Should military intervention be used in the case of North Korea? (Details)

I’ll hold my opinion, for now…

They don’t have food to feed their people and you are concerned about their intentions!!! Nuclear weapon is just a dream to them. Chill…

If the US can do it intelligently, which is sort of open to question.

First, what;s the goal? Is it to wipe out nukes, or is it to dump the leader? Makes a big difference.

Second, do we have plans for Day 2 – once we have the country, what do we do with it? There a millions of hungry people there. Will the US have the responsibility of feeding them? Will China?

Third, are we trying to convert NK to a democracy? That will take a generation or two. Is the US really wanting to get into regime change and social change for 50 years? I doubt it.

The bottom line is that it is really easy “invade them” and “bomb them”, buy it’s the results of that action that need a lot of thought.

Just look at Iraq after Saddam.

In a word – no. We don’t know our ass from our elbow anymore.

No.

Mind your own business and pipe down with that colonialist crap. This “we have the right to decide what other countries do” is the main reason people tend to hate the US.

Don’t you have your own problems to deal with before you go “fixing” other countries?

An no, I don’t refer to you personally, you can pout down the pitchfork. I refer to the shamelessly colonialist politics of the US.

Our best bet would be to drop Trump on Pyongyang without a parachute and hope he lands on Kim Jong-un.

No. They have nuclear weapons for this very reason, fear that the USA and its allies will invade them. They will likely use them if this happens. Nukes are a cheap defense against larger military forces (e.g. NATO vs. the larger conventional forces of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.).

Is it a good idea that they have nuclear bombs? Absolutely not. The great leader likes to rant and bluster, leave them be and keep working on diplomatic solutions.

We don’t even have diplomatic ties with North Korea. They are isolationist. It’s what Trump wants to do with the US. Having said that, what little we do have to do with North Korea has to do with sending them food. Yes, the US sends North Korea food and humanitarian aide in the same fashion as you bring your Crazy Aunt the cat lady supplies so she doesn’t show up at your house or at any of the family get togethers.

As far as North Korean engineering abilities, have you ever seen a North Korean made car?
http://mashable.com/2015/11/01/north-korea-cars/#eoNMooZEyiqP

How do you think China would react to Drumpf waging a war on their doorstep?

They use nuke threats to bargain with. While we should not ignore them we don’t really need to do much about them.

Loli got it, don’t fuck with China.

Make no bones about it, and spell it out to China in no uncertain terms. If push comes to shove, pre-emptive action should not be out of the question.

@mhd14 They don’t have food to feed their people and you are concerned about their intentions!!!

All the more so. Hungry people are capable of extremes.

I would like to see China or Russia try to restrain NK.

I also think it’s China’s “job” to handle North Korea.

Let’s set up a few THAAD – ER systems and charge regional nations a monthly fee if they’d like their cities protected. Design the fee schedule so the system pays for itself in 3 years.

(Test shots from last year.)

@LuckyGuy We make our own here in Scandinavia, thanks. (we cooperate with improving designs)
One example:
https://www.kongsberg.com/en/kds/products/missilesystems/jointstrikemissile/
Another exmple:
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/norwegian-contract-launches-nsm-missile-03417/

I’m just sharing this to let folks know that other countries build weapons, too.

I’ve heard that most long range, missile defense systems only have a 50–60% chance of stopping a projectile detected incoming,rather than from it’s launch point.

Israel’s “Iron Dome” system works well. But that is against shorter range, slower moving missiles. An ICBM would be much more difficult to stop. Which is why North Korea’s rocket tests are a big deal,and violate their sanctions. They have the warhead. But no reliable delivery system.

Yes. Yes. They want nukes to level the playing field a bit. But their (Kim’s) stupid, inflammatory rhetoric, is just going to push someone like Trump into another stupid, knee jerk reaction.

With Trump in office, it’s now two narcissistic, insecure, ill informed, angry, bullies, in a game where they’re playing with house money. Both could throw their country, and the world, into chaos, with little to no care of the well being of the civilian casualties,on either side. Someone has to blink…My guess, is one/both of them, make some really bad decisions.

I thought about asking “can Trump, and Lil’ Kim coexist for 4 years?” But settled for the question at hand.

I can’t hold my mouth anymore. I think it’s BS. The US has to show restraint here,as in years past, and just let the N. Korean dog bark. I agree that their bellicose rhetoric has to be addressed. But it cannot lead to war.

Lots of GA’s here. I’m proud that not all people are so ready to go to war. Most,who know me, know that I don’t really think that war is a viable option in any case.

I apologize for getting some here so worked up. But (as some here know,)I ask some inflammatory questions to illicit an emotional response. I feel that emotions spice up debate…

Thanks for putting up with this question. Please spread your peaceful, and thoughtful feelings with the world. War is hell, and should be a very last resort…

Trump needs to be impeached and Pence needs to go with him. I would not really be happy with a Paul Ryan in charge, but I think he is more centrist than the first two. He has seemed to mellow a wee bit since he got to Washington. (he was on my radar early, because I’m a Wisconsin girl and I can’t forgive what he and Scott Walker did to the state I was born in.)

This cartoon, Hair Trigger , comes to mind.

LOL. Good editorial looking comic.

I like this one. It’s more comprehensive. http://www.ih8trump.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/cartoon-bull-in-china-shop-635x485.png

There is no best way to deal with North Korea militarily that doesn’t spell disaster for South Korea.

North Korea’s primary military objective, should it be attacked, is to focus its military strength on the destruction of Seoul. This is well known among anyone who has ever looked at the situation there for more than a few minutes. The population of the “city proper” is estimated at over 10 million, and the metropolitan area – the second largest in the world – is something over 25 million, half of all of the residents of South Korea.

In effect, then, Seoul is being held hostage by North Korea, and every military and political plan for “dealing with” North Korea has to recognize this. (Also, Seoul is within range of all NK artillery, and the South Korean military, if it were mobilized to defend a potential or likely attack, would probably trigger that response from the North. This is why all war gaming activity around the peninsula has to be announced well in advance, so as not to precipitate a devastating attack. It also accounts for why very strong provocation from the North, such as their shelling of a SK island several years ago, does not incur a much stronger i.e., ‘military’ response.) This is why all dealings with NK are “diplomatic only”.

Now that you know that you’re dealing with a hostage situation consisting of millions of people, a timescale of minutes and an unstable hostage taker, what do you think of your military options?

South Korea is awesome. We really don’t want to have another war on the peninsula. It was so stupid. It’s like, we just got the scale to balance, now don’t put another rice grain on either side.

The US, especially under Trump, should not attack North Korea.

China needs to be considered. If intervention is called for, China should probably do it. What their criteria for doing so is, I don’t know.

Trump likes to make mistakes.

I agree. Military intervention should not be encouraged because it will just make the matter worse. The North Korean government feels aggravated when other countries try to intervene with their whereabouts.

North Korea isn’t just trying to ACT like a big wheel, they want to BE a big wheel. That’s why they keep pushing everybody else’s buttons. Nobody is aggravating them as much as they are aggravating themselves, or acting like they are being aggravated. They have a chip on their shoulder that they WANT knocked off!

North Korea is sorta like that little 8 lb dog across the street that likes to bark at everything in sight, even (especially) the much larger dogs. A lot of noise, but little actual threat. Best to just let it bark.

@Darth_Algar A tiny little dog you can’t really get to without breaking through a fence, with a much more formidable and unpredictable owner. And there’s a rumor the dog has an infected bite.

@Zaku Right on!

That might be belaboring the metaphor a tad.

North Korea keeps on threatening South Korea. Their president is very aggressive. I wonder what’s their real plan.

^ Then let South Korea deal with it.

^Or China.

SK is actually getting tired from their threats. But, is it true that US warships are being sent over to North Korea? I’ve been too busy lately so I just heard it from my mom.

A US carrier group is in the area, yes. It’s more of a show of force. The US suspected that NK would attempt another missile launch on the birthday of the country’s founding father. The carrier group is a warning that the US is growing tired of the launches, and repeated sabre rattling, and bellicose rhetoric.

Allegedly, a NK missile was fired, but exploded almost immediately upon launch. Trump has not responded publicly (that I’m aware of.)

At this point, it seems Trump will use NK as leverage with China in regards to upcoming trade talks. If China keeps NK under control, they will get better terms in trade deals with the US…

That’s why most of my colleagues in SK are panicking. I think the North Korean government really has its way of provoking Trump.
I hope it will not lead to something worse.

@Sneki95 It’s a UN issue. Members not doing anything in the event of aggression against South Korea would be a violation of the UN charter, and probably the SEATO pact as well.