[Mariner]

“I suspect that the simplest and most obvious answer is also the correct one. “

How about: They now believe nukes make them immune to invasion and regime change.

It’s just as plausible as your reasoning.

[jjsheridan5]

How about: They now believe nukes make them immune to invasion and regime change ... It’s just as plausible as your reasoning.

It is "just as plausible" that they believe that nukes make them immune (a belief that would rival the belief in the tooth fairy, or that Megyn Kelley is a journalist), as it is to believe that they are just doing a variation of what they have done for the last 60 years? Really??? While NK is the most evil and malevolent regime to occupy the earth in probably the last century, they are not blithering idiots. They may not care about their people, the rest of the world, but the people in leadership positions in NK would know enough to know that there is no realistic way that possession of nukes would mean that an invasion of SK would result in anything other than their complete annihilation. If they were that disconnected from reality, they would have invaded by now.

No, they will not jeopardize their possession of power (and all of the alcohol, food, power, and teenage girls that come with it), chasing a fairy tale. They are posturing, and know that they are safe as long as nobody gets killed. If they were as suicidal as you seem to think they were, they wouldn't have remained behind the DMZ for as long as they have. Suicidal regimes don't tend to hold power for 60 years.