The US and North Korea have had strong ideological differences for a long time. They fought against each other in the Korean War many years ago. The Asian country is much less populated than the US and far smaller. There is no point of comparison between the country ruled by Kim Jong-un and the former Soviet Union. The USSR was massive and powerful; thus, it was a strong rival for the United States. North Korea will never be able to destroy America, but it can cause some damage. What would happen if the Communist country launches a nuclear attack against America?
Imagine that it fires a nuclear weapon against Guam, and it fails. It is possible that it fails because its technology is backward. Anyway, it would have a domino effect.
The economy
The financial markets are the nervous system of the economy, they receive all the information, and process it. They also have another feature; they have an exponential behavior. If the North Korean government attacks Guam and fails, the stocks will fall about 25 percent, if not more. This would destroy a huge amount of wealth, the great corporations would lose billions, and people would rush to sell their stocks. Be sure that by the third day, the total fall could be more than 50 percent. The price of houses would also have a massive collapse.
Global chaos
The financial system of the whole planet is linked; thus, the effects would be felt everywhere. In a country like South Korea, the fall could be more than 70 percent in three days. In China, it would be very painful too, what would happen with the Chinese exporters if the US economy falls drastically? Besides, the political pressure on the Chinese would be another factor too.
Side with the US or side with the Jurassic Park of Communism? Should China support a small country that is no market for its huge economy? The price of gold would benefit will all this turbulence, some commodities could be among the winners.
America would react
The US would have to launch an attack; it could be with conventional weapons, Nuclear Weapons, or both.
If America uses just conventional weapons, then, countries like China and Russia would side with the US government. If there is a nuclear answer, it's hard to forecast the behavior of the Russians and the Chinese. If they side with North Korea, this would be the beginning of World War III. It would have no benefit at all for Beijing and Moscow. Anyway, this would be the end of the Communist monarchy in North Korea. Kim Jong-un will have to think twice if he tries to intimidate the US.
