# Why should North Korea be expected to denuclearize if the US won't?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-north-korea-be-expected-to-denuclearize-if-the-us-wont/833752>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 10, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-north-korea-be-expected-to-denuclearize-if-the-us-wont/833752 "2019-05-10T01:34:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-north-korea-be-expected-to-denuclearize-if-the-us-wont/833752/41 "2019-05-14T04:13:04Z")

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> [@asahi](#):
>
> Actually, I would argue that he does. Even in North Korea there are limits to the numbers of people who can suffer before people in high places begin wondering whether their house of cards might collapse. There’s always a chance someone in the military decides that a dictator’s days are numbered - even in North Korea.

Yes, but that doesn’t show that he’s actually concerned about the people. It’s much more likely that he’s concerned about his own position / life. If there are limits to the suffering he inflicts on the “peasants” it’s not because he cares about them, but because he knows that there will be potential consequences for him and his family.

Watching him have his uncle and others brutally executed and murdered reminds me how little I understand the day-to-day decision making processing of a dictator.

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**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-north-korea-be-expected-to-denuclearize-if-the-us-wont/833752/42 "2019-05-15T17:41:56Z")

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On a global scale, of course, the reason is because it’s _theoretically possible_ (albeit a long shot) to get nuclear weapons out of North Korean hands, whereas it’s clearly not going to be possible to get rid of US nuclear weapons.

[ul]  
[li]Simple analysis of human behavior informs us that the more different entities possessing the weapons, the more likelihood of their use. [/li][li]Cold War doctrines imply that “limited use” is highly likely to spiral out of control into a full-scale exchange.[/li][li]Physics demonstrates that a full-scale exchange would be the worst disaster in history.[/li][/ul]

Those things being understood, nonproliferation efforts should be much more serious and urgent than they actually are – it feels like we’re not doing nearly enough.

Unfair and one-sided and hypocritical it probably is, but some effort at heading off a historically likely full-scale exchange that would devastate humanity probably ought to be attempted.

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