Fordham Law School Professor Thomas H. Lee wrote an op-ed for Huffington Post about the potential North Korea would use nuclear weapons.
It is, however, highly unlikely that North Korea will actually use nuclear weapons. This is not because of any moral or legal qualms about breaking the 69-year old taboo on dropping nuclear bombs in populated areas. Rather, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and his courtiers understand that escalating to nuclear weapons use will almost certainly result in military retaliation that will not stop short of regime change. The North Korean regime’s highest priority is self-preservation, and, contrary to popular impressions, it has been, and will be, rational about ensuring its survival. And so its strategy will be to threaten use in order to extort as many concessions and economic payments as possible.
Read the entire op-ed here.