Is it too late to prevent North Korea from being a persistent if not permanent WMD threat ?

[titan]

N Korea warns of ‘all-out’ nuclear response to US ‘aggression’​

North Korea has promised to ‘resolutely react’ to US threat of nuclear weapons use with its own nuclear capabilities.

19 Nov 2022

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promised to use nuclear weapons to counter threats from the United States hours after test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICMB), the latest escalation as the UN Security Council prepares to convene an emergency session on Pyongyang’s actions.
The United Nations Security Council, at the behest of Japan, South Korea and the US will gather on Monday to discuss North Korea’s latest missile launch.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022...of-all-out-nuclear-response-to-us-provocation

What should the U.N. do?
Does NATO have a role to play here?
China? North Korea would already have collapsed without being sustained by China, all the way back to the U.S. war in Korea. Does the West have a multi-benefit opportunity with China? Help shut down North Korea, and help draw China closer to the Western socio-political sphere?

 

[Borg Refinery]

It would probably be best done through South Korea - wasn't the last SK president more keen on mending relations with China and NK. What happened there? I never kept track.

 

[sear]

Ockham's Razor
The simplest explanation is, China helps sustain North Korea because China doesn't want a prosperous Western style democracy thriving directly on China's border.
Why China has allowed NK to develop both nukes, and missile delivery systems I can't fathom. It's a blunder that threatens all, near as I can tell.

Perhaps t #1 alludes to a preemptive strike against NK of some kind. I gather it's too late for that. Too bad. Israel has had some success with it, in Iraq for example.

 

[titan]

Nuclear weapons: Why South Koreans want the bomb​

by Jean Mackenzie
South Korea previously flirted with the idea of developing nuclear weapons in the 1970s, when it ran a secret programme. But when the United States found out, it issued an ultimatum: Seoul could carry on, or have the US defend it, with the full force of its existing nuclear arsenal. It picked US support, and to this day tens of thousands of US troops remain stationed on the Korean peninsula.

Nuclear weapons: Why South Koreans want the bomb

Support for building nuclear weapons is growing in the country as tensions with the North rise.

www.bbc.com

sear, before the nuclear age it was called "balance of power". Now it's called "balance of terror". The idea of nuclear weapons is not to use them, but to threaten to retaliate with them. North Korea already has nuclear weapons. The U.S. on principle is opposed to nuclear proliferation. In the above article Choi Ji-young said:

"It is irrational to think another country should protect us. This is our problem and our responsibility," said Choi Ji-young, a forum member and member of South Korea's ruling People Power Party.

Should South Korea have nuclear weapons?
What should the U.S. do? Obstruct South Korean self-defense? How much longer should the U.S. maintain nearly 30,000 troops near the DMZ?

What are the alternatives?
Instead of forcing South Korea to develop their own nuclear weapons from scratch, why should the U.S. not lease safely designed and built, modern weapons? South Korea could save money. The U.S. could make money, and retain some degree of control.

 

[sear]

t #4
I'd at least like to know what Biden says.
I was part of the U.S. complement in West Germany during the Cold War. The Cold War is over. The Germany's have unified. But the U.S. is still there, albeit for a more generalized reason.
The U.S. is still in Japan, and the U.S. has recently returned to the Philippines.

I'm not sure nuclearizing South Korea is a panacea. But it may worth considering.

 

[sear]

Everyday North Koreans are attacking police officers in the streets across the country​

Fri, June 23, 2023 at 12:43 PM EDT

A North Korean policewoman blows her whistle as she directs traffic in front of a propaganda poster in the North Korean capital Pyongyang. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS (Photo by PETER PARKS / AFP) (Photo by PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images)
In Hyesan, North Korea, a police officer stopped a motorist in 2022. When the driver was unable to show the officer his official documents, the officer demanded a bribe of gasoline and cash. In a country as repressive as North Korea, it would normally be a very bad situation for the driver. Instead, it turned out to be a debacle for the cop.

After detaining the man for two hours, the motorist drove over the police motorcycle, and then proceeded to beat the cop down until he lay unconscious and bleeding on the ground. It’s just one in a string of incidents revealed by documents leaked to Radio Free Asia. North Korea is getting sick of tyranny and they aren’t afraid to show it to the state police apparatus.

Believe it or not, many North Koreans know just how hard their lives are compared to the rest of the world. Many have smuggled in outside cell phones to speak to family members who managed to escape abroad, receive foreign currency or have managed to join an underground black market economy. These days, these three methods are the best ways to survive inside the country.

That is, of course, if they aren’t a member of the ruling elite. Life is very different for the ruling class of North Koreans, who enjoy the best food rations, best pay, and the best housing in Pyongyang, which also has the best infrastructure. Elsewhere in the country, the availability of everyday items, including food, is hit-or-miss at best.

Living in the North Korean system, as it was set up by the government is a surefire route to a slow, hungry death. Every North Korean needs some kind of side hustle to get by, even if it’s as simple as growing their own corn. For North Korea’s police officers, that hustle is accepting bribes.

Everyday North Koreans are attacking police officers in the streets across the country

After decades of taking from the populace, the only thing North Korean police officers are getting is beaten down in the streets.

news.yahoo.com

There are "grass roots", popular political movements in the U.S. too. But we've had means to coordinate them, including newspapers reporting on government rather than speaking for government, and underlying Constitutional law.

What accounts for this coordinated backlash in North Korea (NK)?

a) How are they coordinating it?
b) Why now?

part 1 of 2

ref:

Separate but equal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[sear]

part 2 of 2

NK is already a nuclear power. It's now working frantically to develop the weapons delivery systems to threaten other nations including South Korea and Western Europe.
The North Korean leadership knows its own legitimacy / existence is precarious. Thus the disproportionate devotion to national "defense" including the DMZ.

Most plausible scenarios for NK years or decades into the future include high-risk nuclear sabre rattling. Might a revolt inside North Korea alter that trajectory?