Since we featured Kim Jong-un applauding a nuclear explosion on our last cover, he has been increasingly bold. In an act of fearsome provocation, he fired missiles that over-flew the Japanese islands. He also tested a nuclear detonation, claiming that it was a hydrogen bomb. Whether it was an actual hydrogen bomb or not, the detonation was calculated to be nearly ten times more powerful than anything North Korea had previously tested. It created an earthquake that registered 6.3 according to the USGS.
Had it not been for the disastrous hurricane Harvey, and the startling images from the streets and neighborhoods of Houston, this would have been front and center in the news, along with the constant outpouring of disgust of media pundits with everything to do with President Trump.
As we go to press, reports claim that North Korea has moved a long-range ICBM to a launch pad, and is prepared to demonstrate the full range of its capability. Many fear that the continental United States is already within range of North Korea’s ICBMs, with the only remaining question being whether they also have nuclear weapons small enough to be delivered atop a missile.
Rhetoric from the President, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State have been all over the map, from the “fire and fury” warning uttered by President Trump, to milder talk of diplomacy. Of all the experts to have commented on the situation, not one believes that a war can be conducted against North Korea without the prospect of massive loss of life to South Koreans and Japanese that are within easy range of conventional rockets and mortars dug in and concealed by the thousands over a period of decades.
Most seem to think that China is the only power with the clout to reign in the little dictator, but there has been no progress on that front. Now there is talk that the United States may have no choice but to threaten the trade relationship with China, which opens up another whole can of worms with implications yet to be considered.
It is an untenable standoff without a solution that doesn’t involve a death toll of massive proportions, and the only North Korean with a weight problem just keeps upping the ante.
