The Greatest Threat Posed By North Korea

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter recently visited South Korea for discussions on wartime control of the alliances forces. Though the shift in control of South Korea’s military has been scheduled for some time the plan has been often delayed over capabilities found to be lacking such as intelligence gathering and counter-artillery. Each of these are reconcilable; however North Korea is unlikely to change its behavior and will continue to develop new capabilities regardless of the state’s poverty and isolation.

My last two articles discussing North Korea have covered political stability in the face of continued defections and the criminal economy that sustains Pyongyang. This time we’ll look at a threat posed by the North that is often glossed over compared to the nuclear, cyber, or covert efforts employed by Pyongyang to harass its neighbor to the South – a collapse of the regime.

Available information suggests that North Korea is preparing a new missile test, and though some disagree with the interpretation of this information it is something that the North must continue to do if it is to ensure that its nuclear threat remains credible. North Korea likely has a small quantityof nuclear warheads, but they have had difficulty with the delivery systems. Though North Korea continues to develop its nuclear capabilities, it is the continued actions such as the sinking of the South Korean destroyer Cheonan that are just as pressing.

Read complete report here.