North Korea Issues Hollow Threats Against U.S.
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A U.S. Geological Survey map showing an earthquake in North Korea on Feb. 12, indicating a nuclear bomb detonated underground.
CREDIT: USGS. |
The United Nations Security Council voted to pass strict sanctions against North Korea Thursday (March 7), sparking a furious response from the Korean government, which threatened to launch a nuclear attack against the United States.
Fox News reports that an unidentified spokesperson for Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry said that North Korea will exercise its right to a “preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors.”
Army Gen. Kang Pyo Yong also had some choice words for the U.S., announcing to a crowd of tens of thousands in Pyongyang that North Korea is ready to use long-range nuclear-armed missiles against the U.S.
“Intercontinental ballistic missiles and various other missiles, which have already set their striking targets, are now armed with lighter, smaller and diversified nuclear warheads and are placed on a standby status,” Kang said. “When we shell (the missiles), Washington, which is the stronghold of evils...will be engulfed in a sea of fire.”
White House spokesperson, Jay Carney, held a briefing in which he announced that the United States is fully capable of defending itself against a North Korean missile attack.
But the brazenness of Kang’s threat brings to light a few important questions in the ongoing saga of the nuclear program in North Korea. For instance, does the country even have a nuclear bomb to launch? And if they do possess nuclear capabilities, how would they get a bomb all the way to the Washington?
Despite Kang’s fiery rhetoric, experts think it’s unlikely that North Korea possesses a bombpowerful enough to destroy an entire city. And even if they did, it’s unclear how they would transport such a weapon.
Hans Kristensen, director of nuclear information at the Federation of American Scientists, told TechNewsDaily that the North Koreans don’t seem to have a nuclear weapon capable of being mounted on a missile.
Furthermore, experts say it is doubtful that the country has the means of transporting nuclear warheads via intercontinental ballistic missiles. And, according to Kristensen, the development of such a massive missile could hardly go unnoticed by the international community.
