A Twilight Zone episode from 1961, entitled It’s a Good Life starred little 7 year old Billy Mumy playing a 6 year old named Anthony. Anthony had a very powerful mind, and could destroy anything he wanted to with that power. The family was a little intimidated by him as a result, as anyone that told him “No” got zapped and went away. Sound like anyone we know that runs an Asian country with North in its name? You betcha.

Kim Jong-un, or the “Young-un” as I call him, has gotten a little carried away, playing with his toys like missiles and nukes. As a consequence, the UN voted to place onerous sanctions on North Korea. China – North Korea’s last friend – joined in on the sanctions that allow any ship going to North Korea to be searched and seized if it’s shown to be North Korean. This happened in The Phillipines this week.

The question, of course, is how will the Young-Un react to this? And second, given enough time, will sanctions cause instability in the country, the fear of which has prevented China from being firm with its little brother since he took over in 2012. His older half-brother was supposed to take over, but got busted for trying to go to Disneyland in Tokyo. Funny, huh? Well, maybe not.

The Young-un got into a fight with his uncle about who controlled fisheries on the west coast of the country. As a result, uncle was purged and killed – along with his entire family. Allegedly, the Young-un had his cousin killed by being burnt alive with a flame thrower. Nice, huh? As you can see from his picture, The Young-Un has put on a few pounds, allegedly from gorging on swiss cheese since he ascended to the throne of leadership. He apparently has joint trouble, having disappeared from view in 2014 for about a month – allegedly having surgery on his ankles – ankles that have to support all that weight. He and his wife – a former Korean singer – have just one daughter. So succession within his immediate family won’t happen. That means if and when he’s gone, unless he has a son, leadership will go to the Disneyland boy or to the other son that follows Eric Clapton all over the place. It’s anybody’s guess how that’ll turn out. But the Young-un is still young – somewhere between 32 and 34, depending on who you ask. But in the ensuing years, he can still do a lot of damage – to his own country and the countries surrounding him. Is that likely to happen?

Those in the know believe the Young-un got very nervous as the US invaded Iraq and then bombed Libya. He fears a similar outcome for his regime. The boy king keeps the nukes handy to ward off any such intrusion. Recall there are nearly 29,000 American troops currently stationed in South Korea. Pyongyang is only 120 miles from Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The military strength of the two respective nations is about equal, but with the south’s population double that of the north, the south could immediately ramp up troop strength to double that of the north. A nuclear provocation against the south could make that happen. It’s also been suggested that the US is going to provide South Korea with the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system. It is thought that China’s buy-in to deploying such a system signals their concern about the Young-uns adventurism in nuclear deployment.

So what’s next for the world and North Korea? According to a piece I read over the weekend, Pachinko winnings in Japan help pay for North Korea’s nuclear adventurism. Some ex-pat North Koreans in Japan play pachinko – a wildly popular pinball game – and give the proceeds to North Korea to protect family members stuck in the North. Finding routes for these payments and stopping them is likely the only way to cut off this funding and put a crimp in the Young-Un’s follies. But the price to be paid by these families – and eventually the entire southern part of the Korean peninsula – is what’s at stake here. Just like with little Anthony in the Twilight Zone episode, it’s not a good idea to make him mad. If you do, he could turn you into a Jack in the Box.