Interesting inputs! I plaudit most of the arguments, albeit some are too much of speculations to be believed. Isolated freak, my views are mostly in unison with yours. "The key here will be the suspicion that NK's test was actually nuclear. Thre have already been questions raised about the test's nuclear validity, with some countries like France, saying it was just an extraordinary explosion, but doubting it was nuclear. " Since 2002, NK has vacillated between affirming and denying that it already has nuclear weapons. So yes, it cannot be affirmed this time around as well. But just lately, in July of this year, they have conducted a series of seven missile tests. Among them was a test of the long-range Taepodong-2 missile, reportedly capable of reaching Alaska. The missile failed shortly after its launch. All of the other missiles, thought to be short- and medium-range models, splashed down in the Sea of Japan. Moreover, they have the fourth-largest army in the world with an estimate of 1.2 million armed personnel, compared to about 650,000 in the South. So they surely do have potential to threat Japan, US or EU for that matter. However, over the last several years, NK has moved more of its rear-echelon troops to hardened bunkers closer to the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Given the proximity of Seoul to the DMZ (some 25 miles), South Korean and U.S. forces are likely to have little warning of any attack. US and South Korea continue to believe that the U.S. troop presence in South Korea remains an effective deterrent. Bush has described NK as part of an "axis of evil" (Iraq and Iran also are part of it). So I guess NK would be eyed upon by US as a north east center of terrorism threat. What happened to Iraq, may well happen to NK. Kim has regularly used threats and hostile acts to try to wring aid from the international community, but it was difficult to decipher how he expected to accomplish his aims, economic aid and a safeguard against U.S. attack, through such brinkmanship. China's position would be key as far as i believe. As a matter of fact, the fulcrum of balance of power between north east and west lies in china. Although, China may blatantly support US for the nuclear non-proliferartion treaty reason, I don't think they are dumb to not to be able to see US hidden motives to shun down communist regime in the north east. LooTe