This is John Batcher, conversation with colleague David Maxwell about North Korea, not just the

recent attempted launch of yet another spy satellite we can presume that failed, but also

about what David describes as stresses within the regime, stresses

that threaten the stability of the regime, and that, David argues here, makes it extremely

dangerous. Here's David Maxwell on North Korea, what we know right now about the Kim Jong-on regime.

More of this later.

But you know, lastly, in all of of this I think that North Korea is suffering real

stresses Kim Jong-un is suffering real stresses inside North Korea and so what

he has been doing is really trying to externalize the threat, trying to develop the perception of the threat from South Korea, from the United States, to continue to justify the sacrifices and suffering and the tremendous oppression of the Korean people in the

north because the threats are really coming from inside, whether they are from within the

elite, whether the military leadership, or whether he's concerned with general

unrest among the population. All of that is causing him to act out. And I think that's how we have to view his actions,

which of course is what is, I think, most dangerous.

Because if he is faced with an internal threat

and a threat to his regime to regime survival, that's where we could see him

actually do the worst case, which would be to execute his campaign plan to try to unify the peninsula by force.

And that's why I think as much as we have to observe for the warnings of a war of attack,

we need to look at the warnings for instability, because that could lead ultimately

to war.