Kim is far more a threat to the US' allies than he is to the US. Madman that he is, I think someone in his own country would off him if he decided to fire at L.A. On the off chance he did hit it the resulting return strike would wipe North Korea out.

Millions dead for no particular reason? It would be hard to shout down the hawks calling for the entire country to be turned into a glass parking lot and bombing them back, literally, into the stone age would begin in days. And China wouldn't say a thing.

Where China itself is concerned, I'm of the opinion that the current approach to them is the right one. Tie them so firmly with economic bonds that going to war with their main trade partners would cripple their economy. In the meantime, let the modern world and the internet slowly erode what little is left of Maoism until someone in the party reforms it from the inside and China becomes a democracy. The writing is on the wall. First economic reforms - then people with money deciding that the current government's level of corruption, power and lack of accountability is too much. Enough bribes in the right place and the whole thing tumbles into the hands of some reformers who toss out the old Long Marchers (are there even any still alive?) and move in some measured accountability.

Basically a process much like the Soviet Union went through, really, with different players.

Also as those trade ties grow stronger China will have to start being amenable to making some compromises to prevent tariffs and sanctions. That's where Human Rights insistences can come through.

It'll happen, and probably with very little violence.