Daniel Madsen
Professor Shirk
What to do with North Korea
For being such a small nation, North Korea has stirred up a lot of commotion amongst the world over the last thirty years. Leading with Kim Il-sung in 1948, he began the family dynasty of North Korea until his death in 1994. Taking over as heir to the throne, Kim Jong-il ruled as leader until his death in 2011. During his reign, the country was known for having terrible amounts of famine and human rights violations. He strengthened his nation’s military amended their constitution to say that he was the supreme leader of the land. After his death in 2011, the notorious Kim Jong-un took over at age twenty-seven.
Kim Jong-un has been regarded as a crazy tyrant by the media over the last six years. It is not a change of speed from the previous two leaders in which he has succeeded, but his constant threats of nuclear war are gravely concerning to the world. The problem with nuclear weapons is that they are capable of wiping out populations by the hundreds of thousands. A nuclear war has never been seen before in the world. So, when Kim Jong-un threatens attacks and tests weapons off the coast of Japan, some form of action must be taken.
There are many different approaches as to how the diffusion of North Korea should be taken. Some of the options include, but are not exclusive to, strategic patience, assassinating Kim Jong-un, bombing the country to send a message that America is a force to be reckoned with, or simply invading the country. Under the Obama Administration, strategic patience was practiced. This is a technical term for basically doing nothing unless there was truly an emergent situation arising. This worked for Obama, but it did not end the problem. It only delayed it. With the Trump Administration, the situation has become far more dangerous because we now have an American leader who is far more outspoken and volatile than the previous president. Donald Trump has been egging on Kim Jong-un for quite some time now, saying that he is not afraid of him. He even has been taunting him, calling him Rocket-Man. Whether you consider North Korea a threat, it is completely inappropriate for the President of the United States to mock another nation’s leader, especially if they are in possession of nuclear weapons.
This leads us to the important question one must reflect upon: what is the best solution for handling North Korea? If you were to ask me, I would say the best option we have is to invade the nation, liberate the people, and overthrow the government before they are capable of launching any of their weapons. This is obviously easier said than done, but I believe that taking some form of invasive action is better than bombing the nation or waiting for the nation to bomb the United States. By acknowledging Kim Jong-un’s power as legitimate, we are giving him too much credit as a leader. This is the person who has enslaved an entire nation to a suppression from freedom of speech and the outside world. The invasion needs to be swift, undetected, and fast. By taking Kim out of power, it is a start to change in the North Korean regime, as this would be the first time someone outside of the bloodline is ruling since the Truman Administration.
Dan, while I agree that North Korea is a threat to the United States and the world as a whole, I do not believe direct intervention is the correct route to take. Direct intervention of North Korea without U.N approval, especially China's approval may prove disastrous for the United State's foreign relations as it creates an image that the U.S believes itself to be above international law. Direct intervention is a good option as long as it gets approval, which knowing the U.N is next to impossible. Strategic Patience in this regard seems to be the only route.
ReplyDeleteDan! Really interesting ideas. I agree that it sounds great to invade and liberate North Koreans, however, as you said, it is extremely difficult to do so. The consequences of this could be dangerous, as North Korea does have nuclear weapons so we would need to go about invasion very, very carefully. Also, there is a large possibility that our ties with China could be endangered if we invade N. Korea, as China is really their only ally, and a strong one at that. With that being said, overall you had a great post.
ReplyDeleteKeep on doing great things.
I'm going to have to agree with Collin (for the first time ever?) on this one–direct intervention is definitely not the play here. While it is definitely frustrating to watch nothing happen and sit on the edge of your seat waiting for the worst, I think with our current administration it is wiser to stick to strategic patience; not only because of how it will impact North Korea, but because of how it will effect our relationship to the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteForeign leaders already believe Trump is a crazy maniac who is waiting for someone to look at him wrong so he can launch a nuclear weapon or invade North Korea. If the decision is made under Trump to take this action, it will ultimately reflect very poorly on America and will have diplomatic consequences for years to come. Fueling the America hate fire is definitely not something we need at this point.
Wow what an exciting trip through history your post was, Dan! It's fascinating thinking about what has happened leading to where we are today regarding North Korea. However, concerning your approach to dealing with North Korea I am not sure that a direct intervention is the best route. I think that there are far too many negative implications for the United States taking the route of world vigilante. I cannot offer up the perfect solution myself, as there are so many variables which make this situation difficult, but I agree something must be done eventually. Great seeing you staying actively involved in all the world's going-ons. We should do lunch some time if I don't pick up my cell you can reach me through my AIM, I try to update my (away) message frequently. Let me know!
ReplyDeleteChase 😀