North Korea may be one of the few small countries that the United States does not want to provoke, especially since North Korea has nuclear weapons, and North Korea has occupied an important position in the world political landscape.
North Korea is also well aware of this, so the country has always pursued a Songun policy to ensure that North Korea's military technology can be prioritized.
【North Korean nuclear missile】
How did the DPRK develop into a country that the United States did not dare to act rashly? If there was a conflict between the United States and the DPRK, would the DPRK really dare to use nuclear weapons?
Nuclear weapons are a guarantee of peace
The United States has been clamoring for the denuclearization of North Korea for many years, but it has always only stopped at rhetoric and never dared to actually take military action, because North Korea already has an asymmetrical confrontation capability.
After decades of development, the level of nuclear missile strikes of the DPRK has increased to a considerable extent.
[North Korean Nuclear Weapons]
Taking the Hwasong-14 intercontinental missile as an example, North Korean officials claim that the range of this missile has reached 10,000 kilometers, and the latest Hwasong-17 has a range of 17,000 kilometers, which can theoretically cover the entire territory of the United States.
Some military experts have pointed out that there may be some water in North Korea's figures, because even China has only recently raised its mobile-launched land-based nuclear missiles to this level.
But even if North Korea is not able to attack the U.S. mainland at the moment, the deterrent effect is actually the same, because North Korea can still target two of America's East Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, and with the current level of North Korean missiles, these two countries can be wiped off the face of the earth.
【North Korean nuclear missile】
Even if the United States is the world's largest military power, it is impossible for it to gamble with its important allies, let alone afford to bear the responsibility of a global nuclear war, so it is impossible for the United States to really launch a strike on the DPRK, no matter how sharp the contradictions in US-DPRK relations are.
Nuclear weapons have become the biggest card of North Korea's national security, and the number of ballistic missiles in North Korea may have exceeded 1,000 at present, and it has a comparable number of nuclear warheads.
【North Korean nuclear missile】
If the United States and North Korea really fall into the flames of war, it is not easy to say whether the war will be won or lost in the end.
First of all, it is certain that if then the entire Asia-Pacific military bases and US allies will be hit by North Korean nuclear weapons.
Even if the scale of a nuclear war were limited to the United States and North Korea, the casualties would be in the millions.
[North Korean Nuclear Weapons]
Moreover, considering that North Korea's population base is not small, and the reserve force of 26 million people can reach 7 million to 8 million, this is by no means an opponent that ordinary countries and ordinary war resolvers can defeat.
The United States has never defeated an opponent of this size since World War II, and the United States has the largest military strength in the world, mainly a conventional military force, and if it falls into a nuclear war, it will inevitably be the result of losing both.
Multilateral disagreement
If the United States uses force against North Korea, the first person to disagree will be South Korea, for the simple reason that South Korea is too close to North Korea, and once a war starts, the entire territory of South Korea will be devastated in an instant.
【North Korean nuclear missile】
Even without a nuclear strike, the KPA's deployment of more than 17,000 long-range artillery pieces alone would be enough for South Koreans to drink, and the range of these weapons would be enough to cover Seoul and the surrounding area.
Don't look at South Korea, it is also a country in East Asia with the highest military strength, but in the face of North Korea, South Korea does not even have basic self-defense capabilities, and the South Korean army is still a vassal of the US military in the final analysis, and South Korea's security comes largely from the protection of the United States.
Therefore, whenever there is a problem in US-DPRK relations, it is the South Koreans who are the most nervous, because no matter whether it is a big fight or a small fight, it is South Korea that will really suffer losses.
【Han Jun】
In addition to South Korea, the United States will also meet with strong opposition from China when it uses force against North Korea, and the relationship between China and North Korea is very special.
After the end of the Korean War, China and the DPRK signed a relevant agreement, stipulating in writing that no matter which country of China and the DPRK is attacked militarily by a third party, the other country has the obligation to provide military assistance and assist the allies in the war.
In other words, once the United States uses force against North Korea, the Second War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea will break out immediately.
Chairman Mao said very early on that China and the DPRK have a bitter relationship, and the friendship between the two countries cannot be betrayed.
In the event of a large-scale war in North Korea, millions of war refugees will pour into China from the more than 1,000-kilometer border between China and North Korea, which will bring a huge social burden to China.
【Korean War Refugees】
Moreover, the security of North Korea is equally important to China, North Korea is the barrier of Northeast China, and China will never allow countries with bad intentions towards China to directly deploy their troops in North Korea to deter China, and China has already prevented a similar incident in the Korean War.
For Russia, North Korea's strategic position is also very high, and North Korea is also one of the manifestations of Russia's influence in Northeast Asia.
If the United States launches a war against North Korea, it will also threaten Russia, so China, Russia, and South Korea will try to stop the United States by all means, and it is basically impossible for the United States to take actual military action.
【DPRK-Russia Relations】
Moreover, North Korea's own approach to conflict has made it increasingly likely that the conflict between the United States and North Korea would escalate into a nuclear conflict, and the North Korean government is more interested in using intimidation to deter external threats.
Therefore, once the United States and North Korea start fighting, there is a great probability that it will evolve into a nuclear war, and North Korea will take a nuclear strike as its first choice.
In 2017, Kim Jong-un made it clear that North Korea's nuclear strategy is not only defensive, but can also take the initiative to launch an attack if necessary to carry out an effective nuclear strike against the United States.
[Kim Jong-un inspects nuclear missile]
The DPRK Government is certainly determined to launch a nuclear strike, and the actual results will depend entirely on the level of the DPRK's nuclear weapons, but does the United States dare to gamble on the security of its homeland? The answer is no.
Sources:
[1] My lieutenant general said that if the United States and South Korea attack North Korea from the Yellow Sea, it will be like suicide, and China will never allow it.Sina [Citation date: 2019-07-13]