I agree that an attack by the DPRK on South Korea should and probably would be suicidal. However, metropolitan Seoul plus its immediately surrounding area is the second largest city in the world, with 20,550,000 people. New York City and its immediately surrounding area is the fourth largest with 19,750,000. Seoul is well within the range of Dear Leader Kim’s air and artillery resources; the devastation would be great.
Getting information on what the “hermit kingdom” – under an unknown degree of control by an aging Dear Leader in poor health, while preparing for a successor to assume some unknown part of the unknown degree of control now shared by his father with the military and their minions over the “little people” said to be facing starvation – would be very difficult even for the best and the brightest to do. The rulers of China probably have better information than does the United States but what they can or would do to prevent an horrific attack on Seoul and what China might do should it happen are also hard to figure out. In the latter event China might well be too occupied with preventing massive immigration from whatever was left of North Korea to do much more than that.
We seem not to have many of the best and the brightest and their guidance seems unlikely even to be considered seriously in any event.
