[cgbg]

The central issue, IMO, is that S. Korea's government is anti-US and in the past openly supported demonstrations demanding the US get out of S. Korea. As far as I'm concerned, we should pull our troops out of S. Korea and give them what they want. Let the South Koreans deal with the Chi-pet dictator's army when they come swarming south. This would provide a wonderful foreign relations "teaching moment" for a whole lot of ungrateful countries in the world: bad mouth the US, get what you want, and the ramifications that go with it.

The problem is that _our_ policies towards North Korea have been on and off stupid for the last several administrations.

Negotiating with pathological liars is not a viable national security policy.

We have allowed the North Koreans to build up missiles near their border. We have allowed them to build up a nuclear capacity and hide it in tunnels that ring the countryside.

One reason South Korea wants to cut a deal is that they don't trust us. Who can blame them?--I don't trust the State Department or any recent administration to get the Korean policy right. W has gone from "axis of evil" to "lets negotiate".

Japan has every reason to mock our Korea policy.

I just don't see it getting any better with a new administration.

Our only hope is that North Korea collapses on its own despite our stupid "diplomacy" and other assorted bungles.

[AmericanInTokyo]

We were on the right path for awhile, in strangulating them, and they were in fact feeling it (for awhile)--and I for one was a big supporter here on FR of the President in that regard.

Then the Madeline Albright approach of appeasement fully kicked in over at State, all the way up to Condi (who for some reason signed off on it), and now it has gone all the way up to the Oval Office and HE has placed his chop on it.

Yep. We are up to our neck in this sh*t now, for sure.