It’s a big mistake to think that Kim is irrational or immature or stupid. Ruthless, yes. Irrational, no. He has made a calculation: regimes that the US doesn’t like had better protect themselves, and nukes are the best protection. He set a goal and he’s very close to reaching it. I think there is little chance that either North Korea or the US will attack the other, at least in the near future. It’s a standoff. That’s the way Mutual Assured Destruction is supposed to work. This situation is a little more complicated, because the US probably has the technical means right now to take out North Korea’s nuclear weapon facilities, or most of them, anyway, but North Korea could and almost certainly would respond with a conventional attack on South Korea that would do the job of retaliation. So we are going to have to get used to living with a nuclear North Korea. And figure out a way to get rid of all nuclear weapons.
It’s a big mistake to think that Kim is irrational or immature or stupid. Ruthless, yes. Irrational, no. He has made a calculation: regimes that the US doesn’t like had better protect themselves, and nukes are the best protection. He set a goal and he’s very close to reaching it. I think there is little chance that either North Korea or the US will attack the other, at least in the near future. It’s a standoff. That’s the way Mutual Assured Destruction is supposed to work. This situation is a little more complicated, because the US probably has the technical means right now to take out North Korea’s nuclear weapon facilities, or most of them, anyway, but North Korea could and almost certainly would respond with a conventional attack on South Korea that would do the job of retaliation. So we are going to have to get used to living with a nuclear North Korea. And figure out a way to get rid of all nuclear weapons.