Patterico's Pontifications

3/8/2013

North Korea Threatens Nuclear Attack on United States

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:30 am

Way back in law school, I wanted Bill Clinton to bomb North Korea if necessary to stop them from getting the bomb. He didn’t, they did, and now we get this:

North Korea amplified its threatening rhetoric as the U.N. Security Council approved new sweeping sanctions, vowing to launch a first-strike nuclear attack against the United States and threatening to engulf Washington in a “sea of fire.”

An unidentified spokesman for Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for “a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors” because Washington is pushing to start a nuclear war against the North.

At a mass rally in Pyongyang on Thursday, Army Gen. Kang Pyo Yong told the crowd that North Korea is ready to fire long-range nuclear-armed missiles at Washington.

Hey, I know what we should do: allow yet another country run by madmen (Iran) to get the bomb too.

61 Comments

  1. save us dennis please please please

    Comment by happyfeet (8ce051) — 3/8/2013 @ 7:36 am

  2. Iran just wants to generate cheap Eco-friendly energy for their people.

    Comment by JD (31065f) — 3/8/2013 @ 7:42 am

  3. Many dictators try to maintain an artificial unity in their country by mobilizing public opinion against an external enemy, and they need to create that enemy when there is none… It actually distracts people from the bad situation prevailing in their own country. North Korea is a perfect example of that logic.

    Comment by Shanna Carson (08f412) — 3/8/2013 @ 7:44 am

  4. Keeping Iran from getting the bomb will be up to the Israelis: we don’t have a leadership with the cojones to do anything other than bluster.

    As for North Korea, they act like petulant children because it has worked for them before. They bluster and threaten and act really, really bad, then they tone it down just a tad, and we in the West think, “Oh, perhaps they are moderating somewhat; now is the time for constructive engagement.” We send over diplomats, and wind up giving them stuff, and after that falls through, they bluster and fuss and threaten again, and the cycle repeats itself.

    The only way to get the North Korean government to stop acting like petulant children is to not reward them for acting like petulant children.

    It wasn’t all that long ago that we were seeing stories speculating that Kim Jong-un would prove to be a more moderate reformer. :)

    Comment by The realistic Dana (3e4784) — 3/8/2013 @ 7:51 am

  5. Meanwhile:

    Bigger than Bieber? North Korea troops mob Kim Jong Un

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    They could have been teenage girls at a Justin Bieber concert. But this adoring crowd was made up of North Korean troops and the star of the show was Kim Jong Un.

    The world’s only hereditary communist dictator was shown on state television Friday being mobbed by chanting soldiers. At some points, they were showing jumping on the spot while keeping their hands in the air.

    Kim was filmed at a lookout post, surveying the scene with binoculars, and also on a naval vessel.

    One group of soldiers was so overcome with apparent emotion that they charged into the sea to continue praising him. Kim waved them away from his boat.

    More hilarity at the link.

    Comment by The Dana running low on adjectives (3e4784) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:16 am

  6. Our esteemed host wrote:

    Hey, I know what we should do: allow yet another country run by madmen (Iran) to get the bomb too.

    I don’t see them as madmen at all. It’s clear that neither the North Korean nor Iranian governments share our culture, values or norms, but their actions are completely rational within their own framework. The Kims have maintained dictatorial power for 63 years, through three generations, now; that hardly seems like the work of madmen. The Ayatollahs have held unquestioned power since 1979; whatever they are doing certainly seems to work for them.

    Comment by The Dana who practically memorized Dr Strangelove (3e4784) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:28 am

  7. Way back in law school, I wanted Bill Clinton to bomb North Korea if necessary to stop them from getting the bomb.

    Me too. I was in 7th Fleet back then and that was a huge issue for us (still is for 7th Fleet). It was frustrating watching the Clinton administration constantly getting rolled by the NORKs. They’d ramp up the tension, we’d make concessions in return for promises they’d never keep. Then repeat. Warren Christopher would steeple his fingers thoughtfully.

    And the Clinton administration kept talking about how “unpredictable” the NORKs were.

    The die was cast in 1994 when Clinton signed the agreed framework and let the NORKs build light water reactors. Of course, the rewrite of history began years ago.

    It’s Bush’s fault!

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0405.kaplan.html

    Rolling Blunder

    How the Bush administration let North Korea get nukes.

    By Fred Kaplan

    As per usual it’s based upon magical thinking. You know that if the author can pen something like this:

    Yet at the same time, Clinton set up a diplomatic back-channel to end the crisis peacefully. The vehicle for this channel was former President Jimmy Carter, who in June 1994 was sent to Pyongyang to talk with Kim Il Sung, then the leader of North Korea. Carter’s trip was widely portrayed at the time as a private venture, unapproved by President Clinton. However, a new book about the ’94 North Korean crisis, Going Critical, written by three former officials who played key roles in the events’ unfolding, reveals that Clinton recruited Carter to go.

    Carter was an ideal choice. As president, he had once announced that he would withdraw all U.S. troops from South Korea. He retracted the idea after it met fierce opposition, even from liberal Democrats. But it endeared him to Kim Il Sung, who, after Carter left office, issued him a standing invitation to come visit.

    Anyway here’s one of the magical thinking parts:

    North Korea would renew its commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, lock up the fuel rods, and let the IAEA inspectors back in to monitor the facility. In exchange, the United States, with financial backing from South Korea and Japan, would provide two light-water nuclear reactors for electricity (explicitly allowed under the NPT), a huge supply of fuel oil, and a pledge not to invade North Korea.

    …After the second reactor arrived, North Korea would ship its fuel rods out of the country. It would essentially give up the ability to build nuclear weapons.

    …However, as Clinton left the White House, the stage was set for diplomatic progress–and, in the meantime, the fuel rods remained under lock and key.

    See? The rods were under lock and key. The NORKs had given up their ability to build nuclear weapons because the rods had been locked up by Billy Jeff. Who left the keys to the locks with…the NORKs! Then the predictable happened.

    On Oct. 20, Bush announced that it was formally withdrawing from the 1994 Agreed Framework. It halted oil supplies to North Korea and urged other countries to cut off all economic relations with Pyongyang. The North Koreans, perhaps realizing that they had once again boxed themselves into a diplomatic corner, decided to replay the crisis of 1994: In late December, they expelled the international weapons inspectors, restarted the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, and unlocked the container holding the fuel rods.

    …Nobody knows precisely what North Korea has. This is what makes negotiations both difficult and necessary. Bush’s failure to make a deal, while the fuel rods were still locked up, constitutes one of the great diplomatic blunders of our time.

    But of course if you believe the rods were locked up you have to also believe in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, and leprechauns.

    By the by, Clinton agreed to let the Iranians build their reactors in 1995.

    I really have no idea what the NORRs’ game is at the moment. But I will tell you the Iranians are going to go nuclear. Which is why I’m not too upset the Truman CSG’s deployment has been delayed. The Obama admin and inexplicably the JCS (well, not too inexplicably as Obama has appointed a bunch of dancing bears to those positions) try to pretend deterrence is magically accomplished by having carriers in the region.

    Not after the CJCS Dempsey told reporters in London a while back”

    Dempsey said an attack would “clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran’s nuclear program,” but added that the “international coalition” pressuring Iran “could be undone if it was attacked prematurely”.

    “I don’t want to be complicit if they [Israel] choose to do it,” he added.

    Now you could have five carriers their and the Iranians would just laugh.

    We are so screwed but the Dems are looking on the bright side. When the ME goes up in flames they can put their heads together with their friends in the press and find a way to blame it all on Bush.

    Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:32 am

  8. In case it’s not obvious, and it wouldn’t be unless you read the article at the link, this Kaplan hack was trying to portray Clinton as determined to go to war if the NORKs crossed his “red lines.”

    But the fact Clinton chose a quisling to reassure the NORKs that it was all just a dog-and-pony show to entertain his idiot base undoes Kaplan’s point. We knew Clinton wasn’t serious. The NORKs knew we weren’t serious. Nothing says “we aren’t serious” more clearly then sending Jimmuh Cahtah as your envoy.

    And we’re not serious now. If we were Obama wouldn’t have chosen Hagel to be SecDef. But then, if we were a serious country we wouldn’t have Prom Queen as President.

    Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:39 am

  9. And if North Korea invades South, and flash points take the opportunity to erupt elsewhere, what will we do? We can’t effectively mobilize for a major conflict. We already have World War-scale debt. Anyone paying attention would know this.

    We will watch our free allies fall to slavery and exploitation. The next generation will be driven into isolation and poverty. Then our creditors will come to collect and laugh at our ancestors who fought to the 38th Parallel.

    Comment by Amphipolis (d3e04f) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:41 am

  10. The Clinton’s also didn’t figure, that AQ Khan would come along with his handy nuke building kit,
    they were not willing to commit any large force for any strategic goal

    Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:46 am

  11. Keeping Iran from getting the bomb will be up to the Israelis: we don’t have a leadership with the cojones to do anything other than bluster.

    Dana, we can’t even effectively bluster. Note how I mentioned Dempsey telling reporters in London he didn’t want to be “complicit” in an Israeli attack. Dempsey, obviously, is Obama’s man or otherwise he wouldn’t be CJCS.

    Now we have a Jooo hating SecDef who keeps announcing to the world that going to war with Iran over nukes or anything else would be “unthinkable.”

    And President Tiger Beat can’t keep himself from sending love letters to the Iranians.

    WashTimes: Obama sent second letter to Khamenei

    President Obama sent a second letter to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before Iran’s disputed presidential elections, an Iranian-American activist says.

    The Washington Times reported in June that Mr. Obama wrote to Ayatollah Khamenei in May seeking talks and improved relations between the longtime adversaries.

    Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/03/obama-sent-second-letter-to-irans-khamenei/#ixzz2My3XKGhE
    Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

    (And who can forget how Obama couldn’t wait to run to a phone and offer Ahmadinejad his congrats as well as a full body massage with scented oils and a happy ending after the Runt of Tehran stole that election.)

    Iran’s N. Rights Acknowledged by Obama

    TEHRAN (FNA)- Senior Iranian parliamentary sources revealed on Saturday that the Swiss envoy to Tehran has quoted US President Barack Obama as acknowledging Iran’s nuclear rights.

    The administration did finally admit that note the Iranian parliament members gleefully made public (because it looked like something a teenage girl would send to Justin Bieber) was genuine.

    The administration also sent the same letter via Rice to the Iranian UN envoy in NY and via the Iraqi President who visited Tehran. Because apparently Obama is convinced begging is a valid negotiating technique when dealing with our enemies.

    Bluster? Where do you see bluster, Dana? I mean, outside of our dealings with Netanyahu.

    Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:52 am

  12. I’ve got something North Korea can nuke, sitting right here under my desk.

    There’s a Greek hillbilly story about BS bravado. One night a villager tells his wife “I need to go to the outhouse, but I am afraid to go in the dark. Can you come with me and hold the lantern?” When they’re outside, he looks up at the full moon and says, “What a bright moon. It’s perfect for burglary.” His wife says, “Poop, my husband, poop. You are not made for burglary.”

    Poop, North Korea, poop. You are not made for nuclear war against the United States.

    Comment by nk (53646e) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:57 am

  13. Steve57 wrote:

    Bluster? Where do you see bluster, Dana? I mean, outside of our dealings with Netanyahu.

    Your point is well taken.

    Comment by The Dana who concedes the point (3e4784) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:59 am

  14. nk, Greeks tell very odd jokes, my friend.

    Comment by SPQR (768505) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:59 am

  15. Senātus Populusque Rōmānus, almost all Greek — and European in general — jokes have poop featured in some way.

    Comment by The amused Dana (3e4784) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:06 am

  16. The only reason North Korea still exists is because we need the Chinese to lend us money and keep WalMart and ToysRus shelves stocked. North Korea will be the neighborhood snot-nose brat as long as we are scared of its big brother.

    Comment by nk (53646e) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:07 am

  17. Dana, you ain’t s***ing.

    Comment by nk (53646e) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:08 am

  18. The Russians and the North Koreans built up the nuclear program, for lo thirty years, as the North Koreans contributed to the Deir ur Zeur reactor, and the Russians to Bushehr,

    Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:13 am

  19. Everybody says that north Korea does not have an ICBM that can reach the east coast of the United States – even the west coast. Guam maybe, or Japan.

    The White house, without actually saying so, says Star Wars can stop a North Korean missile.

    Comment by Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:15 am

  20. The Chinse government agreeing to more sanctions against north Korea can mean one of three things:

    1) China is trying to weaken U.S. resolve – agreeing to sanctions forestalls possible military action.

    2) The Chinese government is split – civilians and/or moderates control the vote at the United Nations – the military is what is freiendly to north Korea. (actually what seems to have hapepned is that the military people have been given five years to do something that would break the nuclear taboo and let China realistically threaten to use nuclear wepaons – after that the other peoplle regain control

    3) China is secretly behind everything North Korea does, but wants not to get any of the blame for whatever may happen.

    I think in general the Chinese nuclear strategy is to have some country somewhere use nuclear weapons and survive. Their best shot or the thing that they gamble on most is Iran. Theyt’ll stop as soon as they are called on it.

    Comment by Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:19 am

  21. Comment by The realistic Dana (3e4784) — 3/8/2013 @ 7:51 am

    It wasn’t all that long ago that we were seeing stories speculating that Kim Jong-un would prove to be a more moderate reformer.

    Just like Bashir Assad, the other man who inherited a dictatorship.

    The particular son of the last one was picked precisely because he was the more ruthless. He’s not the oldest son of Kim Jong Il. And he were disposed to do something to change everything, at his age he can’t be too muich of a plotter.

    Comment by Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:23 am

  22. I think Obama sent Dennis Rodman over to NK to try “basketball” diplomacy like Nixon did with ping pong.

    Or did I dream that Rodman went over there?

    Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:48 am

  23. I guess it wasn’t a dream.
    http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/06/opinion/kim-dumond-korea/index.html

    Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:52 am

  24. I don’t know, it maybe a figment of someone’s imagination, Un is more hot tempered like Sonny, smarter then Fredo, but then so is an Irish setter

    Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:53 am

  25. Well, maybe we should get our troops out of Korea, and the Middle East, and then we wouldn’t have to worry about these people.

    Stupid imperialists. Yes, lets just bomb people willy nilly! That’ll make people like us.

    Comment by Patrick H (f854d7) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:58 am

  26. 25. Well, maybe we should get our troops out of Korea, and the Middle East, and then we wouldn’t have to worry about these people.

    Stupid imperialists. Yes, lets just bomb people willy nilly! That’ll make people like us.

    Comment by Patrick H (f854d7) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:58 am

    Pray, tell us genius, when is the last time we bombed North Korea willy nilly?

    Or for that matter Venezuela, whose government also doesn’t like us?

    We must have done something horrible to Venezuela to cause Chavez to hate us so.

    Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/8/2013 @ 11:47 am

  27. If they fire one it’ll probably hit CA. If it hits the depressed interior I don’t know if the important people in places like Marin County will even notice. Now if it hits Sonoma it’s bad news for Merlot drinkers.

    Comment by Gerald A (7d960d) — 3/8/2013 @ 12:03 pm

  28. Mr 57, Hugo Chavez didn’t hate us; the man loved us! He built up so much of his rep — and his money — by being the Defiant One, that he had to love what we did for him.

    Of course, that was in the past; anymore, he just doesn’t care. :)

    Comment by The snarky Dana (3e4784) — 3/8/2013 @ 12:10 pm

  29. Gerald, just how far into California does Flyover Territory begin?

    Comment by The Dana who was born in California (3e4784) — 3/8/2013 @ 12:11 pm

  30. Of course, Patrick H is right: it’s just so our fault that we imperialists stopped Kim Il-sung from the noble reunification of Korea.

    Comment by The Dana channeling Perry (3e4784) — 3/8/2013 @ 12:14 pm

  31. 27. If they fire one it’ll probably hit CA. If it hits the depressed interior I don’t know if the important people in places like Marin County will even notice. Now if it hits Sonoma it’s bad news for Merlot drinkers.

    Comment by Gerald A (7d960d) — 3/8/2013 @ 12:03 pm

    If it hits the Castro district of SF then we know the NORKs build homophobic WMDs. The International Criminal Court would no doubt consider that a hate crime.

    Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/8/2013 @ 12:18 pm

  32. Flyover Territory starts at the 405 I believe

    Comment by happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 3/8/2013 @ 12:19 pm

  33. 30. Of course, Patrick H is right: it’s just so our fault that we imperialists stopped Kim Il-sung from the noble reunification of Korea.

    Comment by The Dana channeling Perry (3e4784) — 3/8/2013 @ 12:14 pm

    But we let them seize the Pueblo and sink the Cheonan without bombing them willy nilly. Won’t Kim Jong Un kiss and make up?

    Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/8/2013 @ 12:20 pm

  34. I don’t think we should bomb people nilly willy, either. Bombs cost money and we should target them carefully.

    And I doubt that Kim Jong Un will ever be our friend, but we can certainly make him a former enemy real fast.

    Comment by nk (53646e) — 3/8/2013 @ 12:56 pm

  35. I’m just glad I don’t live near Sacramento, since CNN says that’s the territorial limit of the NORK ICBM’s – it must be, they had a graphic on-screen showing a missile-track from NoKor to a point just NE of the Bay Area.
    Whew, SoCal dodges another bullet!

    Comment by askeptic (2bb434) — 3/8/2013 @ 1:01 pm

  36. Comment by Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/8/2013 @ 9:15 am

    But Sammy, the Left has been telling us for 30-yrs that Star Wars was a delusion by a bunch of Reich-wing nuts.
    Now they’re telling us not to worry about the NORK’s , that a missile-defense shield will save us?
    Who’s blowing smoke here?

    Comment by askeptic (2bb434) — 3/8/2013 @ 1:05 pm

  37. BTW, “flyover country” starts at the “5″ north of the Tehachipi’s.

    Comment by askeptic (2bb434) — 3/8/2013 @ 1:09 pm

  38. There is no life East of Lincoln.

    Comment by ropelight (befff5) — 3/8/2013 @ 1:18 pm

  39. Well, all of SoCal has been described as an intellectual wasteland.

    Comment by askeptic (2bb434) — 3/8/2013 @ 1:19 pm

  40. Correction, that would be a biological wasteland.

    Comment by ropelight (befff5) — 3/8/2013 @ 1:46 pm

  41. No, that’s what Gertrude Stein, said of Oakland in the 20s.

    Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 3/8/2013 @ 1:54 pm

  42. Stephen Colbert comedy routine about this: (mildly plays to ignorance)

    http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/03/stephen-colbert-north-korea-propaganda/62889/

    Comment by Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/8/2013 @ 2:00 pm

  43. I think it was as recent as the Fifties that the NYT described L.A. and Hollywood as intellectual wasteland; and didn’t Gertrude just say about Oakland that “there’s no there there”, which covers quite a bit.

    Comment by askeptic (b8ab92) — 3/8/2013 @ 2:05 pm

  44. I just want to know how long it’s going to be before Obama claims Kim Jong Un’s threats of nuclear war are entirely the fault of the House GOP and the meat cleaver they took to the defense budget with the sequester.

    Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/8/2013 @ 2:09 pm

  45. Root causes people. Root causes.

    Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/8/2013 @ 2:14 pm

  46. Missile shields are bad. Palestinians are good.
    Poland bad. Russia good.
    Drones killing in sovereign countries, without countries permission good. Waterboarding Bad.
    Asking if Obama has Constitutional authority to drone kill Americans not in combat BAD. Attorney General not being willing to answer question good.
    McCain and Her Royal highness Lindsey Graham useless as Obama’s law license.

    Comment by dana gilbert ward (694db4) — 3/8/2013 @ 2:26 pm

  47. who are the worst are those nasty egyptians

    they rape everything that moves and they’re just such vicious anti-semites

    Comment by happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 3/8/2013 @ 2:32 pm

  48. Arab Spring!!! It’s just like Irish Spring, except it stinks and rapes.

    Comment by dana gilbert ward (694db4) — 3/8/2013 @ 2:37 pm

  49. President Obama should make a formal declaration that the US obligation under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to not target non-nuclear states with nuclear weapons no longer applies to North Korea, and that any such attack, successful or unsuccessful, by North Korea on US or Allied targets will be responded to in kind, if not in degree.

    Comment by Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 3/8/2013 @ 3:57 pm

  50. By the way, should we end up changing the Nork regime, I suggest a simple test for criminality: anyone of average weight or above.

    Comment by Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 3/8/2013 @ 4:03 pm

  51. The NORKs need to chill out. No one likes rude and threatening commies.

    Comment by Dave Surls (46b08c) — 3/8/2013 @ 4:35 pm

  52. Comment by Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 3/8/2013 @ 4:03 pm

    Aren’t the Kims on the short side?
    Do you want to make criminals of short-people, or tall-people?

    Comment by askeptic (2bb434) — 3/8/2013 @ 5:12 pm

  53. I believe Kevin wants criminals made of the well-nourished NORKS as the implication is they are Kim’s boys or Kim’s “Republican Guard” as it were

    Comment by Angelo (e49fd7) — 3/8/2013 @ 8:52 pm

  54. To be honest, as long as they do it while The PotUS is doing his SOTU speech…. I think I can deal with that, actually.

    Comment by Smock Puppet, 10th Dan Snark Master and CRIS Diagnostic Expert (98ae1f) — 3/8/2013 @ 11:22 pm

  55. Quick, Rodman, to the Batsh*t-Crazy-Mobile!

    Comment by Icy (3693bf) — 3/9/2013 @ 7:21 am

  56. I believe Kevin wants criminals made of the well-nourished NORKS as the implication is they are Kim’s boys or Kim’s “Republican Guard” as it were

    Yes. Much the same way you’d tell the concentration camp guards from the prisoners.

    Comment by Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 3/9/2013 @ 9:00 am

  57. North Korea should have had their nuclear sites stomped right after their first bomb test. If they had been, we’d not be worrying about Iran right now.

    It is still not too late

    Comment by Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 3/9/2013 @ 9:01 am

  58. North Korean leadership realizes that the overwhelming power of the United States nuclear machine with 3,000 operational and 7,000 nuclear weapons overall would, turn their country into a charcoal briquette and the United States’ strategy with the right-wing government in South Korea in pressuring China, North Korea’s traditional ally, to go along with the program since China fears that there’s growing danger of an actual war in the Pacific to isolate North Korea. North Korea has carried out a nuclear test, the third responding to the major massive United States military exercises that are conducted in a way to stage a mock invasion and bombing of North Korea which was indeed invaded. Twenty years ago after the demise of the Soviet Union the United States strategic command reoriented hydrogen bombs away from the Soviet Union and targeting North Korea. And that’s when the North Korea withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and began building its own nuclear capacity.

    Last month North Korea said the lesson of the Libyan and the Iraq invasion when the United States either invaded or bombed governments that were targeted, that both of those governments had agreed to disarm, had abandoned any weapons of mass destruction, and the North Korean interpretation of that is, if you disarm, the US will not say, “Thank you, let’s have peace”, but the US will say, “Thank you, now we can prepare more aggressively for an invasion or a bombing campaign.” North Korea is determined not to let that happen, and that’s how they view the development of their nuclear arsenal – it’s strictly defensive, it’s not a threat.

    The economic sanctions by United States are having a very big impact and are now basically depriving North Korea of access to international banking. United States hopes if it can break China, it will do it to Korea what it did to Iraq as a precursor to regime change. Again,

    United States needs to stop threatening North Korea and needs to sign a peace treaty, which it refuses to do, and actually end the Korean War, rather than just armistice, which was on July 26, 1953, 60 years ago. United States needs to lift the sanctions, and need to normalize relations. That almost happened in the last eight days of the Bill Clinton administration, it was the beginning of a thaw, the United States could go by that road, but it seems that the Barrack Obama administration is acting a lot like George W. Bush.

    The Korean Peninsula is so hot, so tense; it’s the most heavily-militarized part of the world. Even though none of the countries, none of the parties want a full-scale war, any small incident in the Korean Peninsula could lead to both sides stepping on the escalation ladder. That’s how wars start, even when there’s no intention for war. The need now is to reduce tensions, and the onus for that is not on North Korea which is not threatening the United States, it’s the United States that should stop carrying out war games simulating the invasion and bombing of North Korea and lift sanctions.
    It’s a clear result of China pursuing an appeasement foreign policy with the United States after the Obama administration announced the pivot of Asia. The United States is militarizing its presence in the Pacific; China is very worried that the Korean Peninsula could become a spark causing a larger conflagration right on its own boundaries. So China is upset with North Korea, but North Korea isn’t listening to China, North Korean leadership is not thinking mainly about China but it is thinking how it can avoid being collapsed, either by economic sanctions, or military pressure, or combination of both.

    Comment by Nalliah Thayabharan (9759d8) — 3/9/2013 @ 5:28 pm

  59. tell me more about this charcoal briquette

    Comment by happyfeet (8ce051) — 3/9/2013 @ 5:50 pm

  60. Nalliah, you are a raving nut. North Korea has no interest in a “peace treaty” at all. North Korea is the nation that starts up artillery bombardments for no reason.

    And your view of China is literally the opposite of what is actually occurring.

    Comment by SPQR (768505) — 3/9/2013 @ 5:52 pm

  61. We need to send Madeleine Albright back to North Korea to eat all their food again.

    Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/9/2013 @ 6:00 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.3198 secs.