He’s not insane or suicidal, but it works for him that we think he is. He’s a blackmailer with a huge problem.
For three generations the Kims have held power by indoctrinating the people of NK with the paranoia that the Capitalist-Imperialist West (read U.S.) wants to obliterate North Korea with nukes. It’s all he’s got because his political and economic system doesn’t work and his people starve every winter. The only thing that holds his country together is the paranoia. He is an embarrassment to what is left of world Communism. The standard of living is shit over there and more and more of his people are realizing this in spite of their forced isolation and Kim’s propaganda machine. But people will do anything, suffer any abuse, if they believe they have a deadly common enemy.
Up to now, he has shot off his missiles into the Sea of Japan and received wheat and rice from China and the US (to the tune of 26B so far) to feed his people every winter for his trouble. Trump has decided that he won’t play that game anymore, and now this fuck needs to either play it straight, or show some force to save face. It’s a dangerous game of brinkmanship.
Those supposed ICBMs he paraded a few days ago in front of the world press and his own people were the containers of Chinese ICBMs. Nobody knows what was really inside them. Does he actually have ICBMs? Did he steal Chinese tech? Trump is betting that he doesn’t have them. This may be a result from his meeting with the Chinese president last week.
Trump is also pressuring China to reel in Kim by ramping down trade with him. Over 75% of NK’s trade is with China. They would starve for sure if China did this. This could result in a revolution bloodier than the Bolsheviks in 1918. We probably wouldn’t mind this, but I don’t think China wants anything like that so close to their borders.
If I were Kim and needed to flex my muscles, and had the capability, I would lob the first one between Hawaii and San Francisco, betting that the US systems and defense people are disciplined enough to not start WWIII over one missile shot —just to show he could do it and scare the shit out of the US population in the process. He believes we are soft, that we are a bunch of rich, pampered snowflakes, and as a democracy we would be slow to react. The guy is a little prick, but if he is to hold onto power, he must do something. If he doesn’t, he may have a military coup on his hands.
We’ll see how it goes.