North Korea has lost its mind

[best2002]

North Korea has lost its mind. North Korea has developed ICBM technology. Now they are using it to directly target the US. If North Korea fires a missile against the US, North Korea as we know it will disappear. It will be wiped off the map. North Korean soldiers, their weapons, facilities, and the labor party will all turn to ashes. North Korea's nuclear and missile development will disrupt world peace.

This is the reason why the UN security council passed sanctions against North Korea. If North Korea does not heed to the warnings, their actions will result in dire consequences. I just wish that history does not repeat itself and have another Middle East situation in the Far East. If Kim Jong-un does not want this to happen, Kim Jong-un must learn to listen.
(http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/north-korea-defiant-over-planned-nuclear-test-114622339.html)

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. Totalitarian states thrive when they can create a great enemy to fear...

and appear to work tirelessly to protect its people from that great enemy.

Generations of Kim's have maintained total power that way. The country hasn't lost its mind. It has suffered for generations under a carefully constructed delusion so its leaders can live in immense wealth and power, with an entire nation at their beck and call.

[MinneapolisMatt]

2. In reality

I bet if the UN did a massive food drop directly on the North Korean troops, they'd say screw this and over-throw their government.

Defectors who worked in the military as soldiers have said they have hardly any food. Hell, they can't even keep the lights on.

North Korea is a paper tiger, and unfortunately the people pay the price for it. That country could completely collapse on a dime. And think of how all of those innocent North Koreans that would be in complete shock when they saw the rest of the world and how we lived. It 's going to be pretty catastrophic on many levels - physically, emotionally, psychologically. Yikes.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. North Korea's nuclear program is a rational response to a perceived and real threat.

After we invaded Iraq in 2003, we declared North Korea explicitly in the set of states that we deemed suitable for similar treatment. Like Iran, the obvious consequence of our declaration is that North Korea would develop the WMD deterrent that Iraq lacked that allowed Iraq to be toppled by the overwhelmingly superior conventional military forces of the United States.

This is not a statement of support for the odious North Korean regime, nor does it negate the reality that much if their population is starving on a regular basis while they pursue their nuclear ambitions, it is an objection to the assertion that this policy is irrational. it is not.

[bemildred]

4. Kim the third does seem ill-prepared for his job.

I don't give him long.

[DetlefK]

5. Actually, they are far from ICBM-capable technologies.

They purportedly shot a satellite with a camera into space, but it stopped sending its signal after a short time and astronomers reported, it's brightness changes cyclically, which means it's rotating and cannot point its camera down to earth all the time.

Rocket scientists were able to take a look at the first stage of the rocket, because it fell into the sea: They reported that the North Korean rocket technology had not progressed, when compared to earlier salvaged wrecks. By their estimate, they still operate on the level of the soviet rockets they got in the 1970's. (They noted that the North Koreans still hadn't figured out a particular trick with the fuel-pumps that has become a standard method nowadays in large-scale rockets.)

[Lurks Often]

6. Those in power are balancing on the edge of a knife

They have to keep the people believing we and South Korea present a threat. It is one of the things that helps them keep the support of the people. If you let the North Korean people focus on their own lives, things are going to start going bad in a hurry.