The Korean Detour.

Particularly in the US much of the news recently has been dominated by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North Korea). This coverage strikes me as being out of all proportion with the size of the issue.

The DPRK completed its first successful test of a nuclear Atom Bomb (A-bomb) back in 2006. In 2016 the DPRK completed its first successful test of the much more powerful Hydrogen Bomb (H-Bomb). With these two thresholds passed the DPRK's nuclear program is now complete. That meanss we can't now stop the DPRK becoming a nuclear armed state. It already is one.

One of the main drivers of the DPRK's rapid progress was former US President Barack Obama's support for the DPRK as a way to exert pressure on the DPRK's immediate neighbour China. There are even rumours that Obama supplied the DPRK with missile control software to make them more of a threat. Believe it or not massive basketball fan and DPRK President Kim Jong-Un is far more pro-American than pro-Chinese.

A prime example of Obama's strategy is the Terminal High Altitude Air Defence (THAAD) system that he deployed to the Republic of Korea (RoK/South Korea) right at the end of his term.

As the name suggests THAAD defends against high altitude missiles. Missiles fired from the DPRK at either the RoK or Japan would be low to medium altitude missiles which THAAD can't intercept. THAAD batteries stationed in the RoK or Japan would be equally useless against high altitude missiles fired at the US. Although they are high altitude missiles they would still pass over the RoK and Japan at low to medium altitude.

What THAAD does have though is the extremely powerful AN/TPY-2 Radar system. This has a range of 1000km (600 miles). So a THAAD system deployed in the RoK is able to monitor in real time everything going on inside China as far west as the capital Beijing.

Obviously Obama is now no longer US President and he was not replaced by Hillary Clinton. The RoK certainly helped in that. So what's really needed now is for the situation to be allowed to settle.

However on April 6th (6/4/17) US President Donald Trump met with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping in Florida, US. Following this meeting President Trump deployed the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to the coast of the RoK is a show of strength.

The problem is that on April 15th (15/4/17) the DPRK marked its national day - the Day of the Sun. The DPRK normally marks this event with shows of its military strength including weapons tests. This year they conducted a failed missile test. If that test hadn't failed or the DPRK had gone further with a H-Bomb test it would have put huge pressure on President Trump to make a further show of strength.

Having already deployed the Carl Vinson group President Trump's only real room for escalate would be a strike on the DPRK. The DPRK would likely respond with conventional artillery strikes on the RoK capital Seoul.

Such strikes on Seoul are expected to kill 100,000 civilians an hour. Every hour until they stop or until all of Seoul's 20m civilians are dead.

17:00 on 18/4/17 (UK date).