US was close to A-Bombing N. Korea.

[zzzz]

Released classified CIA documents show that the US was on the brink to using nukes against the North Korea, from the beginning of the Korean war to just this year, indicating that nuclear strikes are still possible.

"Air Force bombers flew nuclear rehearsal runs over North Korea's capital during the war. The U.S. military services later vied for the lead role in any "atomic delivery" over North Korea. In the late 1960s, nuclear-armed U.S. warplanes stood by in South Korea on 15-minute alert to strike the north.
...
In a report on global nuclear threats, analysts at Washington's Stimson Center identify six overt warnings by high-ranking American officials since 1976 that the U.S. would resort to nuclear weapons against North Korea if warranted. But U.S. threats go back more than a half-century, to long before North Korea split its first atom."

US often weighed NKorea `nuke option' - Yahoo! News

The bombers that flew rehearsal runs during the war dropped dummy bombs. Wonder what the Koreans thought of that.

Makes one wonder about other time we have been ready to unleash the power of the atom against other countries. How close were nuclear strikes to being used in Afghanistan against the caves in the east?

 

[Baruch Menachem]

It is kind of hard to know how seriously this was taken at the time. It sounds like people blowing smoke about what the ultimate options were.

Sometimes folks make suggestions, and their ultimate destination is the same as Terral's letters to folks the the VA atty General.

 

[Mad Scientist]

We've had nukes since 1945, and therefore we've made plans to use them ever since. Is anyone really surprised by this?

Not me.

The bombers that flew rehearsal runs during the war dropped dummy bombs. Wonder what the Koreans thought of that.

This was also done in WWII. The Germans made numerous wooden planes and sat them out on flight lines to trick the Americans and British into wasting their ammo on them. The Allies noted this and just dropped wooden bombs on them!

 

[Charles_Main]

At the start of the Norths Invasion I am sure we can VERY close to using them. After all we quickly lost ground and found ourselves defending a tiny perimeter around pusan.

Since then I doubt any serious thought has been given to it, other than it is our Deterrent to Northern Invasion of the South.