the enemy as much time delay money and agrevation as possible.

Answer 3

Years

Answer 4

According to "reports" the US would know almost immediately that a missile is launched and headed toward the U.S. At this point it is also "reported" that N. Korea only has the ability to reach the west coast with a missile. The U.S. has a missile defense system ( for west coast attack) which include 7 counter missiles that are suppose to intercept the N. Korean Missile.( these missiles are not a 100% guarantee that the N. Korean missile will not hit the West Coast). I would suspect that since the 7 counter missiles aren't a for sure thing that most people wouldn't have time to evacuate and that the West Coast would be screwed. What I have heard in response to that is " N. Korea knows it will be consiquences ( which at that point don't really matter when lots of U.S citzens are dead).

Answer 5

If North Korea ever acquires a working ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) system, it would take approximately 20 minutes (from the time of the launch warning) for the warhead to reach it's target in the continental U.S. Probably around 15 minutes for targets in Alaska and Hawaii.

As far as speed goes, top velocity will peak somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,927.8-8980 meters per second.

The current best guess is that if North Korea gets their TD-2 ICBM system working, the range will be limited to the west coast of CONUS (continental U.S.). Can San Francisco or Seattle be evacuated in 30 minutes? No. Fortunately, since the North Koreans use liquid fuel in their missiles, and those missiles take a fair amount of time fill up with said fuel, we should have plenty of warning that they are preparing a launch. That could have a positive effect on saving lives.

Answer 6

I think 'blackpride' had a great answer. It was logical and to the point. As for the missile, I also believe that it would be intercepted by the U.S. missiles. However, one has to look beyond the missile and interpret the reason behind the launch. Would it draw us into another confrontation? Would our troops in South Korea be at risk? What other countries would assist us if anything did happen? Is there an alliance against the U.S. between North Korea and other countries? There are so many potential scenarios.
It's fine to get factual answers. You are certainly curious. Yet, you have touched 'the tip of the iceberg!'

Answer 7

It would take "20 or so minutes"(1).

Supposing we detected the missile immediately from a satellite, and we alerted everyone in the target zone in five minutes, they would have fifteen minutes to get out. At ninety miles an hour they could get twenty two miles away from their city(assuming traffic does not clog the streets).

The problem is that we don't know exactly where it's headed until much later in it's trajectory, at the five-minute mark they would have to evacuate the entire Western United States.

The technology to shoot down an ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) does not exist. We are close, but unless they plant a homing device in the warhead it just isn't gonna happen with current technology.

Answer 8

The U.S. could take North Korea out before any North Korean missile would hit the United States.

Answer 9

the united stateshas have been given military set up in the process the pacific. we've air rigidity stuff. we've protection mechanisms in outer area above Hawaii to shoot down missiles on an identical time as they're nonetheless interior the air! we've allies such because of the fact the united kingdom, China and this time we even have Russia. North Korea ought to comprehend that in the event that they opt to maintain on with a psychotic previous guy who sounds like a short previous woman well being club instructor then they shouldn't comprehend somewhat. the USA of a won't tolerate such havoc as to a missile being released at us! We, my pal, are secure.

Answer 10

In my opinion, it would take about 4 days to reach the United States. Also i don't think they would have time to evacuate unless they know about 2 or 3 weeks in advanced.

Answer 11

If the US felt like there was a red dot in our direction, we are technologically capable of taking the missile right off the launch pad. I think it would be near impossible to evacuate in the event our interceptions failed.
According to Wikipedia, the taepodong-2 travels at approximately 7,927-8,980 m/s ( ICBM). Now I suppose you need the distance between the US and NK to get the answer to how long it would take to reach us.