North Korea: Bark or Bite?

The political issues between the United States, North Korea, and our allies are such a big deal these days, that most people can feel the rising tensions, even if they don’t keep up with the news. The fact of the matter is that North Korea has been fighting to become a dominant world power since Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, Kim il Sung took power in 1948.

During the arms race, the power of a nation was judged by their nuclear arsenals. Now of days, North Korea can’t stop living in the Cold War, and even though most countries in the UN support the abolition of nuclear weapons, Kim Jong Un still believes he is achieving something by shooting off missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Well, Nobody is impressed by the power to kill millions of people, except maybe North Korea’s citizens, and they don’t even know what a burden they are to the rest of the world.

The most recent of issues that North Korea has caused is their threat to bomb the US territory, Guam, and the mid-ranged missile that they shot over Japan early in the morning on September the 5th. Presidents Trump’s response to the threat against Guam was stern and threatening, stating to unleash “Fire and Fury” against North Korea. Taking action against the North’s actions is obviously a necessity, but “Fire and Fury” is not the right way to approach the threat. Kim Jong Un already demonstrated that he is crazy enough to launch missiles, and a US strike against North Korea would bring us dangerously close to one of those bombs hitting an actively civilized location.

Kim Jong Un and president Trump may both be threatening to take military action, but it would be inconceivable if either of them would even consider an unprovoked nuclear attack. North Korea will not fire nuclear weapons, with the intent to kill, unless they are attacked first. And even if they did attack the U.S. with ICBMS, there is no proof that North Korea has developed the capabilities of launching a missile past the west coast. The world response would also be so severe, that North Korea would be completely wiped off the map.

With a nuclear strike against North Korea being the worst option to take care of them, another option would be to completely shut out the country, and call for a complete Embargo of North Korea. Their economy is already completely terrible, so if they would rather build Hydrogen bombs, then feed their people, the easiest thing to do would be to completely cut all contact with them, and let the eventual downfall of their government ensue. If North Korea’s main trading partners, including China, India, and Pakistan, could be convinced to suppress the amount of imports, and exports going through Korea’s border,  The North’s economy would only become even worse, and the eventual downfall of it’s government could be a reality. After all of the threats that have been thrown around, Kim Jong Un’s bark is worse than his bite, and as long as the United States doesn’t do something stupid, like launch an unprovoked attack against North Korea, then nuclear retaliation  should not a problem the United States needs to worry about.