AUSTIN BAY: MEANWHILE, BACK IN NORTH KOREA…:

In an interview last year on a Texas radio station, I was asked when China would “finally do something” about North Korea’s manic threats to launch a nuclear attack.

Perhaps an uneasy memory of spring 2013’s revelation that North Korea had Austin, Texas, on its ICBM target list spurred the question.

Nuclear war in your hometown courtesy of North Korean Stalinists is a legitimate worry, one shared by residents of Seoul and Tokyo. Achieving a political solution that avoids violence is most desirable; a solution that promotes long-term stability and peace, even more so.

However, no one can answer “when” something will happen. The future is the Land of If, inviting speculation but defying prediction.

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