The official North Korean news agency has announced that North Korea has the Hydrogen bomb. The latest nuclear test does point to a more powerful bomb test which may or may not be an H-bomb, but it brings out that the bomb tested was much more powerful than the earlier tests. The Korean regime's action brought near -hysterical reactions from Japan, South Korea, and the USA. Kim Jong is being portrayed as a madman and Nikki Halley the American permanent representative to the United Nations said that North Korea was " begging for war." There are many in the think tank who feel that the only way to way stop development of nuclear weapons by Kim is an attack on the North.
Sober elements in the military, including general Mattis and Secretary of state Tillerson, have advocated against a strike even though Trump has said that the military option was " locked and ready."
Hysteria
This build up and hysteria against the Kim Jong regime looks unreal. A look back in history and we can see that there is little to choose between Chinese dictator Mao Tse Tung and Kim Jong-un. At that time Mao had made the development of nuclear weapons his top priority. He considered America and Japan enemies and the communist press daily attacked the USA. China had shown its bellicosity by carrying out an artillery bombardment of Quemoy and Matsu islands, which continued for many weeks.
The then-president, Lyndon Johnson did nothing as China continued its development of nuclear weapons. At that time the chiefs of staff did suggest a nuclear strike, yet the president vetoed any plan.
Mao and Kim
Mao and Kim are two sides of the same coin and to try and paint the North Korean dictator as a mad man does not do justice to reality.
How many have studied the mind of the Korean dictator? To suggest he is planning an attack on the USA is fantasy, as Kim just wants the survival of his regime.and international prestige as an equal to the USA. All his actions are a reaction to what he sees the around him. He sees American belligerence with aircraft carriers floating around him and joint exercises that simulate an attack on Pyongyang, not forgetting the B-1 bombers flying over the Korean Peninsula.
The future
Mao Tse Tung is history. He is rightly called the butcher of China as 20 million Chinese died during his rule. Kim is no better, as he got his uncle executed and his half brother assassinated. Maybe he is an ogre, but so was Mao. What next? The USA is in a bind and has to ponder the consequences of a strike on the North and it's not possible without cooperation from South Korea. Maybe things will pan out like it did in the case of China. The U.S. rhetoric about the danger from North Korea looks a little out of place, as it allowed China to develop its nuclear arsenal and just watched it happen. The cat is out of the bag and I wonder what can be done about it.
