pentagon finds nuclear strides in north korea

[sakuraberries]

WASHINGTON - A new assessment by the Pentagon’s intelligence arm has concluded for the first time, with “moderate confidence,” that North Korea has learned how to make a nuclear weapon small enough to be delivered by a ballistic missile

Comments

[underlankers]

At some point North Korea is going to bluff itself into a real war, with or without nuclear-armed missiles. Just because it can do this doesn't mean its Stalinist mini-system actually *has* done this.

[tabaqui]

I agree, and it's going to be nasty.

[cozmic_oceanz]

I wish I were the President so I could just quit being so stuck up and call Kim Jong Un.

[underlankers]

Honestly, at some point North Korea either needs to feed its people or end its own existence. Holding Seoul hostage with decades of accumulated artillery is going to get a little more stale than it already has and then at some point these bluffs turn into a shooting war. The USA and other big states have the room to avoid being called out on refusal to ever actually *use* their giant armies. North Korea does not have that room, nor do any kind of tinpot dictatorships. Brinksmanship, ultimately, requires the ability to destroy utterly and a society large enough to delude itself that 'victory' would be worthwhile.

It was bad enough that Kim Jong Il extorted survival by using a city as a hostage. At some point the world should stop allowing the House of Kim to do this. Criminality in the state should be veiled, not transparent.