North Korea - what happens next?

No doubt, you will all have seen the news that North Korea has successfully tested a nuclear bomb which is estimated to have been around 100 kilotons and capable of destroying an entire city.

North Korea nuclear test: Hydrogen bomb 'missile-ready' - BBC News

Following on from the firing of a missle over Japan only days ago, and all of the threats that have been bandied about over recent months by Kim Wrong-Un which are mostly, but not exclusively, aimed at the US, it seems clear that he is hell-bent on starting some sort of war?

Sanctions don't seem to be working, and the two main allys and neighbours of North Korea (China & Russia) seem to be completely impotent when it comes to reining Kim in. For long enough now, we have heard pleas for diplomacy and talks, but by the day that seems to become an increasingly remote possibility.

So, what happens now?

 

If only it were that easy - sadly, nobody would be able to get anywhere near him to take him out.

It does seem that way, but I am no so sure that even Trump will be willing to wade in as the outcome is almost definitely going to be WW3. I have been reading/thinking/wondering, and no matter what happens I cannot see any winners

Assuming Trump goes in and blows the living daylights out of all of Kim's playgrounds nuclear sites, surely that would only see Kim lash out in return? Even if significant damage were to be inflicted on North Korea's military sites, there is no way that all of them could be take out all at the same time, so he would lash out with whatever he had left whilst also telling his people 'told you so, those Yanks are crazy war-mongers' - - of course, the most likely to take the hit from any backlash would be South Korea and Japan, so would Trump give the order to go in without their backing? And what of China & Russia - even if a number of countries joined forces to go in and give NK a bit of a pasting, it seems unlikely that China & Russia would sit back and let it happen?

Alternatively, I suppose they could post a missile through Kim's letterbox and take him out, but again would that not be met with some kind of backlash from his troops? I imagine that there would be some sort of succession plan in place, to ensure that power went from one crackpot to the next?

 

Is the fuel supply external to the country though?

 

I must admit, when I read the news I find myself thinking that it is time for someone to give him a good arse-kicking, but then the realities of doing so don't bear thinking about

@Zigs - the question is, would Russia and China be willing to cut him off? They don't particularly like the West themselves?

 

He does plenty of that, but not a lot else from what I can see?