Thread: Report: North Korea now making missile-ready nuclear weapons

Report: North Korea now making missile-ready nuclear weapons

By Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 1:27 PM ET, Tue August 8, 2017

Washington (CNN)North Korea has taken a major step forward in realizing its goal of becoming a nuclear power, according to a Washington Post report on a confidential US intelligence assessment that concludes Pyongyang has developed a nuclear warhead capable of fitting inside its missiles.

The Washington Post first reported details of the assessment on Tuesday just hours after North Korea threatened 'physical action' in response to punitive sanctions unanimously passed by the United Nations Security Council over the weekend.

"The IC [intelligence community] assesses North Korea has produced nuclear weapons for ballistic missile delivery, to include delivery by ICBM-class missiles," the assessment states, in an excerpt read to The Washington Post.

CNN has not independently verified the report.

The Washington Post story says that it is not known if North Korea has successfully tested the smaller design. The analysis is from the Defense Intelligence Agency and it is not clear that the assessment is shared across the intelligence community.

CNN has previously reported that US intelligence estimates Pyongyang may have the capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon to the US mainland by early next year and its missile program showed significant progress during two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Donald Trump was quick to highlight his administration's success in leading the UN Security Council to unanimously pass sanctions on North Korea.

"After many years of failure,countries are coming together to finally address the dangers posed by North Korea. We must be tough & decisive!" Trump wrote in a tweet on Tuesday morning.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/08/politi...ons/index.html

Verify intelligence, if true, take 'em out, and take 'em out now. The United States can not tolerate a nuclearized North Korea. Can not and will not.

Perhaps it's time we drop a few GBU-43/B Massive Ordance Air Blast (MOAB) bombs, also known as the Mother of all Bombs, on North Korea's nuclear testing and bullding facilities. We don't need a nuclear bomb to make North Korea heel like a lapdog!

The GBU-43/B is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in our arsenal.

Originally Posted by MW

Perhaps it's time we drop a few GBU-43/B Massive Ordance Air Blast (MOAB) bombs, also known as the Mother of all Bombs, on North Korea's nuclear testing and bullding facilities. We don't need a nuclear bomb to make North Korea heel like a lapdog!

The GBU-43/B is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in our arsenal.

Yes, we do not have to use nuclear, oh no, not at all. Just regular bomb the hell out of every place these missiles might be, blow it all up and invade, just like we did in Iraq and in 30 days, this threat is over. Just do it. So sick of this country that starves its people for the ego of playing nuclear games with the United States. And shame on China and Russia for letting them get this far as they both stand back like little weak cowards.

I think it's safe to say that we have every right now to bomb the hell out of North Korea. They just showed that they are now capable of hitting us with a nuclear weapon. I don't want to sound like a war monger, but we need to start bombing and take out all their nuclear facilities as soon as possible. And I think we should go one step further and invade North Korea so we can apprehend their leader and put him on trial asap! We definitely cannot allow this to continue any further.

North Korea threatens strike on Guam

I'm all for taking a hard stand against North Korea, including air raids.

However, we should remember that this is a frozen conflict, that there is a DMZ zone between North and South Korea for a reason. We should consider the consequences of a hot war between North and South Korea. If North Korea can launch missiles against US positions in the Pacific, then it is just as likely to launch missiles against South Korea.

If troops start pouring across the DMZ zone, Korea could start offering competition to the Middle East as a source of refugees and massive social and economic collapse. South Korea plays a role in the global economy, there could be reverberations that contribute to global instability.

That being said, the conflict between North and South Korea is something that needs to be fixed and it could be that taking military action against North Korea might be a step toward fixing it. North Korea has very little to argue for itself as having some kind of useful future in the world. But South Korea certainly does not look forward to absorbing North Korea either. This would be nothing like the reunification of Germany.

North Korean artillery and the concept of "flattening Seoul"

Apr 25, 2017 - North Korea is estimated to have (depending on the analysis and definitions) 8,600 - 12,000 artillery pieces, dug in and defended . . .

But even the smallest, most ‘surgical’ strike has dire implications.


US military intelligence advisers believe any attack on North Korea would immediately trigger a retaliatory artillery barrage — potentially killing up to one million people in the city of Seoul.


What would a war with North Korea look like?

@ North Korea threatens strike on Guam

Originally Posted by pkskyali

We should consider the consequences of a hot war between North and South Korea.

I'm thinking that nowadays with our capability to launch missiles from our ships, thousands of miles away, I would say that we could bomb the hell out of them from the sea, and then once we destroy all their military capabilities, we can send in a couple helicopters to nab their leader, the way we did with Osama Bin Laden. Or hell, even just assassinate him. With no leader, they won't know what to do next.