North Korea didn't have nuclear weapons for almost half a century. There are enough conventional artillery pieces installed at the border to flatten a substant

North Korea didn't have nuclear weapons for almost half a century. There are enough conventional artillery pieces installed at the border to flatten a substantial fraction of Seoul in minutes. More fundamental than that conventional mutually-assured-destruction deterrent, there are larger forces that matter: North Korea exists because China and the Soviet Union wanted it to continue to exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War#China_intervenes_(October%E2%80%93December_1950) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War#China_intervenes_(O... The international sanctions on North Korea continue to fail because North Korea's existence is convenient.