Cameron: UK at Korea risk

[Lee]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...st-the-UK.html

The Prime Minister said he was “very concerned” about the threat from North Korea and warned that Pyongyang now has capabilities to strike the United States and Britain.

I thought they couldn't reach the UK with their missiles @-:Undertaker:-;


Speaking to workers in Scotland, the Prime Minister said the threat from North Korea showed that Britain needs to keep the Trident nuclear deterrent.

Another thing, why would the UK be at risk surely we can stay calm until atleast the USA gets struck then they turn to us

Asked if he was concerned about North Korea the Prime Minister said: “How concerned am I about North Korea? Very concerned, it has extremely dangerous technologies in terms of nuclear and its weapons.”

Not added the full story, click the link for an interesting read on cameron scaring the nation.

Thoughts?

[dbgtz]

I think he's trying to justify his support for the trident programme. North Korea's military is barely better than Ethiopia's.

[Kardan]

For Korea to strike the UK, wouldn't they need the best missiles in the world to do that? Very unlikely that that would happen, sounds like he's just using the situation to try and convince people to support Trident.

[xxMATTGxx]

The UK gov would be concerned of course - Why wouldn't they be? Even if the missiles can't hit at us. They can hit at other targets which if they do then would cause some sort of "war". Although the country isn't at risk of being hit from North Korea but is wanting to get the support to keep the Trident programme going in case anything does happen with Korea and Iran in the future.

[-:Undertaker:-]

As far as i'm aware, North Korea don't have the capability to reach the British Isles, no - and even if it did, its nuclear arsenal is so small that anything fired at us would be shot down. For a country to have a capable nuclear strike capability, it needs better tracking/stealth capabilities than the target country (NK doesn't have) and it requires hundreds if not thousands of 'dud' missiles which would be fired at the same time otherwise that one single missile would simply be shot down and taken out. I would ask Mr. Cameron to name the rocket that NK has that can reach us.

I say this as a staunch supporter of our nuclear weapons too. Under no circumstances would I ever have them scrapped.

[GommeInc]

There's no evidence that North Korean missiles would reach the British Isles. As far as I remember reading, they can get as far as the east coast of the United States and that's about it. The actual concerns is that the missiles could hit and reach targets which are of some importance to the UK, such as overseas military personnel.

Also, why has Trident been dragged up again? What good would it do to scrap it?

[xxMATTGxx]

There's no evidence that North Korean missiles would reach the British Isles. As far as I remember reading, they can get as far as the east coast of the United States and that's about it. The actual concerns is that the missiles could hit and reach targets which are of some importance to the UK, such as overseas military personnel.

Also, why has Trident been dragged up again? What good would it do to scrap it?

I think it's due to the tories supporting the replacement for Trident while Lib Dems and I think some other party disagree with it? Not 100%

[-:Undertaker:-]

I think it's due to the tories supporting the replacement for Trident while Lib Dems and I think some other party disagree with it? Not 100%

It's been an issue for Liberal Democrats ever since Nick Clegg brought it up at the leaders debates, claiming the sum of £18bn to £30bn for a sysem that provides national security and lasts decades was dragging us to bankruptcy - the people who make such a big deal of Trident aren't fiscal conservatives as once you get to know them you'll usually find they support more EU (and more costs), love splashing out £11bn a year in foreign aid, wouldn't cut back the welfare state and are usually the spendthrift types anyway.

In other words, its a left-wing political campaign thats been warmed up from the Cold War and redressed as an economic argument.

Conservatives want to re-commission Trident.
Labour want to re-commission Trident, although i'd say most of their supporters don't.
UKIP want to re-commission the system but make it independent of the US.
Liberal Democrats want it scrapped altogether.
Green Party want it scrapped altogether.

[Sarah]

There's no evidence that North Korean missiles would reach the British Isles. As far as I remember reading, they can get as far as the east coast of the United States and that's about it. The actual concerns is that the missiles could hit and reach targets which are of some importance to the UK, such as overseas military personnel.

Also, why has Trident been dragged up again? What good would it do to scrap it?

Not even sure if they can reach the east coast of the US anymore - they've moved some missiles to N.Korea's East coast which can reach 4,000km (affecting Japan, S. Korea & the US Base on Guam).

Is this just a way of justifying trident?

[GommeInc]

Not even sure if they can reach the east coast of the US anymore - they've moved some missiles to N.Korea's East coast which can reach 4,000km (affecting Japan, S. Korea & the US Base on Guam).

Is this just a way of justifying trident?

Hmm, perhaps I read it as the East Coast of the US when it is somewhere in the mid-Pacific. Not very impressive but potentially damaging non-the-less. I think the US are distracting the world from the real problems by making themselves out to be the victims when other countries who are less prepared and much closer with a denser population should be the real concern

As our discussions hints - definitely not a reason to justify Trident with this particular circumstance. I'm on the fence with Trident purely as I do not know much about it other than it being a nuclear deterrent. I'd need details on how it works as a deterrent and what countries hate us which have potential to cause problems if we were to remove it. That said, if a country were to attack us, Europe would retaliate and have our backs, as would the US and a handful of other countries. It would cause global shame to whoever attempts it, which seems to be what's happening with North Korea at the moment