Nuke? What Nuke?

It’s being reported that the bomb North Korea set off several days ago was not nuclear. Both the U.S. military and Japan are stating that samples of the air taken after the explosion showed no indication of radioactivity.

This would only confirm what was originally expected. Analysts had expected from the beginning that the device was not nuclear since the explosion was to small.

So the question is why would North Korea pretend to have one? The same reason Saddam Hussein pretended to have one. They believe that by showing a strong military defense that includes nuclear weapons will keep enemies, not just America but hostile neighbors, at arms length.

As Alexander Hamilton stated in Federalist No. 11:

“A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral”.