The Forces that Shape the Military Options in Korea
By Anthony H. Cordesman
April 21, 2017
It is all too easy to talk about military options in general terms. The devil, however, lies in the details—both in terms of the practical ability of a given side's capability to execute given options and in terms of the ability to predict how the other side(s) will react and how the resulting conflict will escalate or be terminated.
This is particularly true in the case of North Korea. Its leader maintains power and control by constantly exaggerating the threats his country faces, provoking outside states like the United States and South Korea, and leveraging China's need for his country to be a strategic buffer on its northern border, against China's desire for stability and economic development. He gains from carefully exploiting what other states tend to see as extremism, overreaction, and "irrational action."
https://www.csis.org/analysis/forces-shape-military-options-korea?utm_source=Press&utm_campaign=0a5e25ca25-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_04_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7623d157be-0a5e25ca25-137099621
