1. The following is a 6 September 2017 Newsweek report by Greg Price under the headline "Putin: North Koreans Will 'Eat Grass' for Kim's Weapons" at http://www.msn.com/en-sg/news/world...weapons/ar-AArm9bz?li=AAaGkVj&ocid=spartandhp (Begin excerpts) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would allow his people to “eat grass” before he ever gives up his nuclear and missile defense programs, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday at a news conference in China.... Kim is willing to go so far as to starve his people in order to keep power, Putin said while also condemning the weapons tests.... (End excerpts) 2. Putin's observation does not come as a surprise as North Korea has on many occasions vowed that it will never give up its nuclear weapons. The continued accumulation of nuclear weapons by North Korea raises some interesting questions. What will North Korea do with its growing stockpile of nuclear weapons some years down the road? Will Fatboy Kim dismantle his nuclear missiles to feed his people with scrap metals if there is no more grass left for them to "graze"? Even if scrap metals can be eaten, we don't expect Fatboy Kim to dismantle his nuclear weapons to feed his people. To him, nuclear weapons are more important and precious than the lives of his people. Then we come to the final and most important question: What is the goal of North Korea in developing nuclear weapons? It is not for ensuring the survival of the North Korean regime as commonly propagated by the state media. This lame excuse is refuted by the following facts. (a) It was not nuclear weapons but Chinese intervention that rescued the North Korean communists and prevented them from completely wiped out by US forces in the 1950 Korean War. (b) It is the Chinese nuclear umbrella that ensures the continued survival of the North Korean regime. (c) It is the Chinese economic lifeline that prevents the collapse of the North Korean regime. Taking away the China factor from the equation, the nuclear-armed rogue state would be just as vulnerable and helpless as Saddam Hussein"s Iraq, Muammar Gaddafi's Libya or a lone island in the ocean. Now we come back to the question: What is the goal of North Korea in developing nuclear weapons? North Korea cannot keep on accumulating nuclear weapons for ever. There will come a point in time it has to put them into "good use". For what use and purpose? It's not hard to see the goal of North Korea's nuclear missile programme, that is, to finish the unfinished business of the 1950 Korean War to unite and rule the Korean Peninsula under the banner of the Kim Dynasty using nuclear blackmail. Once the US forces withdraw from Asia, the majority of the population in South Korea would rather opt to wave the white flag than see their country become a "sea of fire". Chinese leaders may have the illusion that they are like the ancient Greek gods on Olympus, just observing the conflicts of mankind from the heights. If they err for a second time to drag themselves into another Korean War, their folly could bring China back to the era of the Qing Dynasty. Looking back at the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese war, it won't be difficult for China to see that it will be the next target once North Korea succeeds to subdue the South with nuclear blackmail.
