TheeconomicconsequencesforChinaofanewKoreanWar(2)

Scenarios for all-out nuclear war between the US and China or Russia can be ruled out of bounds as being improbable, and, even if such a conflict did happen, anything but survivalist plans would be moot. At the other extreme, a decision by the US and its allies to accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed power would undermine and ultimately destroy the liberal international order, akin to how a declining Roman Empire or Ching Dynasty resorted to bribing “barbarians” at the gate until they were no longer able. Between these extremes are more plausible scenarios.
The likelihood of US military action against North Korea has been dismissed by many experts who earnestly believe that the US does not have a military option that does not involve mass casualties in South Korea, Japan, US territories, the United States itself or allied nations.
Suppose, though, that the US has good military options that meet the requirements of international law for necessity and proportionality, would not result in mass allied and North Korean casualties, and would result in the permanent elimination of the North Korean nuclear threat with manageable risk? Then military action is both practical and feasible.