Does anyone know if North Korea were to use Nuclear weapons on the US where they could reach?

Question

If they dropped a nuke on us where would it land? Who would be affected? Where would "ground zero" be?

Answer 1

With the sophistication of the missiles, they could reach most major cities in the US. If they were to launch such an attack, they would strike at urban areas as our military is scattered around the country...the idea of war is not to kill but to cripple (wound) people and an attack on a city such as Los Angeles would require many hundreds of thousands of care-takers.Ground Zero refers only to the area of impact...but there are several effects of a bomb...first the explosion, forcing gas out in waves and this would crumble most buildings, and the the opposite effect of gas or air rushing back in and this would destroy more...then the heat wave. With the heat of the sun, concrete and metal would be vaporized. From ground zero to the limit of the damage would depended on the size of the bomb itself, but remember that nuclear research has developed bombs that range in megatons (one million tons of TNT) so the radius could be as great as twenty-five miles but this blast area depends on an aerial explosion compared to a surface explosion or a subsurface explosion. After the shock waves have abated, the spread of radioactive particles would begin and to inhale plutonium dust would cause fatality within a day or so. However, North Korea is unlikely to launch such an attack...it would be suicidal, but also their economy could not sustain such expensive and time consuming production process. Pakistan has the ability to produce only sufficient enriched matter for two bombs a year. Moreover, China would need to invade North Korea in the interests of self-protection. If North Korea did launch an attack against Japan or the the US, we can not retaliate as it would draw China and Russia into a war (all three countries have mutual defense treaties) and the war would quickly escalate into World War Three. Russia and China have sufficient weapons to pound us into dust, and their submarines prowl the oceans around America and have missiles onboard. At present, it is only speculation about an actual detonation (though it probably did take place) but a large detonation of other explosives could mimic the seismic tremors, because of the deep mine where the test was supposedly made, radioactive materials are not measurable. Kim is a megalomaniac and is trying to pressure other nations to help with their faltering economy, and have trade and economic sanctions removed by waving his nuclear advantage. The best and most logical approach to the problem is to allow the Chinese to deal with him and take whatever action they deem necessary...it the US would attack with land forces, it would be a fiasco, as the North Koreans have built extensive tunnels and are prepared for such an invasion. Remember that the North Vietnamese guerillas defeated the US with a small handful of men and tunnels that were miles long....and we had about a half million men there at the time...and spent billions, wasted lives. The delivery system is fairly simple as during China's aid to North Korea, and with Pakistani help, missiles were built...and remember that if China can orbit the earth, the technology does exist. It is pointless for Americans to believe they are so isolated....it is not so anymore. Smuggling suitcase bombs into America requires a great deal of technology and requires a great deal of precision machinery which they lack...but they learned a lot from other sources...Japan...a leader in launching satellites...Russia and the splintered remains from the old Soviet Union. We do know that Pakistani scientists have been instrumental in the development of the bomb, but we don't know about their levels in rocketry, or who is involved. Remember that Americans leaked the secrets of the old A-bomb to Russia...so what's to prevent some other turncoats from jumping in?

Answer 2

First of all, they know full well their country would be incinerated in less than 1/2 hour. Secondly, putting a nuclear weapon on top of a missile, and getting the system to work, is very difficult. It took years for the US to develop a workable ICBM - it'll take the N Koreans a long time to do the same. N Korea is bluffing - like they've been doing for many years. They want a bargaining chip to get the US back to the table, so they can demand more aid - oil, food, money, etc. That country is in dire straits, people are literally starving there. It also makes them look more powerful than they really are, they can claim they forced the US to the negotiating table. For propaganda purposes.

Answer 3

Not even Bush's creative writing team have claimed that N Korea has any missiles they could put a nuclear warhead on. their supposed concern is that N Korea might nuke S Korea, Japan, or China. With the technology and money that country possesses they can basically launch a nulear missile about as far as they can throw it.

Don't think that means it won't affect you.

North Korea wants to build a nuclear warhead because they are desperately poor, and they are seeking aid and attention from the international community. Sometimes the only food you can buy in the markets is human flesh because there's just nothing else to eat. But nobody cares enough to help them because they don't have enough resources for us to pillage. And their neighbours are too worried about being able to feed themselves to want to help the North Koreans.

We will see if this latest publicity stunt will get them any attention that will save any lives in that country. Conventional pleas for help have totally failed. We may see terrible results and consequences that ring all around the world because of our disinterest in helping our fellow human beings.

Answer 4

More than likely they would be stretching to hit the West Coast. Hawaii might be a target, but unlikely, I would think the most probable target would be Los Angeles, but this is all pure speculation.

Keep in mind though that A)No one is still a 100% sure it truly was nuclear, it was a sub-kiloton event, which means under 1,000 lbs of explosives, not even as big as the Hiroshima A-Bomb B)There is no evidence they have a delivery system yet capable of reaching the USA.

I would be more concerned for Japan right now honestly. They hate the Japanese and it's a lot closer.

Answer 5

None of their missiles have the range to reach the US, not even Hawaii. The only way they could detonate a bomb in the US is if it was portable and was somehow smuggled into the country. In this situation it could go off anywhere. But along the coast seems the most likely.

Clearly one of the concerns is that NK gives a bomb to a terrorist organisation.

Japan probably has much more to be concerned about than us since NK's missiles can easily reach Japan. However having a missile that can reach Japan doesnt necessarily mean they can deliver a bomb.

Answer 6

There is no way they could reach the US. The farthest they could hope for would be South Korea or Japan. Do you remember the first Iraq war?? The Scuds couldn't even hit land let alone a target. They kept missing and hitting the ocean. N. Korea has recently been testing their longest range missles and they are no where near intercontinental.

Answer 7

Okay, America has a little thing called the Star Wars Missile Defense System which is located in space. It act's as a radar to detect any kind of nuclear threat to America. If somone from anouther country launched a nuclear missile at America the radar would detect it and send one of our nuclear missile's in the same path the the first missile was sent down. It's America's way of saying, "if were going down, your going down with us". It is only activated to detect a severe nuclear threat. Not a small bomb here and bomb there. But, either way, we are protected.

Answer 8

North Korea tested some missiles that had the capacity to reach Seattle. The tests failed. Also, the news this AM is that the nuke test was also a failure.

Answer 9

They only have the capability to reach Hawaii or the west coast. Their test of the long range missile (ironically on the 4th of July) proved to be a failure as the missile fizzled out after 45 secs. or so. It won't be long until they'll fix that problem though. Rather disconcerting isn't it?

Have a great day!!!

Answer 10

I think they have rockets that could reach Alaska and Hawaii for sure, maybe the west coast too. But that is not our biggest concern. North Korea is isolated and straped for cash. They could decide to sell nucular weapons or the technology to other countries or people for a lot of money. Then we are in a lot of trouble.