Nuclear threat from North Korea

[The Grand Nudger]

He may not be as empowered as we imagine to change course.  Had he set himself in ideological opposition to a generation or two of people indoctrinated into the current mindset......what would his chances of success have been?

[brewer]

I ask the US to give me the ones they don't want any more and I get, "No!  You can't have our nukes!  We have the CIA running a background check on you."

You might want to start a little smaller. Like asking for a JATO rocket to propel your car bomb.

[KUSA]

That dude is so into himself he makes all the college students get haircuts almost like him. Here are the choices.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

mh nailed it, I think. It is important to remember that - as much as Kim would like it to - North Korea does NOT exist in a vacuum. China isn't going to allow Kim to launch nukes at anyone, at any time, for any reason.

Boru

[abaris]

Except isolating himself through threatening nukes does not get him out of the hole he is in, and the hole is getting deeper all the time.

He's in a hole, but it's his hole. And no, it's not getting any deeper. Owning nukes, how pathetic they may seem, earns you some slack. You, as many other live under the illusion that he is a lunatic. Truth is, he's learned his lesson. A lesson, Saddam never had the chance to learn. Having nukes and threatening to use them, makes you and undesirable target for regime change. The only thing he has to fear is regime change from within. And he takes care of that as we speak.

The Kims always lived the high life. They don't care about their people, but they aren't lunatics either. Cementing their rule is the only thing they care about.

[Cecelia]

Oh? Is it that time again? It reminds me of when a child holds their breath and threatens to pass out.

[Anomalocaris]

No, his hole is getting deeper.  The depth of his hole is measured by the gap in standard of living between North Korea and both China and South Korea.   Ultimately that is the most persistent and insidious source of instability for the regime.

In the early days of North Korea, North Korea actually enjoyed higher standard of living then both China and South Korea.  There was actually a grain of truth to regime propaganda that South Korea was a calitalist hell under US imperial domination where the people were worse off than in North Korea, and Kim regime certainly delivered better standard of living to its people than had been managed by Its ideological fellows in China.  In late 1960s and early 1970s, South Korea surpassed North Korea and begin to take off.  But news of that condition can be camouflaged through the lenses of ongoing hostility on the 38th parallel.  In the 1980-1990s, China surpassed North Korea and began to take off.  It became harder for the regime to disguise its own inadequacy.  

The regime responded by renouncing traditional Marxist communism, and began to emphasize a new ideology based on xenophobic autarchy and worship of the Kim regime, partly to avoid comparison with its northern neighbor.

But North Korea has not been able to close itself off from China completely, especially because the amount of refugee traffic flowing out of North Korea to escape famine and its dependency on trade with China.

Despite efforts of the regime, the awareness of north korea's inadaqucy in providing for its people next to each and everyone of its neighbors is penetrating increasingly deeply through North Korea.  

This is the hole that is getting ever deeper.

When Chinese communist regime found itself In the same predictment, it was smart enough to realize what it needed to do to dig out. It didn't dig Itself out by threatening the US with its nuclear weapons. Kim didn't even have to Do anything new to dig out. He only needed to look north. He didn't. He is not a smart player, just a power mad one who isn't really all that clear about how much power he really has in the real grand scheme of things.

[abaris]

No, his hole is getting deeper.  The depth of his hole is measured by the gap in standard of living between North Korea and both China and South Korea.   Ultimately that is the most persistent and insidious source of instability for the regime.

From within - maybe. But that's taken care of for now. You obviously have no idea how ignorant the people is in North Korea. The only ones having the power and (maybe) the desire to overthrown him, would be the inner circle and the military. And that has been cleaned up. The people doesn't know shit from Shinola, as everyone having travelled there will tell you. They cry at the Kim's graves and they have no idea how the outside world is looking like.

As for outside intervention, show me the fool going against a single nuke that is aimed at Seoul - a major industrial and economical hub, with the possibility to destroy world economy if flattened.

[Anomalocaris]

It is not taken care of. Its immediate expression may be temporarily suppressed. But the underlying motive forces of instability - the already huge and still increasing difference in standard of living between North Korea and its neighbors, and the expanding awareness of that fact in the population, is strengthening all the time.

[vorlon13]

Regarding the 'sanity' of the North Korean rulers, I note:



this 7000 room hotel has been built with 5 revolving restaurants on top.

And please try to comprehend this is in a country that does not allow visitors, and has no food.