Two's In, yes you are probably right. A bogey man is needed to get funds released so that
US ready for 'any eventuality'
Rather than a hypothetical threat it seems Congress and Senate need a real threat. I seem to recall that the Backfire bomber provided a real 'air breathing' threat to the US when there was no modern Conus air defence system. Funds were provided for the F15.
At the time I read a series of reports on the Backfire with its range and capabilities progressively reduced which then removed the threat. Now there were lots of 'redundant' F15 which could now be deployed forward to Europe and Asia. I guess funding would never have been authorised at that scale if an accurate assessment had been available at the outset.
The real threat from Korea is one of creating regional instability, a region that is the man supplier of consumer goods to the rest of the world. Now I don't know how many products in the US have 'Made in China' on them but I was amazed to find that a lost-cost tourist economy, such as St Lucia, was selling tourist tat made in China.