The North Korean Menace
Posted on April 7th, 2009
by Daniel McCarthy |
|
Why aren’t we all taking the North Korean threat as seriously as Newt Gingrich does? Surely Kim Jong Il’s test of his scary 1950s-era rocket technology last Sunday was only a prelude to this:
Kim Jong Il Announces Plan To Bring Moon To North Korea
We can fight in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, we can fight in South America but we dont have the guts to fight in Asia any longer.
This country has already given Asia to China. We will not defend Japan, South Korea or Taiwan if it means war with China.
THERE IS ONLY ONE SOLUTION AND THAT IS TO UNITE THE KOREAS (NORTH AND SOUTH). ITS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL STOP THESE MONTHLY CRISIS FROM NORTH KOREA.
ITS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL STOP SOUTH KOREA, JAPAN AND POSSIBLY TAIWAN FROM NUCLEARIZATION.
ITS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL PREVENT A FUTURE ASIAN WAR!
A SMART PRESIDENT WOULD PUT KOREAN UNIFICATION AS THE TOP PRIORITY FOR ASIA AND GET OUT TROOPS OUT OF SOUTH KOREA.
IM FRANKLY THAT NOT EVEN NEWT IS CALLING FOR THE OBVIOUS!!!!!
Any argument becomes much better when written in all caps.
Lou,
I can see why people want unification, and it would be nice for the North to be able to trade in their present Bufoon for some good leadership, but the countries are simply too different.
This is an account of a trip to North Korea that is written by an experienced travel reporter and frequent TAC contributor.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-486079/PETER-HITCHENS-North-Korea-great-Marxist-bastion-real-life-Truman-show.html
He describes conditions far more appalling than East Germany ever endured. You can’t mix people who are starving up with people who aren’t, and not expect civil war and anarchy. Can you imagine if the Mariel Boat Lift had doubled our population?
China is willing to veto any solution rather than share a border with a strong democratic Korea. The threat of a nuclear Japan in response to the sinister antics of the North Koreans may help China change it’s perspective. I think the role of America in this may actually be counterproductive in that as Nuclear guarantors of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, we shield China from having to face the consequences of its intransigence over North Korea.
Matt, your concern over the disparities in income between the North and South are true and obvious but they are legal and logistical issues which are better faced and managed as say the EU has done with a 20 year moratorium on free movement of labor between countries. In the meantime, simple reforms by South Korea in the North could redirect existing spending to food, housing, utilities, infrastructure and education.
The issue is much bigger because the US engaging North Korea is making us look weak, filled with empty rhetoric and with our efforts in the Middle East completely incapable of being a force in Asia. Should anything happen in Asia the status quo favoring the US will collapse with China as the power center. The Great Powers need to handle great power issues like the unification of Korea. Great Powers that do not engage NKorea never expose or compromise their weakness as the US is doing.
If South Korea, the US and Japan do not put unification as the top priority, then they are going to pay a huge price in the future. History is filled with such examples. South Korea and Japan are going to be forced to go nuclear if unification doesnt happen. China just cannot be allowed to use NKorea as a proxy to scare, bully and intimidate South Korea and Japan. Failure to unify is going to create an imbalance and instability that is going to result in war.