North Korea Tests H-Bomb

[Labbug]

Reports indicate that North Korea has successfully tested a H-Bomb. 

North Korea with A- and H-Bombs.  Iran soon to have the A-Bomb.  Both soon to have long range missiles.  The world just got more unsafe. 

[Barthheart]

What report? Do you have a link?

We're not even sure they actually tested and A-bomb... them exploding an H-bomb seems highly unlikely... ???

[jomni]

What report? Do you have a link?

We're not even sure they actually tested and A-bomb... them exploding an H-bomb seems highly unlikely... ???

Two posts related to this.
http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=15812.0
http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=15811.msg413519#msg413519

[Barthheart]

Yep read them next. Thanks.

Still seems unlikely that they exploded a thermonuclear device.... possible but unlikely....

[Sir Slash]

Too bad they didn't test it on downtown Pyongyang. With Magnificent Leader watching from his Magnificent Balcony.

[LongBlade]

More analysis at the link as to why it's not an h-bomb.

So what does this really mean?

Assuming that the North Koreans are essentially lying about this being a hydrogen bomb (likely a PR claim made for domestic consumption), the really significant thing about this is that it may well represent a refinement of their already extant designs for an Atom bomb. It is one thing to make a bomb that can fit into, say, a conventional 40-foot shipping container. It is quite another to refine your design until it is small enough to fit into a bomb that could be carried by an airplane or put onto the tip of a missile. That takes refinements, experiments, and time.

This latest blast probably represents a step in that direction.

At the same time, as always, North Korea is perpetually searching for something bad that they can negotiate down in exchange for—well, usually for food. They're pretty thin up there. Relations with the Chinese, their neighbor and only ally, have also been frosty recently, so there is some East-Asian politicking going on as well. Their rhetoric may have been aimed at America, but it's meant for other ears, too.

source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a18851/north-korea-hydrogen-bomb/

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

You'd think they'd just open up a few more Pachinko parlours and rub-and-tugs in Tokyo.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-01-16/japanese-pachinko-addiction-fuels-multi-billion-dollar-industry


I think their little pro-Nork "association" of 3rd and 4th generation Japanese-Koreans went bankrupt a few years ago though.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/AJ201310170076

[LongBlade]

This is the most recent Nork thread so I'm putting this here. Who knows? The incidents may be related.

South Korean media reported Wednesday that its Communist northern neighbor North Korea had its own army chief of staff executed.

Ri Yong Gil is one of the most senior officials to have been reportedly killed through purging, as young dictator Kim Jong-un continues to consolidate power, according to BBC News.

source: http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/10/dprk-executes-army-chief-of-staff/

[Staggerwing]

You have to wonder what would happen if some self-preservation cabal takes out Fat Kimmy before he gets them first. What would happen to that place?

My first thought is that the PLA rolls over the border and flips all the NK commanders it had secretly coopted over the last decade or so 'just in case'.

[Sir Slash]

A Civil War in a nuclear armed state. What could possibly go wrong there?  :P

[JasonPratt]

You have to wonder what would happen if some self-preservation cabal takes out Fat Kimmy before he gets them first. What would happen to that place?

In the long run, assuming they didn't make the area uninhabitable, any improvement in management would be better for the people there. And almost any change of actual regime would be an improvement in management.

I can't say it would necessarily be an improvement in area (or world) stability in the long run. But what followed the Weimar Republic was kind of a miracle in some ways, right?  ::) :P :-\

[mirth]

You have to wonder what would happen if some self-preservation cabal takes out Fat Kimmy before he gets them first. What would happen to that place?

My first thought is that the PLA rolls over the border and flips all the NK commanders it had secretly coopted over the last decade or so 'just in case'.

Have you been consulting with The Donald?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3442302/Donald-Trump-vows-make-North-Korean-leader-Kim-Jong-disappear-says-bad-dude-dictator-face-fate-worse-assassination.html

[Boggit]

Lol! I hadn't realised Donald could play any Trump cards over Cjina. Maybe I'm wrong... >:D