North Korea just tested a nuke

[Madrun Badrun]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21421841

[DCharlieJP]

yawn - same story every year.

Oh wow - they're going to do some long range missile tests next? NO WAY!

[Cormacaroni]

is it wrong of me to wish that one day their bomb just explodes on the launch pad and ends this whole fucking regime

[DCharlieJP]

wow - that didn't take long. Apparently a few twitter messages popping up saying they just test fired some missiles.

They usually give it a few weeks.

I suspect the US might be having a chat with China right now. If China have ran out of tether with NK then this could get quite nasty.

[Phoenix Dark]

Sucks because there's not much we can do without causing South Korea to get blown to shit. Hopefully things go back to normal soon, I don't want to see SC2 tournaments cancelled yo

[Trent Dole]

North Korea fires random stuff off at South Korea every so often anyway don't they? Really wish that NK's alliance with China could be severed somehow so we could eliminate their current regime.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Hard to be fazed by this when it happens all the time, but I can't say I'm not super psyched to be leaving SK forever in two weeks.

[Don Flamenco]

The sad part is, they probably executed some dissidents with the bomb test while they were at it.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Sucks because there's not much we can do without causing South Korea to get blown to shit. Hopefully things go back to normal soon, I don't want to see SC2 tournaments cancelled yo

I think the bigger problem is that if the regime went away, the costs would be huge to start integrating them with the rest of the world.  Probably hundreds of billions of dollars and nobody is interested in picking up that tab.  I forgot how much it cost Germany to integrate East Germany but the cost was huge and the GDR was considered one of the better off communist countries and that was 20 years ago.  The gap between NK and SK or China is even bigger here.  They could be a source of cheap labor but there's only 20 million people there, it isn't a seemingly infinite labor source like China was in the 1970s and 1980s.

[Eel O'Brian]

China makes way too much money off the rest of the world nowadays, they'll drop NK like a hot rock if it comes down to it. I foresee a "We're tired of fucking with you assholes, you're on your own, and if you start giving us shit we'll put a boot on your throat with everyone else" scenario sometime in the future, and that'll about wrap it up for North Korea.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Sucks because there's not much we can do without causing South Korea to get blown to shit. Hopefully things go back to normal soon, I don't want to see SC2 tournaments cancelled yo

I think the bigger problem is that if the regime went away, the costs would be huge to start integrating them with the rest of the world.  Probably hundreds of billions of dollars and nobody is interested in picking up that tab.  I forgot how much it cost Germany to integrate East Germany but the cost was huge and the GDR was considered one of the better off communist countries and that was 20 years ago.  The gap between NK and SK or China is even bigger here.  They could be a source of cheap labor but there's only 20 million people there, it isn't a seemingly infinite labor source like China was in the 1970s and 1980s.

I'd wager the majority of the population is far too sick to be working.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Sucks because there's not much we can do without causing South Korea to get blown to shit. Hopefully things go back to normal soon, I don't want to see SC2 tournaments cancelled yo

I think the bigger problem is that if the regime went away, the costs would be huge to start integrating them with the rest of the world.  Probably hundreds of billions of dollars and nobody is interested in picking up that tab.  I forgot how much it cost Germany to integrate East Germany but the cost was huge and the GDR was considered one of the better off communist countries and that was 20 years ago.  The gap between NK and SK or China is even bigger here.  They could be a source of cheap labor but there's only 20 million people there, it isn't a seemingly infinite labor source like China was in the 1970s and 1980s.

I'd wager the majority of the population is far too sick to be working.

Then the question is who will pay for all of this?  This is millions of people with no real infrastructure (because it was all built to serve the Kims) to speak of.  I think most people will look to China but I think a lot of the reasons they support NK is because of the communist tie and also to serve China's occasional contrarian streak to make the west sweat a little.  With that gone, there isn't much incentive.

I'm guessing some Jewish banking cartel will scare up the cash but the post-regime management will be a nightmare.

Seems like the best solution is to continue to work with Kim Jong-un and try to cajole him into doing various things.

[Joe Molotov]

We should get them to give us their plutonium under the pretense that we're going to build a bomb for them, but actually use it to build a time machine.

[Brehvolution]

please understand

[DCharlieJP]

the last time this kicked off China moved military units to the border and warned they'd forcibly stop anyone trying to cross into China if all hell breaks loose.

Pretty sure they've left NK in no doubts that they're on their own.

[Steve Youngblood]

We should get them to give us their plutonium under the pretense that we're going to build a bomb for them, but actually use it to build a time machine.

Let's see if those bastards can do 90.

[Mandark]

China makes way too much money off the rest of the world nowadays, they'll drop NK like a hot rock if it comes down to it. I foresee a "We're tired of fucking with you assholes, you're on your own, and if you start giving us shit we'll put a boot on your throat with everyone else" scenario sometime in the future, and that'll about wrap it up for North Korea.

OTOH nobody's going to seriously threaten to embargo China or whatever, so they're not really worried about losing customers.

Also, at this point I think they're more worried about NK's eventual collapse.  Propping up a crazy and ungrateful regime that doesn't boost your influence is a bad deal, but I think they'd rather put up with these tantrums every few years than deal with a failed state/civil war/massive refugree crisis right on their own border.  That shit could get ugly, fast.

[drew]

nork bastards

[brawndolicious]

North Korea fires random stuff off at South Korea every so often anyway don't they? Really wish that NK's alliance with China could be severed somehow so we could eliminate their current regime.

If somebody invaded North Korea, NK would launch a huge salvo at Seoul which is very close to the DMZ. There's not much you can do unless NK attacks first then the decision becomes obvious.

[chronovore]

is it wrong of me to wish that one day their bomb just explodes on the launch pad and ends this whole fucking regime

I think I'd have a hard time being upset if that happened.

the last time this kicked off China moved military units to the border and warned they'd forcibly stop anyone trying to cross into China if all hell breaks loose.

Pretty sure they've left NK in no doubts that they're on their own.

Yeah, NK has apparently overplayed their hand a few too many times.

[Great Rumbler]

is it wrong of me to wish that one day their bomb just explodes on the launch pad and ends this whole fucking regime

They've been setting them off underground, so maybe the whole country will just collapse one day into a giant sinkhole.