I always thought the Korea issue was simply resolved. China doesn’t want the US military on its border. The US wants to get rid of the mad man with the nukes. The average Korean wants Korea to be a unified country. Here’s the deal:
- China removes the kook and ships the nukes back to China and/or destroys them.
- the NK military is disbanded.
- SK is given complete control of the peninsula on the understanding that there is a demilitarized zone 5o km deep on either side of the China/Korea border.
- the US agrees not to station troops north of the 38th and to withdraw its forces from SK within 5 years.
The US can ensure that Korea is sufficiently well armed that China would never dare a conventional attack (not to mention that the amount of trade between China and Korea would escalate to the point where China couldn’t risk the destruction of that trading relationship).
First two will happen.
Then China will take over NK and use it as a sweatshop. They will slowly reintroduce the country to the world over a decade.
It’s a good thought but don’t forget China would sacrifice half its population at any given moment.