How can SK respond when they know Barry is kind of at the helm in Washington and too busy golfing, shopping, bowing to other heads of state to deal with any real crisis? They know he won’t be there to back them up should they need it, the same is true for other US allies like Israel. Iran is now using other nations like NK to draw attention away from their Nuclear program...”it’s all a game Blythe” (from Band of Brothers).
I would hope South Korea wouldn’t need help in taking on the North (short of nukes obviously). The interesting thing to watch will be Obamas response regarding the troops we still have there. They moved further from the border a year (was it 2?) ago. I doubt he pulls them immediately but does he do so in a month or two?