But what makes Guam such a tempting target for attack as far as the North Korean military is concerned, is the fact that the Andersen Air Force Base (AFB) is situated there, which is assigned to the Pacific Air Forces Eleventh Air Force, housing at various times B-2s or B-52 aircraft, some of which could be used in an attack on its country.

 

North Korea is said to be in possession of about 1,000 ballistic missiles, though the majority of these weapons are shorter-range, only able to hit targets within the range of between 30 miles to 300 miles, but with its missile program constantly evolving, recent launches have proved that its latest intercontinental ballistic missile the Hwasong-14, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can reach at least 6,500 miles, putting major cities throughout the USA within its range. 

 

From what was shown from the latest launch, there was a successful stage separation during the missile’s journey, its control and guidance systems seemed to work perfectly, which allows a smooth atmospheric re-entry under harsh conditions, likely to be experienced on a long-range flight. But, there is still some dispute among experts on how well the re-entry vehicle had performed, with it appearing to have failed, which would cause the missile’s warhead to burn up, and debate continues on whether this could be rectified in a short period of time.

 

But as far as diplomacy is concerned, the stick and carrot method using dialogue and incentives to bring Kim Jong Un to the negotiating table obviously hasn’t worked, and nor have crippling sanctions. But what should make the world open its eyes to the severity of this crisis, it needs to be noted that the North Koreans are believed to have in their possession up to 60 nuclear warheads, and whatever problems they might have with the performance of their missiles, it is minor to any problems they have had to solve in the past, and no doubt the re-entry problem will be resolved very quickly.

 

So, when you have a despot like Kim Jong Un, who has built up a personality cult around himself, with his people looking upon him as some form of living god, nobody can estimate how his mind works, especially when it comes to being backed into a corner. So, with threats of annihilation being thrown at him from Donald Trump, especially when the U.S. President went on to explain in tweets, “My first order as President was to renovate and modernize the nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than before,” and then pointing to the strength of the U.S., he emphasized, “Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!” 

 

So, while the world holds its breath, Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump are playing out a game of verbal chicken, in the full knowledge that this dangerous vocal exchange could eventually lead to full-scale conflict. Should things get too heated, the two protagonists could quite easily harangue themselves into a conflict, and with the North Koreans feeling that an attack from the U.S. is likely to be imminent, with their eye on past events in the Middle East, they could go for a pre-emptive strike.

 

Because what has to be remembered, with Kim Jong Un fearing the loss of his precious dynasty, he would be reflecting on how Western forces had effected regime change in both Iraq and Libya, with the attackers using lies and the increasing momentum for political change in the area to bring down Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi. So, should rhetoric reach a perilous pitch, Kim Jong Un would more likely than not take the drastic action of striking first, and as a result, go out in a blaze of glory.