[hibeejim21]

Dangerous times ahead! We've been in this position before, but not with two arrogant, egocentric, certifiable loudmouths taking centre stage. Donald Trump, for all his many faults, is a mere pussycat compared to Kim Jong-un, but he passionately hates people who stand up against him.

Neither will want to be seen to back down, so will probably do something stupid to underline their "macho image". We can only hope fear of retaliation will temper their actions.

Spot on Ritchie.

Lots of wars have started all too often in the past which weren't in any parties best interests. Logic and foreign policy aren't always bedfellows. The current political decision making process in lots of states involved in this issue doesn't seem to me to be overflowing with an abundance of cool calm logical thinking. Or in trumps case any kind of meaningful thought.

I'm not convinced trump could find north korea on a map,in fact I'm not convinced he could find the USA on a map.

Dangerous times indeed.

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China is going to have to step up to the plate sooner or later where North Korea is concerned!!  They are the ones keeping NKs economy somewhat afloat through oil sales and banking services, but they do not want to push it too much currently because if NK collapses completely then they are the ones with a complete border crisis on their hands!!  

If NK was to perform any sort of military strike, either conventional or nuclear then I would imagine there will be a queue of countries ready, willing and able to wipe them off the face of the earth!!  They can only really have a conventional war against either China or South Korea, both of which they would lose badly.  A nuclear strike could in theory be aimed at a number of places, but that would surely result in their destruction by whoever they target, whether it be directly or through allies.  Imagine if they fired a nuke at Japan, all of the western world would have to retaliate with force wouldn't they??

North korea is worth very little to china economically compared to say japan,australia or the USA,they are quite happy to have it as it is. Particularly when the nightmare scenario for them is a united korea on their own doorstep,and if that became a possibility then you would see china "step up to the plate".