system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do we not just finish the war with North Korea?

Given the following:
- how incredibly poor the government treats its people
- the abject poverty that many live in
- the "labor" camps that really resemble concentration camps
- North Korea's nuclear testing

I don't undestand why we have let the government of this country exist for as long as it has.  Obviously, now with them having nuclear weapons, its hard to invade.  But why did it ever even get to this point?  We have a larger military, a far more technologically advanced military, and most of the international community on our side.
gpt
> We have a larger military, a far more technologically advanced military, and most of the international community on our side.

Lets break this down

* We have a larger military

We have 1.5 Million active personnel, 850K in reserve. We are number 2 behind China. 

The DPRK has 1.1 Million active, and 8.2 Million reserve - they have a *massive* conscription base. They outpower us as far as raw bodies go, and they have significant military technology  - they're fighting with modern AK's, tanks, and artillery. It may not be equivalent, but its not like they are fighting with sticks and stones.

* Technologically advanced

this may be true, but that doesn't count for that much of a margin. You can have the most advanced rifle in the world, if someone beats you over the head with a lead pipe before you pull the trigger, you're still dead.

The DPRK is dug in - they have been preparing for years for any form of war, land, air, or sea. They likely have significant defenses, including those designed to deal with potential nuclear strike. And they likely have at least a few last-ditch 'fuck you' emplacements so that even if you turned the whole country to ash, they could still launch a few strikes at nearby targets (e.g. Seoul).

* the international community

After Iraq and Afghanistan we are all out of international support. President Obama might have made some progress in this respect, but there is no way that anyone, not even our closest allies, would back us up as far as an attack on North Korea. It would be long, drawn out, bloody, and with lots of collateral damage. The Chinese would be pissed the fuck off as well, and there's no point in doing that from a economic standpoint.

Fundamentally, as I've noted every time this question has come up, beyond saber rattling and being assholes, the north koreans haven't done anything to the US. They've sparred with South Korea, and their human rights record sucks, but so do a lot of countries, and we still don't bother them even when they are assholes.

Unless NK does something more than posturing, no one is going to touch them. It's like a hornets nest covered in napalm and MRSA-infected AIDS. No one wants to set that fucker off.