Why North Korea's US attack plans are nutty (+video)

North Korea is continuing to rattle its weaponry as loud as it can. In its latest action, the Pyongyang regime appears to have moved a long-range missile to its east coast while threatening to hit US forces with “smaller, lighter, and diversified nuclear strike means."

“The moment of explosion is approaching fast,” added the general staff of the North Korean military, in a statement broadcast by the nation’s official media.

Most US analysts continue to downplay these threats, saying they are bluster intended at least partly for domestic North Korean consumption. Pyongyang’s missiles aren’t really capable of reaching the US – yet. North Korean forces may be preparing some kind of missile test to take place about April 15, the anniversary of the birth of founding leader Kim Il Sung.

But US forces in South Korea and Japan are well within range of medium-range North Korean rockets. In an effort to bolster regional deterrence, the US in recent days has announced it is moving more missile-defense cruisers into the Pacific while speeding up deployment of land-based missile defenses on Guam, home to many US warships and jets.

That said, aspects of North Korea’s alleged attack plans are ludicrous enough to verge on comic opera, according to some experts.

For instance, on March 29 North Korea’s state news agency released photos of current leader Kim Jong-un meeting with military aides in front of a large map outlining the paths of possible missile strikes on the US.

As military blogger David Cenciotti notes on his blog, The Aviationist, North Korean missiles would find it “extremely difficult” to reach the US along the map’s straight lines. Since Earth is a sphere, the shortest routes for intercontinental airplane and missile flights are great circle trips over the poles. On flat maps those show up as deeply bent arcs, not arrows.

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