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What are some weapons from Korea?

Are the nuclear weapons in North Korea actually directed towards China to put her in a dilemma?

  • Could it be a threat from North Korea to keep China on its side? From the way I see it, China would benefit more working with South Korea, if North Korea didn't have nuclear weapons.

  • Answer:

    North Korea doesn't need to aim its nukes at China to pose a threat. The nukes are pointed elsewhere, because North Korea already threatens China with a population bomb. If the DPRK's government falls, then it's almost certain that millions of North Koreans will flee the area in search of places with jobs and money. The two bordering states are South Korea - which is a difficult border to cross, what with all the minefields - and China, whose border with North Korea is the Yalu River. The Yalu River is neither particularly deep nor particularly wide and what really keeps the North Koreans from crossing it now is the North Korean government. The part of China that borders North Korea is Manchuria. Manchuria used to be the industrial heartland of China, but that was decades ago and now the area is really China's Rustbelt. The jobs and wealth in China aren't to be found in Manchuria. Add millions of impoverished North Korean refugees to an already depressed region and you've got a great recipe for civil unrest - and a mostly stable region of the country starts seeing the sort of activity the Chinese government is coming down hard on in western China. It's not something the Chinese government wants, and it's something the Chinese government may not really be able to afford. This is why China has been pouring aid into North Korea for decades, even before North Korea had nuclear weapons, and why China will continue to prop up the North Korean government.

Harold Kingsberg at Quora Visit the source

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The point of a nation like the DPRK possessing nuclear weapons is that it changes the dynamic with everyone, China included. In the case of China, the nuclear weapons are a pretty strong statement of DPRK's ability to defend itself without being essentially a satellite or protectorate of China. This helps when extracting aid and concessions, I'm sure. But it's not so much a direct millitary threat, nor is China likely to become best buddies with South Korea even without the DPRK buffer.

Anderson Moorer

It's doubtful that North Korea would threaten its only ally with nuclear weapons as this would leave it completely isolated. There's also the fact that the North Korean military is primarily stationed along  its border with South Korea (The DMZ) and its coasts, leaving its borders with China and Russia largely guarded by territorial forces. A North Korean nuclear attack in China would be followed with Chinese conventional military response into North Korea , which, due to the current alignment of its forces could do nothing to prevent. It would literally be a suicide mission for the Pyonyang government if it did attack in this manner. does have the best answer for this question though. There are an estimated 2 million ethnic Koreans already living in Manchuria. If the nation collapses, there could another 2-5 million more streaming into the area and that would cause massive civil unrest. The Soviet Korean population was essentially expelled in the years leading to the Korean War. That's what keeps China involved in North Korea.

Jon Mixon

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