LocalFluff,
Disconnecting dams from the grid can be relatively quickly repaired, and is a good solution for a short war or for dams/grids that can be easily attacked. This may work for a resumption of war in North Korea.

WWII was a war of terror, and enemy civilians were generally considered valid targets and acceptable collateral damage. As it turned out, terrorizing populations did not have the desired result: the population demanding its government sue for peace.

One of my favorite parts of the book “The Dam Busters” is where the British attacked a German-run factory in France, full of French women working the machines (this is in the second half of the book, after the dams have been busted). The bombers flew a first pass without dropping bombs, making sure that the French workers had enough time to get to shelters. After the war, the British received a letter from one of the French women thanking them for sparing their lives on that attack.

North Korea should be patrolled by aerial drones armed with 40 mm guns. If a truck or car moves, it is probably doing something of importance to the regime and should be destroyed.

https://archive.org/details/TheDambusters1954OtrAustralianRadio

The British figured out this during or even before WWII. The book and movie “The Dam Busters” were about the designer, Barnes Wallis, and the airmen who attacked German dams, with great precision, in order to disrupt Germany’s steel production. The second half of the book continues on with the topic of other precision bombing missions performed by the British 617 Squadron.

Not only was steel production disrupted, but resources were diverted from the German war effort to repair the damage.

If it deliberately threatened Russia, it might be because Russia’s presence in the Pacific relies on Vladivostok. If that port and naval base is badly damaged, I think the Russians will have difficulties supporting a Pacific navy. NK could (think that they) benefit from deterring Russia from joining the alliance against them. On the other hand, I think that Russia would be very much interested in occupying the North Korean eastern coast to extend its military influence in East Asia.

The back bone of NK’s economy is coal. By bombing the 8 or so coal power plants in the country and a couple of dozen bridges in their very mountainous landscape, together with the blockade, their coal cannot be exported or transformed into electricity or used as railroad steam engine fuel. Not only making their extensive coal mining worthless, but they have recently produced only half the electricity they did in the 1980s, so it is a tight sector for them. And with the rails and roads cut up into disconnected pieces, this would quickly cause all kinds of problems including maybe starvation in Pyongyang and among the troops at the border. Key military installations and assets are likely protected in very deep fortifications, but the infrastructure for transports and electricity is on the surface. Just after WW2, USAF evaluated the bombing campaigns against Germany. They concluded that the most efficient targets were utilities supplying the arms industry, not the factories themselves. They didn’t realize how very vulnerable the German electric grid was. In NK it is ancient and said to lose 30% of the energy in transmission resistance. In a modern country it’s more like 3%.

The closed society endows them with another set of labor costs, with the upper limit set by violence. Their arms industry is underground. The reason for NK being dark at night is not lack of energy, NK is abundant with the best quality coal, their main export good. The reason NK is dark is that they use all electric power for the underground arms industry. They have perfected Stalinism, socialism in one country, and I think we shouldn’t underestimate that concept’s potential power. Kim might know Mises better than most libertarians.

North Koreans have fought victoriously against feudalism, Japanese occupation and the Korean war. Always as an underdog. A solution needs to grant them victory, and they are indeed very tough fighters who deserve respect as such, as a continuation of the war story they have grown up with since generations. Since they are at war with the UN, abolishing the UN would be a win-win!

LocalFluff asked, “Why would NK send one missile to Russia?”

They would not. The implication of this story is that the rocket was going off course, and they ordered it to self-destruct so that it would not land in Russia.