North Korea is threatening to use nukes on US territories!

China is the only one that is left on North Korea's side and North Korea is going to risk losing that relationship!

After all that it becomes a free for all ...

North Korea can only stay in power if it can keep its people in line. The best way to unite people is to give them a common enemy i.e the U.S. So they threaten the US so the people of North Korea will think that they are under threat of invasion.

However it is all a mirage as North Korea can't do anything unless they get nukes. If North Korea has nukes than they can hit the US with devastating results. This will make them an actual threat. That's why the US has been trying to stop them from getting nukes since Bill Clinton. Also North Korea threatened to nuke Guam a US territory in the Pacific Ocean.

As long as the US has a level headed President that doesn't go overboard just because of a bit of provocation I think everyone's safe.

...

Oh.

NK makes threats against South Korea, Japan and the US on a regular basis. NK has been trying to advance their long range missile technology and various weapons of mass destruction. That's what all of those weapon tests are for. It's a given why they've been a focus of the states for a while.

Isn't the fact that I actually had to check if he really said that quite worrisome?

Quick overview (as I understand it)...

Russia and the US were allies in the second world war. At the end, when it was obvious who was going to win, there was a bit of in-fighting as to who was going to define the future of the world. This led to some "interesting" military decisions that weren't 100% targeted at fighting the Germans/Japanese.

This is what the conspiracy nuts in Japan believe was the reason behind the US showing off their new "nuclear" weapons at Hiroshima given that Japan had "obviously lost" already. Note that Japan didn't surrender and an invasion would probably have been even more costly in term of lives, of course.

Roughly speaking Russia went with Communism and US went with Capitalism. And it was *really* important which side you were on (not entirely sure why myself).

This escalated into the Korean War, where communist forces from the north - funded by Commies - tried to take over Korea. The US and others fought to liberate South Korea as a capitalist country. Then lots of money was pumped into South Korea, making it home to Samsung and one of the most advanced countries in the area. For completely altruistic reasons, not just to be a PR poster child for Capitalism.

Other places have similar stories (Iran, Syria, Vietnam) but North Korea stands out as a screwed up nut job. Basically it ended up with a group of military people who really enjoy the high-life and don't give a damn about the suffering of the North Korean people. Plus some little kid call Kim-Jung-Un who doesn't really do anything himself.

FWIW - China believes that NK will collapse by itself if you trade with them. Ironically this is what I think about Cuba (really that tiny island and the US can't just buy it out?). South Korea just want to be unified into a single country peacefully.

I'm not a fan of just sitting back and watching, but Iraq/ISIS shows that intervention isn't as easy as "I have a better army" (although Afghanistan's Taliban and Libya's Ghedaffi are arguably better off gone). Plus think about it: you may hate Trump or Hillary, but would you like the rest of the world to come and "liberate the US"?

It's weird that so much of modern international politics has roots in USSR vs USA. That's just why people should just be excellent to each other...

Both Donald Trump and Kim Jung Un are bad diplomates and are easily triggered. Since the US and North Korea have never been good friends, it was inevitable that Trump and Kim Jung Un would get into an argument.

North Korea just wants to show to Trump how strong they are, so they're giving a demonstration of their power.

North Korea is basically an attention seeking wannabe bully that pretends it's got something it hasn't or at least to the capabilities it says it has. It sends out threats but will never do anything because while it may act crazy it knows full well that's The US and Europe have 100 fold the military might that NK has and will turn the country into dust within minutes if it tryed launch Nukes at other countries.

Their basically practicing the MAD doctrine. They know they don't have the military capacity to really resist the USA, but when they have nukes, attacking them without causing damage to the US two biggest allies (South Korea and Japan) in the region is going to be impossible.

North Korea isn't just going to attack anyone. Un might not be the smartest one, many of his advisors have an uncanny sense of pragmatism.