Gunnair Gunnair:
It's an opinion piece, Zip, hardly foriegn policy.
It's an opinion piece
on foreign policy. The writer seems more intent on articulating the contempt in which he holds Kim-Jong Il and the need for immediate action of some kind.
I'd have preferred if he'd spent a little less time vilifying Kim Jong Il (a complete waste of time, because he and his regime are pretty much universally loathed outside of North Korea) and a little more time on how, in real terms, he would approach the problem, beyond "teaching him a lesson."
It's an intractable problem. To date, the general strategy has been to trust China to keep their own yard clean. However, escalating evetns have demonstrated that China can't or won't. South Korea is a valuable US ally, and a free, prosperous country. So what to do?
There are some cards in our favour. First off, the regime is universally reviled. Second of all, the regime maintains power through incredible barbarity against its own people, and regimes like that do tend to topple quickly when they start to go (right Saddam?). We also need to understand China's interests. They have no love for the North Korean regime, however, it offers them a buffer zone on that border and also they don't want the ensuing refugee crisis and nucelar arsenal security issues which collapse of the regime would bring.
Personally, I think it's time South Korea stepped up to the plate a little more.
CKA Uber 
CKA Moderator 
