Ka-Boom

“Let’s begin 2016…with the thrilling explosion of our first hydrogen bomb, so that the whole world will look up to our socialist, nuclear-armed republic and the great Workers’ Party of Korea!”

Kim Jong-un

North Koreans may be happy, but the rest of the world certainly is not. Predictably, the US, Japan, China, Australia and South Korea seethed with fury at the explosive North Koreans. China scowled and muttered.

This hypocrisy and hysteria made world equity markets, already reeling from new Chinese financial blundering, crazy as uninformed investors ran for the lifeboats. The UN shook its tiny fist at North Korea, ignoring that the US, Britain, France, Russia and China are all in violation of the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

There was also an important element of inter-Korean politics at play here. The North claims it is the only true, authentic Korea. South Korea, spits Pyongyang, is an American colony, garrisoned by US troops, and run by puppets.  South Korea’s armed forces are still commanded in wartime by a US four-start general. North Korea’s nuclear progress stands in sharp contrast to the South’s, which was shut down by Washington.

In spite of its blood-curdling threats against the US, North Korea is far from producing long-range missiles that can deliver nuclear warheads to North America. The real target for North Korea’s missiles would be US bases in South Korea, Okinawa, Japan and Guam. But most likely only in the event of a full-scale US-led assault on the North.

The US military does not like to fight opponents who have real armies. A US invasion of the north was estimated to produce upwards of 200,000 American military casualties. The most likely cause of US and South Korean military intervention in North Korea would be the collapse or overthrow of the Kim dynasty. China might sweep into North Korea to prevent it from falling under western and Japanese control.

Japan is quietly content to see Korea remain divided. A united Korea would be a determined geopolitical and economic competitor with Japan. Koreans remains deeply hostile to Japan. South Korea sees its highest threat as “unexpected reunification:” a collapse of North Korea that sends millions of starving refugees south, forcing Seoul to feed and rebuild the north.

The biggest concern in the US is that North Korean nuclear and missile technology will be sold to Israel’s Arab and Iranian foes. Pro-Israel neocons sabotaged a nuclear reduction deal with Pyongyang in 1994.  Besides, the US likes keeping powerful, nuclear-armed forces in South Korea and around its highly strategic region.

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un may be zany and provocative, but he shows no desire to court nuclear suicide by attacking the US. So happy upcoming birthday, Marshall Kim. Revealing a supposed submarine-launched missile was his last year’s birthday surprise. Please try to calm down the West.

The post Ka-Boom appeared first on LewRockwell.