Analysis: How far will North Korea go?

Being on the west coast, I'm petrified that Kim will do something horrible here. He seems brazen and violent. I heard somewhere that his missiles are powerful but not well-aimed... one sent to LA, for example, could ultimately end up in South America. (That's BAD aim!)

From what I've read, North Korea may be best equipped to fight a major power. What about their leadership? We keep reading about Kim; how about the chain-of-command? Are they all yes people? Are some of them thinkers or well qualified in their own right?

Intuitively, I doubt that dissent is encouraged, Mapleleaf. My guess is that it would not be a survival characteristic.

North Korea is unable to withstand even conventional war against USA, put apart the nuclear one. It merely does not have enough resources, its economy is depleted by half a century of Asian versian of Stalinism (that is more "Stalinist" than its Soviet prototype). I have no evidences supporting this assumption of mine, but it seems to me that these provocations might have been financed through secret channels by the Saddam's regime in order to withdraw American attention form Iraq.

From what i've read, the North Korean leaders cannot be led anywhere they don't want to go.

I'll bet the people of South Korea are less confident than you Steissd

But they don't have any oil.