[dblarons]

I fail to understand why North Korea is seen as a serious threat. The country can't fire a missile much further than Japan, failed miserably when attempting to launch a microwave-oven satellite, and has no technical abilities that are not given to them by China. According to South Korean friends, North Korea is seen as a joke even by its closest neighbor who it has vowed to destroy. Contrast this with Iran, who clearly has the brilliant minds necessary to weaponize nuclear technology, and pairs those minds with funding and equipment. Their neighbor, Israel, is clearly nervous (as they should be), and the country has demonstrated that it can fire long range missiles.

And yet, it seems that every time I turn on the news I hear some horror story about how NK has done another stupid crazy thing, all the while Iran is moving closer and closer to nuclear weapons.

[fit2rule]

Like Israel actually, North Korea runs one of the most competent smuggling groups in the world. They smuggle drugs into Australia and Japan regularly, and possess all the resources needed to infiltrate borders of most of their neighbours with ease. In spite of what we think about what a 'traditional nuclear strike' would/should look like, the fact is that a two-man team carrying a portable nuclear device is quite a valid threat to a lot of modern western democracies, and this is quite well understood by most governments. (In fact, its the basis of Israels' own investment in nuclear armament: the David option ..)

So, don't just consider the ideal that nuclear weapons have to be delivered by missile. They can also be delivered by donkey.

[dblarons]

Wow, that's an option I hadn't even considered due to North Korea's closely watched borders. I guess it's hard to imagine a terrorist style nuclear strike from NK.

[fit2rule]

You have to understand that there is more to NK than just what we hear on the news. They're at the center of a lot of illegal activity in the Asian/Pacific region, and have a state-sponsored investment in criminal infrastructure (drugs, smuggling, kidnapping) that they use to keep themselves propped up.