North Korea has one-upped President Donald Trump\u2019s infamous diet Coke button\u2014the one he uses to ensure he gets his reported 12 cans a day\u2014by providing Kim Jong Un with a similar button that can launch nukes at anywhere in the U. S. on his desk.<\/b>
\nNorth Korea has one-upped President Donald Trump\u2019s infamous diet Coke button \u2014the one he uses to ensure he gets his reported 12 cans a day \u2014by providing Kim Jong Un with a similar button that can launch nukes at anywhere in the U. S. on his desk.
At least, that\u2019s if you take his word for it.
\u201cThe United States can never fight a war against me and our state,\u201d Kim told North Koreans in a nationally televised New Year\u2019s Eve event, per the Washington Post . \u201cIt should properly know that the whole territory of the U. S. is within the range of our nuclear strike and a nuclear button is always on the desk of my office, and this is just a reality, not a threat.\u201d
Just as the White House has advised the public to take our own president seriously but not literally, this hypothetical button probably doesn\u2019t exist. For one, while most nuclear-armed countries do maintain a fairly direct line of command for their weapons, a button is a simple mechanical switch incapable of conveying complicated things like where the nukes should be launched at. Instead, there\u2019s usually some process involving military officials and launch codes, and the button is just a metaphor. (Two, Kim seems to spend much of his time partying, traveling, and out looking at things, not at his desk.)
However, the button is unimportant compared to the meat of Kim\u2019s claims: That the North Korean government is past the development phase of its nuclear program and is prepared to mass-produce missiles.
\u201cThis year, we should focus on mass-producing nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles for operational deployment,\u201d Kim added. \u201cThese weapons will be used only if our security is threatened.\u201d
While North Korea is confirmed to have nuclear weapons as well as medium-range ballistic missiles, it\u2019s not clear whether their long-range missiles yet possess the sophisticated guidance and re-entry systems necessary to carry out a successful intercontinental strike\u2014though it\u2019s likely only a matter of time. The U. S. military and its allies have only limited options to avert such an attack after a missile has been launched, even if the target is considerably closer to North Korea than the lower 48 states, like Japan, Hawaii or bases in Guam .
As the Post noted, though, Kim seemed to relax somewhat in his rhetoric after touting his much-expanded nuclear capabilities, mentioning the possibility of sending a North Korean delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeong\u00adchang, South Korea. While an actual improvement in relations between the North and South Korean governments is unlikely, that could be taken as a small hint that now that he has them, Kim is more interested in the weapons\u2019 deterrent effect rather than actually starting World War III. Fingers crossed.
[ Washington Post]<\/p>\n

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