North Korea and its Missiles

If North Korean (NOKO) dictator Kim jong un cared about his people, he would feed them, not go about launching expensive missiles which can do his country no good, except court the enmity of his neighbors and the world.

Kim wants his own life more than anything, but I fear if he senses his end is imminent, he may do anything, and I mean anything.  USA and even China should be careful here.  The only possibility to end Kim’s regime is a sudden coup from within. Kim knows this well.

What NOKO wants.  Attention, benefit deals, a place on the world stage for Kim.  Possibly a screen for China.

What China wants.  A distraction.  As long as NOKO is being the bad boy, outrageous, and blustering, who pays attention to what China is up to – such as building military islands in the South China Sea?  Banking sanctions?  Phooey.  Just move the money around.  China is already prepared for this.  The only peaceful recourse for the USA is to exact tariffs on imported Chinese produced goods, but this is seriously tricky in many ways, economic, political and more.

Next.  What about shooting down one of those NOKO missiles?  Some say do it to show them the power of the USA.  In reality, this is problematic, and very, very difficult.  The USA has a few successful tests, but we do not know the test conditions.  As someone said, it is something like shooting down a bullet with a bullet.  If a missile-to-missile intercept is attempted and misses, the USA would be maximally embarrassed and discredited. Hence?  You guessed it.

The intercept problem is an amalgam of science and engineering for which little history is known.  The science and mathematics may be relatively clear, but the engineering is incredibly difficult.