now.
People in each country would like this drama to be over, because it feels
dangerous and intractable. The leaders in each country would love to deliver
that feeling to us.

Kim Jong-un has an incredibly strong hand. He has nuclear missiles at his
disposal, with apparently rapid progress toward increasing their range. He
knows that other nations are fearful of those weapons, and that they won't do
anything that risks putting them on the receiving end of even one.

We've had one bold historic headline after another now: Kim Jong-un has
telegraphed a desire to denuclearize and to end the Korean war. He has raised
the hopes of South Koreans and of Americans just enough that they each want a
deal now, and their leaders now _need_ to deliver.

But the price has not yet been negotiated.

What will bethe US presence is no longer there, it becomes a lot harder for the US to
re-enter in times of conflict because now NK can threaten us with nuclear
weapons. Most American will not trade Seattle or SF for South Korea.

Unification of Korea is pretty much a non-negotiatable goal for the North
Korean regime. It's been their goal since the start and the reason why the
leading families in NK support the Kim family.

~~~
flycaliguy
I would be careful to underestimate the North's ability to fight a war. You
don't need cutting edge technology with the sort of topography they've got.
Look at a topographic map of North Korea. It's mountain ranges and valleys.
Dense veg, steep drops, spots for tunnels, rapid currents. You could put an
army from the 50s in there and have a hell of