The situation in the Korean peninsula is tense. Much of this is due to the actions of the US President Donald Trump. He has marshaled a huge armada consisting of an aircraft carrier group and is threatening to bomb North Korea to submission. Why has he not done it so far? The US went into action against Saddam and Gaddafi with much less provocation. At that time they started a war that resulted in the deths of Saddam and Gaddafi. The United States attacked Libya and Iraq only because these countries had no nuclear weapons and in a way were defenseless.
They could not strike back. This lesson has dawned on North Korea and they feel that the USA attacks only those Nations that do not have any power of reacting back and also have no nuclear deterrent. North Korea, come what may, has decided that it will have nuclear weapons as well as a delivery system. The USA has so far not attacked the North because of this factor. It knows that the result will be mass destruction of South Korea and in particular, the city of Seoul which is just 15 to 20 miles from the border.
Failure of American strategy
To get a chance to strike at North Korea Donald Trump is currying favor with China. The North Korean obsession has made him forget the Chinese occupation of the Spratly islands and militarization of the South China Sea.
He has also forgotten that China was a manipulator of currency. Despite this, he has nothing much to show for his effort. There is no way that Donald can get North Korea to roll back their nuclear program. Donald Trump would have by now realized that attacking a nuclear power is a different kettle of fish than attacking a defenseless nation like Syria.
I am afraid the United States would never have the attacked Syria if that country had one or two nuclear devices. North Korea is right in thinking that its security lies in nuclear weapons and I do not think they are going to give them up easily. Even if China puts pressure the North Koreans will not buckle. There is also a limit up to which China can apply pressure as it would not like to destabilize the North Korean regime and get South Korea on its doorstep.
Security in going nuclear for North
The North Korean regime is also aware that the United States could try and engineer an assassination of the Korean leader Kim Jong. This is not in the realm of fantasy, as the CIA has carried out many assassinations of political leaders in the last six decades. Sherlock Holmes the famous detective used to say to his friend Dr. Watson that to 'understand the criminal one must get inside his brain.' To understand North Korea one has to similarly get inside their brain. It's plain and simple that North Korea feels that if it has a nuclear deterrent the Americans will not attack them. This is the harsh truth facing American policy.
