– Ever wondered why the world lets North Korea boast and swagger like they do?
– They starve their own people and worship their ‘great leaders’ like they are gods.   They test fire missiles right over Japan and they develop nuclear weapons right in front of us with an ‘in your face‘ attitude.
– The why has to do with the size of their standing army (700,000 within 90 miles of the South Korean border) … and with the physical location of Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
The layout of the Koreas
Check the map:
– Seoul is within the range of vast arrays of North Korean artillery and it is far too close to the border to save it if the North Koreans swarmed across en masse.
– In short, for those who oppose North Korea’s insanity, the cards are very badly dealt.  Yes, we could do a full body slam on them and take them down once and for all, but it would inevitably cost us the capital city of a major ally.  NOT a good choice.
– So, we talk to the North Koreans and try to reason with them and we hope that their semi-insane leadership will simply die of stupidity or something soon so saner minds can take over.  We dicker with Russia and China, who love to play the ‘people’s devil’s advocates‘ in such situations – so long as their bacon’s not in the fire.
– And then, China has an additional problem with North Korea that we don’t hear much about here in the west.  And that is unwanted immigration.  The North Korean / Chinese border isn’t much more effective than the U.S. / Mexico border.  And North Korea has a lot of desperate starving people who want to get to the ever so much more affluent China and the Chinese have a lot on their hand now just dealing with those coming across.  Without the cooperation and good-will of the North Korean authorities, they’d have a lot bigger problem – and they don’t need that.
– So, we cannot act against North Korea without hurting ourselves badly and yet they just cannot be allowed to go on like they are.  It’s that fatal embrace business again.
– If you doubt what I’m saying here, then just read the following article:
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North Korea today said it would use nuclear weapons in a “merciless offensive” if provoked — its latest bellicose rhetoric apparently aimed at deterring any international punishment for its recent atomic test blast.
The tensions emanating from Pyongyang are beginning to hit nascent business ties with the South: a Seoul-based fur manufacturer became the first South Korean company to announce Monday it was pulling out of an industrial complex in the North’s border town of Kaesong.
The complex, which opened in 2004, is a key symbol of rapprochement between the two Koreas but the goodwill is evaporating quickly in the wake of North Korea’s nuclear test on May 25 and subsequent missile tests.
Pyongyang raised tensions a notch by reviving its rhetoric in a commentary in the state-run Minju Joson newspaper today.
“Our nuclear deterrent will be a strong defensive means…as well as a merciless offensive means to deal a just retaliatory strike to those who touch the country’s dignity and sovereignty even a bit,” said the commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
It appeared to be the first time that North Korea referred to its nuclear arsenal as “offensive” in nature. Pyongyang has long claimed that its nuclear weapons program is a deterrent and only for self-defense against what it calls US attempts to invade it.
More… ➡
– Research thanks to Charles P.