North Korea has officially unveiled the youngest son and heir apparent of 'Dear Leader' Kim Jong-il. Yet again the impoverished dictatorship has captured the world's attention. But the US should leave the problem of dealing with Pyongyang to the North's neighbours.
North Korea poses no threat to America. Its economy is a wreck. The military equips undertrained, malnourished soldiers with ancient equipment. One American aircraft carrier has more firepower than the entire North Korean military.
What of Pyongyang's putative nuclear arsenal? The North probably hasn't miniaturised any weapons that it might have constructed. North Korea also doesn't have a missile capable of hitting America, let alone doing so accurately.
Moreover, Kim is evil, not stupid. He knows that the United States could wipe his nation off the map. He wants his virgins in this life, not the next, and wouldn't waste his time attempting to pass power to his son if he planned self-immolation in a pyre of fire.
Deterrence worked against Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong , and Kim's father, Kim Il-sung. It will work against Kim Jong-il.
The North poses a greater threat to South Korea, but even here the purported danger is exaggerated. The South is far ahead on most measures of national power. Indeed, the South felt so secure that it spent much of the past decade investing in and aiding Pyongyang. If the Seoul government isn't worried about its national security, then Americans shouldn't give it much thought.