I was reading this article by Steve Tsang and this sentence gob-smacked me:
"...a united Korea will have inherited the North’s nuclear weapons."
Holy shamoley, sez I to mesef, what if that's been NK's game all along? Their nukes aren't a threat, they're an inducement!
.
Draw a 500 mile semi-circle from Seoul and you have elements of 5 of the largest military forces on Earth[1] plus Japan as an extra added attraction.
.
Of those 5 military forces, four pack nuclear heat. Only South Korea is left out in the conventional cold.
.
The US and South Korea are BFFs, but BFFs don't let BFFs acquire nuclear weapons if they can put a stop to it. South Korea has no nuclear weapon program b/c they're "protected" by the US nuclear arsenal.[2]
.
We would put a stop to any South Korean effort to acquire nukes.
.
But what if North Korea's objective was to make themselves a ripe partner for peaceful reunification by having a couple of dozen nukes that they'd share with their cousins to the south...once trade and money starts flowing north, of course?
.
All of a sudden South Korea becomes a nuclear playa & their BFF the US of A can't say diddly 'bout it.
BFFs are BFFs, but family is family. And the Koreans are family.
.
.
.
[1] South Korea, North Korea, US military stationed in South Korea, China, and Russia for those of you who flunked geography.
.
[2] i.e., after they get nuked we'll nuke whoever did it.