Above clip from Daily Beast, which asks "How scared should we be of North Korea" and discusses whether they can put a nuclear weapon on a missile.
I did business with North Korea in the early 80s and visited there about half a dozen times. The thing we concluded after doing a number of deals with them, and then having them renege, was that they all -- all of those we met -- lie. And the reason they all lie, with a straight face, we concluded, is that they are lied to every day by their leadership -- for more senior government and trade officials, the ones we met, do know what's going on in the world, and that the 'juche' idea of Kim Il Sung is not the wonder they are told it it. So, since they're lied to every day, they see nothing amiss in lying to the foreigner, the farang, they're dealing with.
Not sure if this adds anything to the debate -- what to do about bellicosity of the young Kim. But maybe just a little: that they always lie. And so probably do too about their nuclear capacity.
Sitting here in Hong Kong, we're pretty close to the potential Ground Zero.
But there are many who are thinking something like "bring it on". Only that would solve the issue. For if the North bombed, say, Guam, the retaliation would be severe and devastating. And would likely not -- unlike in Iraq or Afghanistan -- involve the citizenry. The US and South Korea know full well where the military installations are. That's where they'd hit.
We never "loathed" our North Korean business partners, let alone "fall in loathe" with them. But, goodness me, they certainly don't know their arse from their elbow when it comes to what's best for the country....
