North Korea is the "Cartman" of world nations. Just a fat little loudmouth brat with no real capabilities. More of a joke than anything. They wont do anything because they know if they do we will obliterate them and no one will really care.
It's hard to believe he has any supporters in his own country. They have seen and experienced his sadistic rule first hand. 1000's starve to death, people disappear or are tortured in prisons. Why he hasn't been overthrown is beyond me. One sick man and his sister, it wouldn't take much to rid the country of them. Lock him up and throw away the key.
This post was edited by Sunshine at January 8, 2017 8:28 AM MST
I don't HAVE an answer... That's why I'm gathering intelligence.. What I KNOW is, BEFORE he had nukes, WE had options.. Now that he HAS nukes, I have NO IDEA what our options are, if any.
I have spent some time Google-Earthing that country. Not much going on. A lot of woodland, not much modern agriculture. Only that main city looks fairly modern. Very little traffic on the streets, and lots of little villages (prisons?) with some plowed fields around them.
That stuff's not important. That they think WE'RE their enemy is important.. That they have NUKES is more important than that. That they're building an ICBM that can reach MY front porch is the most important of all.
I think we can shoot down the few ICBMs that they can launch and drop 'em in the ocean. Then we can bomb them off the map with conventionals. Perhaps China would join in the fun since we are a valued trade partner.
Kim is virtually out of control but at present most nations are adopting Sir Humphrey Appleby's four stage strategy.
Stage 1: We say nothing is going to happen. Stage 2: We say say something may be going to happen but we should do nothing about it. Stage 3: Maybe we should do something but there's nothing we can do. Stage 4: Maybe there's something we could have done but it's too late now.
I think the world is currently at Stage 3 and counting.\
And here's Sir Humphrey himself:
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at January 8, 2017 1:39 PM MST
It's not a great option, but it's about the least-worst option we have available. The autocratic regime of North Korea will eventually collapse. Both the Soviet Union and Communist China, with their vastly greater material wealth, military might, and large educated populations were eventually forced to liberalize and rejoin the community of nations. There's no reason to believe North Korea will be able to create an enduring Communist Paradise where others failed.
Benedict Arnold 