U.S. Gets Warning From North Korea

New York Times ^ | Wednesday, December 25, 2002 | By HOWARD W. FRENCH

[JohnHuang2]

Wednesday, December 25, 2002

Quote of the Day by demosthenes by Jonathon Spectre

[demlosers]

"Uncontrollable catastrophe" They must be speaking about themselves.

[DWSUWF]

Krazy Kim needs to be brought to heel.

This means that a war plan needs to put together that allows for his capture alive...

Which allows for him to be tried, by us, for his crimes against the Korean people and hung at a gala event sometime when the weather's good.

[JZoback]

Just how many of these "loose ends" Clinton left out there will Bush and the American people need to deal with?

[nightdriver]

"The North's incendiary comments came as Pyongyang accelerated its takeover of nuclear fuel and reactors placed under international surveillance under a 1994 agreement with the United States."

Where are all the pin-heads that chastised Bush for including NK in the "axis of evil?" Seems like they are awfully quiet right now.

I suppose they think we should elect another democRAT president who will now give them our plans for the more sophisticated nuclear bombs, since they already have our satellite codes for missile guidance courtesy of the 'toon. (/sarc.)

[Dog Gone]

This is an extremely dangerous situation, and there is no obvious solution. Unlike Iraq, which can launch a few relatively ineffective scuds at neighboring countries, and use WMD against invading troops, North Korea can quickly inflict unacceptable damage to South Korea.

North Korea now has at least two nukes, so a pre-emptive strike is very risky. An invasion would be extremely difficult.

If it were just a matter of learning to live with a nuclear-armed North Korea, that would be one thing. But these folks are certifiably nuts. Not only could they use these weapons in an unprovoked surprise attack, but they're crazy enough to sell them to other rogue states or even al-Qaida.

We don't have a lot of good or easy options.

[lavaroise]

North Korea's brazen megalomania means that they refuse to dialogue with the inferior South, but instead want to compare themselves to the United States. The French do that too, but on a more feminine tone so far, by the way. That said, the personal consumption and final solution cleansing tones that are taken by NK are monstrous, to say the least. When life is in the way of NK dogs, life must fight back.

[lavaroise]

This is an extremely dangerous situation, and there is no obvious solution.

Mind you, the NK have their final solution. So, yes, there is a solution against such things.

[11B3]

Schedule a 'missile test' from Vandenburg that uses a Minuteman III - like a test of NMD - but use a live nuclear warhead (or MIRVs) and take out the nuclear facilities in North Korea. No one - not even the ChiComs will shed too many tears.

[pabianice]

I see. An "uncontrollable catastrophe," as opposed to a "controlable catastrophe?"

[JohnHuang2]

You've summed the situation up exactly. I see the standoff, despite the bluster from NK, ultimately defused diplomatically -- on our terms. That's my hunch, FWIW.

[Dog Gone]

A diplomatic solution necessarily requires help from the Chinese. They can't be terribly thrilled about the developments in NK, and this is right in their back yard.

We haven't had the greatest relations with the Chinese, although they haven't given us half the crap on Iraq that the Russians or French have. We need to be burning up the phone lines to Beijing working to force a diplomatic solution in concert with them.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Things are going to get real "interesting."

A guy I work with retired from the Army last June, from Camp Page. He has a theory that the unification of the peninsula could be brought about by a North Korean attack on Japan, which would be applauded and supported by the majority of people in the ROK. Hatred of the Japanese is the great unifying factor, and would make a US response against the North launched from US bases in the ROK impossible.

When I was in Korea back 20 years ago Korean antipathy for Japan was understood, but muted. Have Korean-Japanese relations deteriorated significantly in the last several years?

US Forces in Korea cannot function without Host Nation Support; I'd venture to say that most American installations have more Koreans on them than Americans. If the NKs lobbed a nuke at Tokyo and the ROKs thought that was just fine with them, 2ID could wake up one morning surrounded, disarmed and interned, and there wouldn't be a heck of a lot they could do about it. Same with the Air Bases. Kinda makes ya think about our whole West Pac/Far East strategy.

Read Proud Legions by John Antal for a damn good account of what land warfare in Korea could be like this go around. It ain't 1950 anymore. This book assumes the ROKs are on our side.

[JohnHuang2]

Couldn't agree with you more, amigo.

[JohnHuang2]

Chinese, although they haven't given us half the crap on Iraq that the Russians or French have

I'm no expert on foreign affairs, but perhaps PRC's open embrace of resolution 1441 prompted Russia and France to get on board. Traditionally, PRC obstains from such votes, as they did in 1990.

[virgil]

Maybe we need to have another above ground nuclear test using one our biggest and most powerful bombs. Invite the press from all over the world and remind the world just what kind of "joke" nuclear weapons are. I think people have forgotten and they have forgotten what was US policy if it or its allies were ever attacked.

[McGavin999]

The comments of North Korea amount to nothing more or less than "Give me your wallet or I'll shoot". That's all this is, a bunch of thugs who are demanding that the American taxpayer feed them, clothe them, and give them fuel or they are going to nuke the world.

They are playing with fire and don't even realize it.

[Teacher317]

"The issue should be settled between the DPRK and the U.S., the parties responsible for it. If the U.S. persistently tries to internationalize the pending issue between the DPRK and the U.S. in a bid to flee from its responsibility, it will push the situation to an uncontrollable catastrophe."

Okay, so we CAN'T go into Iraq without UN approval, and we CAN'T seek UN approval to go into North Korea. Would these insipid dictators make up their minds already!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I seem to recall we already bought this pony when Carter and then again when the Clintons were running things. Truth be told, the NK's are terrified of the US. They saw the tapes of our pin-point hits on Iraq ten years ago and can figure out our technology has improved since then. So...they've got two nuclear bombs ?

[org.whodat]

So... they've got two nuclear bombs. Lets help them out and give them about six. that not even half of a sub load, tell Kim to bend over and kiss it good bye....