Despite the existing nuclear arsenal, North Korea is a much more peaceful country than the United States. At the same time, the DPRK government is well aware that it will not last long without its missiles.
This is stated in the material of the American publication Foreign Policy.
As noted in the media, the escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula in the coming months could well develop into a new full-fledged conflict. If such a scenario is realized, then the American armed forces, for whose presence South Korea pays hundreds of millions of dollars, is unlikely to help Seoul.
“While North Korea possessed only conventional weapons, the restraining presence of the United States was trustworthy,” the publication said. – Even the usual US intervention in any Korean conflict will become problematic. If Washington threatened Pyongyang with defeat, the DPRK leadership would have no special reason not to threaten nuclear attacks on its American homeland. The threat of burning American cities will almost certainly be enough to force Washington to retreat from the peninsula. ”
At the same time, the publication notes that the North Korean nuclear arsenal is not so large that the Pentagon in its report “Nuclear Deterrence: The American Fund and the Pillar for National Defense” placed the DPRK on a par with Russia and China. According to Foreign Policy, Pyongyang has approximately 20-30 warheads and a resource for manufacturing another 12 units per year.
“This arsenal is a potentially powerful deterrent, but far from a serious offensive weapon against another nuclear power,” writes FP. “So why have the United States frantically tried for years to block the plans of the North, backed by threats and even strategies to attack the DPRK in order to destroy its nuclear potential?” In fact, US politicians planned to strike at the country now in order to maintain the ability of the USA to strike at it later. ”
This is also the reason why Washington will not be able to force Pyongyang to abandon nuclear weapons. The North Korean leadership has seen enough examples of how the US “reformatted unseemly governments almost at will.” Muammar Gaddafi on personal sad experience has shown what it means to abandon the nuclear program, the publication emphasizes, and the destructive policy of Donald Trump only strengthens confidence in the necessity of the nuclear factor.