The reality is that North Korea is not really a threat. They are starving, have no food or ecomony to speak of - they have been surviving off US aid. The US can stop shipments of weapons by sea easily - just as they did with the Yemeni ship with the scuds. China or Sth Korea would not want them shipping newks across their land - so they are not really an issue unless they get reasonable ballistic capability. They can only really reach alaska at the moment I believe. You are right about the oil equation - they have nothing that the international bankers want to control....
