The current flare-up over North Korea’s missile tests and Donald Trump’s belligerent response is frightening for many, but anyone worried that Pyongyang wants to start a war is – fortunately – mistaken. For all its fighting talk, missile tests, and mooted plans for an attack on the US’s Pacific territory of Guam, North Korea is all bluster and little bite. And while most Western audiences are well aware that an attack by Pyongyang on South Korea, Japan or the US would be suicidal, what they often miss is that North Korea wouldn’t actually be able to go to war with one of its rivals – even if it wanted to.
