The Democratic Republic of Korea is an enigma ! Technically it is still at war with the rest of Korea and the two states are divided by a heavily fortified truce line that runs across the Korean peninsula - and at times shots are fired. A few years ago a North Korean submarine torpedoed a South Koreran naval vessel in a show of hostility.
Despite that word " Democratic " in this state's title North Korea has been a family dynasty with the population little more than serfs. The current president is a fat young man who has never travelled outside his country and who heads one of the biggest and best equipped armies in the world. Thousands have died of starvation when famines have struck and building bigger and better armed forces have always taken precedence in the national budget.
Pictures from the International space station are compelling. At night the cities of South Korea, China, Japan and the rest of the world blaze with light. Apart from the North Korean capital - Pyongyang - the rest of the country is in darkness. The economy is a shambles, subjected to International sanctions because of it's threats to launch a nuclear war against Japan and America.
Since the dawn of the nuclear age, the original five nuclear powers have seen their monopoly breached by India and Pakistan. Israel refuses to comment but is suspected to have a nuclear capability and various other countries could be near breakout. North Korea has conducted several open nuclear test firings and is clearly a new member of the nuclear club.
Kim Jong-un's regime has the protection of China. The Communist state fears a unified Korea would bring American influence close to it's border and prefers this shambolic neighbour as no threat to it's citizens. In fact, North Koreans trying to escape to South Korea cross it's border and evade it's police as their main conduit to freedom. Those caught are returned to North Korea - for execution !
What is disturbing to many people is the steady progress North Korea is making in building it's arms race. Initially, it's nuclear weapons were primitive by today's standards and consisted of Hiroshima type bombs. It recently tested what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb, but world experts doubt that claim, but building such a weapon is clearly their intention.
They are also spending time and effort in upgrading their delivery systems. Under the guise of launching a satellite they achieved what would otherwise be an ICBM with the range to threaten the cities of the United States, and most recently they demonstrated a missile launch from a submarine. The North Korean nuclear threat must now be taken seriously.
The problem is how to contain North Korea before the advancement of it's weapons systems goes further ? Negotiations towards a settlement are out of the question. Past " deals " where the west provided oil and food in exchange for promises were blatantly broken and there are steady threats from Pyongyang to reduce western cities to cinders because of perceived injustices.
The decisions in North Korea rest entirely in the hands of it's president and he regularly struts his personal power by shuffling the pack of surrounding generals. Demotion and execution are his means of striking fear into subordinates, and yet his own knowledge of the rest of the world is probably no better than high school level.
It seems that the day is fast approaching when a tyrant has sole control of a country armed with nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them. There is no doubt that in a nuclear exchange North Korea would be wiped off the map, but at what cost to the rest of the world ?
That is a question that may disturb the sleep of many other world leaders !
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