North Korea Nukes Could Reach US Mainland: Is Nuclear Weapons Threat Underestimated?

Nort Korea nukes could potentially reach the US mainland according to a US Admiral. Although such inter-continental ballistic missiles are said to be untested, this writer wonders if we already have enough information to be concerned about North Korea’s nuclear war threats.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, North Korea declared a state of war against South Korea last week. North Korea’s official statement also promised nuclear war against the United States.

As of now, experts are saying that any long range missile capabilities for nuclear weapons are untested. Experts initially claimed that North Korea could only hit Japan or Gaum at the furthest. Experts believe that even if North Korea possesses the rocket technology to reach the United States they would likely be inaccurate. Experts are also dismissing all of these statements by North Korea as empty “bellicose rhetoric.”

Remember, these are the same type of experts who greatly underestimated the military power of the Saddam Hussein regime before Operation Desert Storm. These are the same experts who then greatly overestimated the threat of weapons of mass destruction not too many years later, since Iraq’s WMD programs were found to be in the middle stages of development, not quite ready for production. More recently, some of these experts underestimated the terrorist threat in Benghazi and lowered the number of diplomatic security agents in Benghazi from 34 to just three. We all know how that turned out.

What these experts are saying are just educated guesses, with the wild card being the newly installed young leader of North Norea, Kim Jong-Un. No one can really predict how Kim will behave. Experts even thought several generals previously close to Kim would help him maintain power, but then these North Korean generals went missing. So what do we know about North Korea for certain?

In December, North Korean scientists launched a satellite into space on the back of a long-range rocket. Another rocket safely transported a monkey safely into space and back. In February, for the third time North Korea tested an underground nuclear device with an estimated power of between six to seven kilotons, about half the output of the Hiroshima nuclear weapon. Recently, Admiral James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, leaked out the fact that the Department of Defense believes North Korea has one type of missile capable of reaching the US mainland.

Regardless of nuclear weapons, even if just a shooting war starts with North Korea Seoul would be bombarded with artillery and missiles. North Korea has at least 4,000 tanks and a very large, albeit poorly trained, infantry of over one million soldiers. An initial assault by North Korea would face about 28,500 U.S. troops and about 600,000 troops in the South Korean armed forces. All war game simulations show the United States and South Korea winning, but even in a limited conventional battle the death toll would be at “World War I levels of casualties.”

Do you think the North Korea nukes should be taken seriously?