The US is considering a direct strike against North Korea — here’s how it would go down

[Elderberry]

Business Insider Alex Lockie 3/4/2017

Just after North Korea carried out a missile test and a high-profile assassination of Kim Jong Un's half-brother in Malyasia, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US was considering direct military action against the Kim regime.

US President Donald Trump has apparently honed in on North Korea as his most serious external challenge, and has reportedly declared them the single greatest threat to the United States. In January, Trump tweeted that North Korean missile hitting the US, as they've often threatened, "won't happen!"

But in reality, taking out North Korea's nuclear capabilities, or decapitating the Kim regime, would pose serious risks to even the US military's best platforms.

Business Insider spoke with Stratfor's Sim Tack, a senior analyst and an expert on North Korea, to determine exactly how the US could potentially carry out a crippling strike against the Hermit Kingdom.

[Excerpted] http://www.businessinsider.com/how-us-would-strike-north-korea-2017-3

[catfish1957]

WWCD

What would the ChiComs Do?

WWIII over this blowhard punk?  I really think someone inside the regime will finish him off, once they start getting hungry too.

[Wingnut]

WWCD

What would the ChiComs Do?

WWIII over this blowhard punk?  I really think someone inside the regime will finish him off, once they start getting hungry too.

The Fat Un is just a gnat on an elephants butt. 

[Fishrrman]

Any attack on North Korea would not be conducted unless and until the United States had the acquiescence of China to the matter.

Not saying this couldn't happen.
At some point in the future, the nutcase in North Korea will have to be dealt with.

The time must arrive when the Chinese finally realize that North Korea is more of a liability for them, than an asset. But that time may be drawing near...

[verga]

Pure speculation on my part, but I see the Chi Comms putting him out of their misery before we need to.
At some point is megalomania is going to piss them off and they will squash him like a mosquito.

[The_Reader_David]

A stupid analysis.  The first target of any attack on the DPRK has to be the artillery implacements with range of Seoul, and that attack must be absolutely devastating.  Striking the nuclear and missile facilities first invites thousands of rounds of heavy ordinance, probably including shells loaded with VX, to rain down on one of the densest civilian populations in the developed world.

[catfish1957]

Pure speculation on my part, but I see the Chi Comms putting him out of their misery before we need to.
At some point is megalomania is going to piss them off and they will squash him like a mosquito.

I also had a thought that under the present environment, what is stop the Chi-Coms from annexing NK, under the guise of a humanitarian gesture?  That may sound out there but........

[LateForLunch]

I also had a thought that under the present environment, what is stop the Chi-Coms from annexing NK, under the guise of a humanitarian gesture?  That may sound out there but........

What would stop them is that they don't want it - North Korea is a worthless shithole for the most part. It is not an industrial super-engine like South Korea but is a nation plagued with antiquated infrastructure, crippling economic blight, horrible prospects for the future and a massive population that exist just barely above the level of starving for most of the year.

Every day hundreds of thousands (millions?) of North Koerans flood over China's southern border looking for work and or to sell things. The Chinese tolerate this but don't really like it at all.

They don't want North Korea any more than the Western Alliance wanted Eastern Europe after WWII.

The best thing that could happen to the people of North Korea would be for their government to merge with South Korea and allow the West to bring them into the 21st century. But that won't happen because South Korea is aligned with the West and both the Chicoms and the North Korean governments are committed enemies of the West for political and ideological reasons.