What would you do about North Korea?

That’s a very tough one…a problem our leaders have not been able to deal with. How DO you deal with the Jungs? How can you expect reason out of unreasonable people?

I don’t know. I, too, am concerned as well.

I’d bake them a big batch of pot brownies. Then I’d ask them to tell me a story about their Grandmother. Then I’d ask if their kids needed anything and send them some presents. Then I’d ask them if they’d like to build a rocket ship together and fly off and see the rings of Saturn. Then we’d make pretty pictures and laugh about all the great times we’ve had together.

I’d make friends with them. Then I’d introduce them to my other friends. Then we could all be friends. And if one of our friends got out of line, I’d ask them what the problem was, let them know that I was their friend, and they could count on me to help make the problem go away. Then we’d all be friends again.

Ok ok I know that’s a bit unreasonable. I’d also make a batch of regular brownies. I know I’m not the only person who doesn’t get high. How rude of me.

if i was USA i’d back down and stop meddling and provoking a nuclear power that is a quarter the circumference of the globe away, ie it is nothing to do with America. So far America has managed to crank up the tension and paranoia to such a hysterical level, that people are dying nasty deaths from torpedo attacks. Realistically America knows it cannot intervene now if the two countries go to war, so unless people in America are prepared to die by the truckload, i’d go and pick a fight with a little country like Somalia or something, much safer ;)

@mammal Great answer.

I’m glad this question isn’t in General.

I’d wrap it in brown paper, tie it with a string, and mail it to Palestine.

…i’d ask kim jong il to share some of that miracle drink that makes us look young forever…waaaay better reason to have a war than over oil.

Ignore PDRK rhetoric but be prepared to kick butt if they start anything. Kim Jung-Ils saber rattling is intended for internal consumption and maintaining his family power base. He’s been playing this game for 20 years now. A personal power game; starving a brainwashed population to develop crude ballistic missiles and nuclear devices of questionable reliability.

China only backs DPRK as a counter to US backing of Taiwan. The Maoist game of physical conquest has been abandoned in favor of economic power and a sphere of influence. If China were seen as an actual aggressor, her markets for manufactured goods wood disappear. China is playing a waiting game now; waiting for the US to self-destruct as a superpower. Their leaders are willing to wait 50 years for that to happen, if necessary.

North and South Korea have been sinking each others boats and submarines for over 50 years without major conflict breaking out. The Kim regime has been playing brinkmanship games ever since their USSR financial backing dried up: provocative behavior hoping for big aid packages in exchange for stopping; then ignoring the terms and playing again for higher stakes.

If PDRK actually tried to invade ROK or actually fired its missiles at the neighbors, the US and PRC would likely act in concert to crush them. It’s in China’s interest to have a troublemaker like Kim on a leash, but if he slips his leash, he’s toast (and he knows it).

para 2 “would”, not “wood”.

@tifa Lol!!

@mammal Another Flutheresque “Americans are always wrong” answer.
If the US does not show some resolve in the Pacific Rim, it won’t be a North/South Korean problem, it will be a China/Taiwan problem.
Anyway, the Chinese do not want the Americans to to be given a “legimate” reason to pump up their presence in the Pacific Rim. They are not quite ready to counter it. They will squeeze Kim long before the US has to do more than rattle a saber.

That’s “legitimate”

@josie whether American’s are right or wrong do you really want another few million dead to try and find out? Maybe not just Oriental dudes, but potentially a few hundred thousand American Dudes on your own backyard, in the mother of all suburban BBQ’s?

besides, Communist armies don’t lose historically speaking.

@mammal The DPRK nuclear capability is based on one test shot, regarded to have been a partial yield (a “squib” shot, or failure). Their medium-range missile tests either failed shortly after launch or were wildly inaccurate. It’s questionable whether their nuclear “warheads” can even be mated to those missiles. Kim’s rhetoric has about the same value as Saddam Hussein promising the “mother of all battles” in 1990. DPRK only has the physical capability to invade the ROK; this would be a classic “quantity vs quality” battle. Unlike the Soviet Union of the 40s and China of the 50s, Kim does not have limitless reserves of cannon fodder to throw away. In any event, the PRC is his meal ticket and won’t permit him to start such a war.

As to the historicity of communist armies success, the only major wins were the USSR in WW2 (after almost losing) and the Chinese Civil War. The Korean War was a draw, the Vietnam War was a forfeit. As for losses; Eastern Front in WW1, war with Poland in the early 20s, the tiny Finnish army massacre or capture of a million Red Army troops in 1939–40, the failure of communist arms in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, and the miserable attempt to hold Afghanistan after the 1979 invasion (the USSRs “Vietnam”). China is no longer a communist state, merely a totalitarian oligarchy using the label. The DPRK is a family dynasty “tributary state” of China; a tiny ruling class and 18,000,000 undernourished slaves doing exactly what they’re told, no more, no less (a house of cards waiting to collapse).