al dente

What's with the missile over Japan??

Any of you brains available for comment? I am hoping we all ignore him until he goes away (I understand this may not be realpolitik).

Miss Ann Thrope

I guess it's like Trump. If he's out of the headlines for a couple of days he'll do anything he needs to in order to get attention....

scrubbedexpat141

We literally need a James Bond. That's all. He's been killing these Dr Evil type villains for donkeys. Send him in, shag some birds, cruise in an Aston and pop the crazy dude before armageddon.

Maybe I should volunteer. I've got most of the requirements ticked...

TheShed

Do you want to borrow my Jag? It’s a cheap Aston but he won’t know the difference and can’t even check on the Interweb.

al dente

Wonderwoman could lend a hand too (snigger)

scrubbedexpat141

It'll definitely do.
I need a bit of time to get a new tux made though.

Should probably send some pictures of your outfit first....

Bahtatboy

When South Korea gets worried, that's when we should. So we don't need to yet.

The Japanese govt, on the other hand, sent out text messages to all its citizens warning of a missile attack. There's got to be some way to monetise this...

Miss Ann Thrope

Er, he didn't do so well when he surfed into North Korea on those ludicrous CGI waves. Mind you it was Pierce Brosnan after all - AND he had to endure a Madonna cameo....

scrubbedexpat141

I can surf, so that's another tick in the box of Bond, Scamp Bond.

Autonomy

I think they may be getting a least a little jittery of not full on worried...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...lear-test-site

Bahtatboy

Yes. The missile over Japan + a 6.3 magnitude explosion-induced earthquake does seem to have changed the mood a bit. Up until this weekend I sensed only dismissal, mild disappointment and sangfroid; albeit from a small sample, attitudes are changing.

Eeyore

NK isn't suicidal. On the contrary, it's doing what it's doing in order to ensure its survival.

China is reluctant to curb what they're doing because they're terrified of complete regime collapse and millions of refugees flooding over the border.

Similarly, South Korea absolutely does not want to be saddled with the primary logistical/financial/cultural responsibility for reunification if the DPRK collapses.

It's one of the most brutal examples of Realpolitik there is: as bizarre as it sounds, the status quo actually suits all the key participants (South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, the US) better than any plausible alternative. The nuclear factor is a potential wild card, but it doesn't really change the underlying dynamics - or rather, it just makes it even more likely that Seoul will be utterly obliterated if anyone takes aggressive military action against NK. So the stalemate continues.

And this is of course what the Kim regime wants, and why it's survived decades longer than any of the totalitarian states run by Kim Il Sung's chums. The Kim regime - any Kim - isn't remotely "insane" or "irrational", merely ruthlessly focused on ensuring its survival by maintaining a situation whereby its enemies cannot do anything that won't have devastating consequences outside North Korea.

Millhouse

Spot on. The only major factor being though is that for this strategy to work you always have to keep raising the bar, and the bar now is somewhere near the top.

scrubbedexpat141

Do you?

Can't you just continue to run a secretive, totalitarian state without threatening the rest of the world? I mean, poking the US via Guam is surely not intelligent or really needed?

The Yanks et al are probably going to leave you be. There's no benefit to upsetting the apple cart, there's no reason to fire missiles over Japan or test 'hydrogen bombs' if the region and world don't give a shit about you anyway....surely?

Millhouse

Don't forget that he needs to keep the fear/respect into the people, no better way than manage an external threat. The threat also funds him due to his nutcase actions. Same story has played out over and over again.