Ok guys heres my two cents,
First of all to respond directly to the topic, the US will not launch a nuclear attack on NK. There all multiple reasons as to why, with the
strongest reason being that China will objective completely and possibly seek to retaliate. This is not because of their "friendship" with NK but
because of possible fall out affecting Chinese citizens. Another reason is due to fall out in South Korea. Annually, around this time of the year, the
ROK experiences a natural weather condition referred to as "Yellow Dust". Which involves the "wind conditions" carrying dust storms from China all
the way across the Korean Peninsula. (
en.wikipedia.org...) This is general not pleasant. Now consider for a moment if nuclear
fallout, which shares a common density, were to travel at the same rate as this "Yellow Dust"....Not a pretty scenario for Koreans, nor for the US
troops stationed in Korea.
The further complication is that NK has spent the past 50 or so years aiming missiles and scuds at Seoul. They have done this uninterrupted and I am
sure they've come up with some pretty clever hiding spots. There are in the ballpark of 10,000 scuds on standby to level Seoul. (Just for info, it
would take about 3 minutes for a standard missile to leave the North and land in Seoul.) Again, not a pretty scenario. The US is fully aware of this
and has patriot bases setup to intercept as many as possible, but you know the old saying, "It only takes one scud missile in your bedroom to really
ruin your day."
Further more, it is well known and generally accepted that the North Koreans possess and will use biological and chemical weapons. Again, not a pretty
scenario.
Alot of folks think the North is relatively lo-tech and that they cannot hold their own. Well they certainly have enough tech to fight, atleast for a
long enough time to wipe out a bunch of folks. Either way, there would be MASSIVE civilians casualties regardless of what transpires.
Now, I believe that the only effective strategy is to test the North's limits and pester them militarily, but do so without direct combat. Stop every
North Korean ship in international waters for "inspections". Disallow NK representatives from entering any member countries. Essentially, push the
North into firing first, and preferably force them into firing on Chinese infantry (but thats a long shot). It doesn't have to be a missile launch or
anything like that, just one trigger happy "NK" soldier (Doesn't have to be NK, so long as it appears like its NK). At this point the international
community should be in full support of turning South Korea into an island.
Anyway, thats just my two cents.
