Forbes:
Friday, North Korea detonated a nuclear device, claiming it to be a “warhead.” The warhead, Pyongyang said, would pave the way for “a variety of smaller, lighter, and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power.”
The boast seemed nothing out of the ordinary for bombastic ruler Kim Jong Un, but the test, the North’s fifth, is generating far more concern in Washington and other capitals than previous ones.
Why the angst? There are many reasons, but the most important is that the Kimist regime is setting off nuclear bombs and firing ballistic missiles at accelerated paces. The current Kim, since coming to power in December 2011, has launched 37 such missiles, more than twice his father, his predecessor. During young Kim’s reign, there have been three nuclear detonations, two of them this year.
The regime is on a tear, and it is a real threat. It now has two launchers, the Taepodong-2 and the KN-08/KN-14, that can put a dent into many of the lower 48 states. Most analysts do not think the North Koreans today can mate a nuclear warhead to these missiles, but in any event they will certainly be able to do that in, at most, three years.
So far, China’s economy has not been affected by the geopolitical turmoil caused by its neighbor and only military ally. Yet all the elements are in place for that to change.
Up to now, the United States has looked to China as an ally on North Korea. The working assumption of the administration of George W. Bush, for instance, was that the Chinese, who helped arm regime-founder Kim Il Sung, would strip away weapons from his son and successor, Kim Jong Il. To make that happen, Bush had Beijing sponsor the Six-Party talks, which began in 2003. The concept was that the Chinese, who were the world’s arch proliferators of nukes, would grow into their role as “responsible stakeholders.”…