North Korea ‘crisis’ is surely more bluster than threat

A nuclear strike would be devastating but Pyongyang’s leaders know that to fire such a weapon at the US or its allies would constitute certain national suicide, writes John Mecklin

Although it has involved disturbing events — ballistic missile launches, nuclear weapons tests, military exercises, inane bombast — the North Korean “crisis” of recent months is largely an invented one.

A year ago, the probability that North Korea would fire a nuclear-tipped missile at the US was essentially zero; the North did not have the capability to make such an attack. Pyongyang has since made technological advances.