1) China could solve this problem very quickly if it really wanted to. Perhaps the threat of Japan going nuclear will shift the cost/benefit balance enough to give China sufficient incentive to act.

On the other hand, the U.S. has few options given the size of the NK army relative to the SK army, plus the proximity of Seoul to the DMZ.

2) There do seem to be early signs that the NK nuclear test was a failure.

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002832.html

This should become more evident in the next few days as more data becomes available for expert analysis.

CT --

We still continue to afford His Illness with the elbow room to try -- and we kowtow to his every effort. We allow this pissant to occupy our calendar and absorb our tax money in one way and another.

If he comes up with a legitimate nuclear threat, his instability could prompt him to use it. If he doesn't and he's all bark, it would still be incumbent upon us to expend seven and eight digit precautionary figures.

On the other hand, taking permanent decisive action would eliminate the need to have to further consider the matter.

Seth,

Il Jong has missiles and artillery trained on Seoul. If we strike him now he will destroy the capital of S. Korea and devastate its economy, not the mention risk the lives of millions at stake there. This guy is crazy enough to do it if he believes that we will remove him from power. He wants regime preservation.

We have to move carefully. I don't see a quick solution scenario to this, but we must gather more information and weigh everything before acting.

Atheling2 --

Time is not a luxury we have when a maniac is racing to build a nuclear arsenal. Once he has nukes and delivery systems in place it will be too late -- Seoul will be the least of our worries.

We have long had the Intelligence, the weapons, the technology and the SpecOps assets to address his threat to Seoul, and that threat is pretty much an excuse, at this point, for not committing to dealing with Kim once and for all.

Seth wrote:

Time is not a luxury we have when a maniac is racing to build a nuclear arsenal.

Fortunately it isn't your call Seth.

No bombs away quite yet.

Arthur --

It figures that you would rather wait until a couple of nukes have wiped out a few million people, then take action, rather than take preemptive action so all those people get to live.

The value the left holds for human life can be gauged by the number of fetuses your lot has managed to murder in the past couple of decades.

That's a typical liberal approach -- bury your head in the sand until disaster has struck, then find a way to blame it on the Republicans who wanted to take action to prevent it to begin with.

You're right, fortunately it isn't my call -- at least fortunately for Kim Jong Illness.

Seth wrote:

You're right, fortunately it isn't my call -- at least fortunately for Kim Jong Illness

Let's see what happens as the Chinese get involved. Lots more diplomacy and talking before you get to blow everyone up Seth.

Arthur --

It is not a question of "blowing everyone up".

It is more a question of preventing everyone from being blown up.

I, personally, don't see the Chinese having much diplomatic success with Kim unless they assassinate the son of a bitch and destroy all his nuclear venues.

C'mon Seth. Don't go all sensitive on us.

I, personally, don't see the Chinese having much diplomatic success with Kim unless they assassinate the son of a bitch and destroy all his nuclear venues.

Time will tell Seth. But sanctions and arm twisting will get us through this. Not violence.

In the meantime N. Korea has no delivery system for the nukes they haven't got anyway.

You're probably safe to enjoy your dinner this evening.

And how would you know what they have and don't have, Arthur? Are you Secret Squirrel in your professional life?

And being a 1 meal a day kind of guy, I always enjoy dinner. Tonight's was excellent and since I wasn't having Chinese food and I don't eat kimchee, I didn't think of Kimchee Dung Illness nor of Beijing even briefly.