North Korea threatens war almost every day of the year and countries like Japan give in every time. North Korea is like a child dont give in to them and they will know better or in this case the regime will collespe.

Why would Russia or China (amongst the rest) want to stop trading with Nth Korea just because for now the USA says it suits current US policy?

Why should they prefer a destabilised and disintegrating - armed to the teeth - Nth Korea and a possible Sth Korean take-over of the north?

[edit on 11-1-2005 by sminkeypinkey]

Interesting the every time the North Koreans threaten war, the world backs down. It's become a 6 way summit now. Looks to me that they probably do have nuclear weapons and no one really wants or can deal with it for the time being.

North Korea has nuclear capabilities. Don't give in to them evbery time and do not have an Defensive missile system on your country and see what comes you guys are rediculous. The world isn't a game but if it were you guys would be the people that never make it past the 1st level where you keep just wanting to bomb everyone and never let others do the work for you. =-) ...

No one has to destroy N. Korea. It's doing a fine job of that on it's own.

Kim, like Castro is one of those vanishing villians from the last century that we are probably just going wait on to die. Any hope for a peaceful and prosperous N. Korea or core stability in that area of the world begins with his death. Wow, thats a pretty sad thing to have said about you, if you think about it.

Originally posted by bet555
North Korea has nuclear capabilities. Don't give in to them evbery time and do not have an Defensive missile system on your country and see what comes you guys are rediculous. The world isn't a game but if it were you guys would be the people that never make it past the 1st level where you keep just wanting to bomb everyone and never let others do the work for you. =-) ...

Thats the whole point if the world stops giving aid to North korea
no bombs will have to be dropped to bring the regime down.

Ambient Sound the problem is that when Kim dies some other nutcase will take over and the regime will
continue.

We can always hope. We're hoping that Arafat dying will open some new doors, and we know that Castro dying probably will, so why shouldn't Kim's death provide some kind of opportunity to look for the same.

Sometimes I wonder if Kim just isn't ready to get the whole thing over with and is just beggin the US to attack so he can save face by surrendering to an overwhelming force instead of having to deal with the harsh realities of being the whacked out leader of a destitute, hungry, and failing nation. The best thing that could happen to N. Korea at this point is to be defeated and occupied by a US led coalition including as partners China, Japan, and Russia.

Of course, the above is my opinion. It's really for the people of N. Korea to decide what they want if you ask me. I don't think they are allowed to decide much though. It would be interesting to hear from a North Korean citizen about this subject (and please one who hasn't had their brain function drained by having long hair!), but I don't think they are allowed to communicate with the outside world very much either.

We can always hope. We're hoping that Arafat dying will open some new doors, and we know that Castro dying probably will, so why shouldn't Kim's death provide some kind of opportunity to look for the same.
The best thing that could happen to N. Korea at this point is to be defeated and occupied by a US led coalition including as partners China, Japan, and Russia.

Well there is nothing wrong with hope. But whats needed is action. If the regime was to fall troops may be needed to ensure nutcases dont try and bring south east asia down with then. Not sure about China and Russia sending troops to a united Korea might not go down so well.

Originally posted by Ambient Sound

We can always hope. We're hoping that Arafat dying will open some new doors, and we know that Castro dying probably will, so why shouldn't Kim's death provide some kind of opportunity to look for the same.

- I agree. Change will come regardless, given time.

The best thing that could happen to N. Korea at this point is to be defeated and occupied by a US led coalition including as partners China, Japan, and Russia.

- This is just nuts in my view.

How on earth is any of this 'best'; most insanely dangerous more like.

Given the recent history of the place the last thing Korea needs is anything involving Japan coming back there again.

.....and why the hell should the USA 'lead' a coalition of invasion and occupation (cos that is what you are really talking about right?) anyway?

Talk about proving Kim & Co. correct on the US imperialist front!

Originally posted by xpert11
Well there is nothing wrong with hope. But whats needed is action.

- Why?
Sometimes the best all round course is simply to take no action.

After the recent ramping up of the paranoia in the region with idiotic unhelpful agressive talk - from each 'side' - it's probably best to let temperatures and nerves calm.....

....or do you really think it a good idea to risk igniting an unstable yet economically important part of the world with the added possibility of nuclear weapons being chucked about the place?

In fact do any of the people here who so blythly talk about nuclear warfare and the possibility of it have the slightest idea what the loss of just one of the worlds major cities would do to todays interconnected and inter-reliant global economy.....including the USA's?

If the regime was to fall troops may be needed to ensu5re nutcases dont try and bring south east asia down with then.

- It seems the experience of Iraq is failing to teach any lessons....especially any relating to the simple logistics of what the US can and cannot do alone.

Not sure about China and Russia sending troops to a united Korea might not go down so well.

- I cannot see how either Russia or China would welcome an aggressively expansionist USA (cos that ios what you suggest no matter how you dress it up) to move right to their doorstep along with a re-energised Japanese military moving back onto the Asian continent.

To just ignore the implications of such a move would be crazy......and I thought you guys thought Kim Il Sung was the nutty one!

Well, since for some reason, it seems like the US is going to be given the job of resolving this issue one way or another, yes, the US would probably be in a leadership role of a coalition that does anything with N. Korea. Why do I include China, Russia, and Japan? Because those are the most powerful countries in the area, they are all Core countries (ie: civilized) and if anyone should have an interest in keeping things peaceful in that part of the world, it should be those three.

US Imperialism, Bah! We don't want to have to deal with N. Korea at all but someone probably is going to have to. I imagine the very last thing we want to have to do right now is mount some major offensive to take down another insane little man and the military toys he has purchased rather than feed his people.

My feeling is that China should be fixing this problem. Everyone talks about China becoming a "World Leader". Cleaning up the mess that is N. Korea seems like a good opportunity for China to score some World Leadership Points, but I'm not holding my breath for that one.

Hmmmmm. what is the UN doing about N. Korea? That's right. Nothing. They will wait until someone else go's in and mucks it up, at which point they will then criticize whoever actually did have the stones to act. No help there.

Originally posted by Ambient Sound
what is the UN doing about N. Korea? That's right. Nothing.

- I'm sorry but I just don't get this at all.

What do you imagine the UN to be?

It is actually a collective operated and directed by the sovereign individual member countries, those on the security council in particular.

Beyond advice or calling for action from time to time it does not actually act as a separate sovereign institution at all.
It acts on the basis of the agendas proposed, the votes, the agreements and the vetos and disagreements of it's member states.

They will wait until someone else go's in and mucks it up, at which point they will then criticize whoever actually did have the stones to act. No help there.

- Sorry but this is total rubbish.
You could do with a little study as to how the UN works and acts and it's track record to date. Cos what you describe here is certainly nothing like what happens.

The UN will probably not act because either China or Russia (both holding a veto on the Security council IIRC) will not pass the necessary vote agreeing to intervene militarily on their neighbour.....in the same way the the USA can be relied on every time to veto any vote calling on Israel to do something concrete and meaningful in their situation.

[edit on 12-1-2005 by sminkeypinkey]

Ha! Don't worry. I never expected the UN to do anything anyway. I doubt Kim will give the officials oil vouchers like Saddam did, though.

So here we have little mad Kim with his one shot military. Now keep in mind that N. Korea has nothing that we want or need. The US would be more than happy to forget that N. Korea even exists, but we won't be allowed to because this insane little madman chooses the US to try to start a fight with or blackmail at almost every instance. Maybe Kim is offended that we don't think his country is worth enough to bother getting rialed up about, no matter how hard he tries to make us angry.

Still waiting on China to handle this issue. World Superpower means more than just GDP or Trade. It means leadership. When is China going to show some leadership and make this N. Korean problem go away?

I dont think a the USA or any other country needs to drop bombs on North Korea they just need to make sure that North Korea knows that they will destoryed if they take one last gamble. Its hard to say how many troops would be needed after North Korean regime falls . No where near as many troops would be needed as in Iraq mayabe a few chemical and nuclear warfare specialists would be needed to ensure North Koreas WMDs are delt with safely.

I dont want to start another Iraq war debate but didnt people say that Saddam would fall from power after the Gulf war 1 ?
In North Koreas case there is no need to attack the country just cut off aid and watch the regime fall.