What would happen if North Korea nuked South Korea?

Question

I have a history project due in a couple of days and I haven't really found much information on this topic yet.

Does anyone have any info I could use?

Answer 1

It would be war of course.

Answer 2

Try this...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/ar...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107690.h...

Answer 3

The more realistic question is what will happen when North Korea sells a nuclear weapon to a terrorist group or crazed nation?

Answer 4

It would save us the trouble of doing it ourselves.

Answer 5

We would certainly retaliate on a massive scale.  And i am sure that in todays political climate world reaction would be swift and decisive . North Korea would be committing political suicide if it pulled such a stunt.

Answer 6

Both would be uninhabitable

Answer 7

A good question that points to the wisdom of snuffing out radical nations' nuclear programs before they can be used.  South Korea falls under the American nuclear umbrella so one would think all of Korea would be glowing for the foreseeable future but northern Korea is fairly small and close to China, Russia, and Japan so any nuclear attack would also directly affect them (they're not that clean, you know).  This would make a US nuclear response unlikely.  The whole world would be in an anti-northern Korea uproar so even China would find it hard to support them.  I suspect that northern Korea would be invaded by an alliance of the USA, Russia, China, NATO, and the UN with its government destroyed and whatever is left of the southern governmental structure put in charge of a united Korea.

For a topic like this, try the RAND Organization although how much of their studies are available to the general public I am unsure of.

Answer 8

It would be World War 3.

America would nuke North Korea. China & Russia will nuke America and it's allies. And With Russia & USA still alive, they will launch the last remaining nukes.

Estimated deaths: 1,000,0000 (One Billion)

Answer 9

They can not, They are too close, and know that it can not escape the fallout of chain action that follows. It is suicidal

Answer 10

well im guessing...if one end of the country nuked the other....the side tht nuked it wud be in the s**+* too....

Answer 11

WW3.

The US would declare war on N. Korea, and China would then most likely come in on the side of N. Korea, meaning we'd basically be at war with China.

While China has nukes, I don't think they'll use them...at least not at first.  Same for the US.

As crazy as Kim is, he has to know that any sort of  preemptive attack (nuclear or otherwise) against S. Korea, Japan, much less the US would be like signing his own death warrant.  And unlike Iraq, the rest of the world (except maybe China) will stand behind just about any action the US would take in retaliation.

One side gambit I could see developing is what if China agreed to stay out of the conflict in return for the US supporting China's reclaiming of Taiwan as part of China -  even if it was by force.  That would be an awful decision to make.