North Korea -- What should be do?

Let's assume for the sake of argument that China will stay out of the way if we decide to attack North Korea. Perhaps their motive is to annex it after the fact. That said, what's your position? Multiple votes allowed.

Very hard one. With any military action there is going to be a LOT of civilian deaths in both Koreas. Easy to say bomb them but the real risk is that they won't think twice about unloading on South Korea without any consideration of who they kill. Maybe that's just a risk you have to accept though. I wouldn't think allowing them to continue along the nuclear path would be acceptable either.

Trying to imagine if Trump would be a President who could actually order a first strike and surprise N. Korea.

How else are you going to knock N. Korea out without giving them a chance to fire their 40 thousand odd artillery pieces into S. Korea? And perhaps a nuclear weapon or two.

And the answer is -- Yeah. Trump is a not a careful person, and if anyone would order it, Trump would. Doesn't mean he will, but I think he would be capable of it.

To me, because of the situation there, there is no sense waging any kind of slower invasion. You'd just be getting a lot of S. Koreans killed before you won.

So, just make it mostly N. Koreans who die and do it quickly, or not at all.

N Korea is bluffing as always. They want money
and are testing Trump. They aren't stupid, they
know they would get wiped off the map like
an oil smudge. It's the same old crap they
always pull.

I am probably repeating myself, but nobody wants N Korea to fall.

S Korea does not want to pay for reintegration. In any case, the population is too nuts to integrate, they could not survive the real world.

China wants the buffer state. As does Russia to a lesser extent.

USA wants a reason to keep China bottled up.

Japan has no need for an even more competitive rival in a united Korea.


N Korea cannot really do more than threaten. They know if they attack, they lose. And they lose it all.

Keeping them isolated is probably the best result. Trump is a calculating person, he will not rush into an invasion. He may knock one of their missile tests out of the sky, but for him to order a full-scale war? I just do not see it.

Quote: rxwine

How else are you going to knock N. Korea out without giving them a chance to fire their 40 thousand odd artillery pieces into S. Korea? And perhaps a nuclear weapon or two.

Well also Japan and possibly Anchorage as well (5600 km from Pyongyang).

Taepodong-2 is estimated that a two-stage variant would have a range of around 4,000 km and a three-stage variant would be capable of reaching as far as 4,500 km , giving it potentially the longest range in the North Korean missile arsenal.

Speculative variants of the missile could be capable of a range of approximately 9,000 km .

SShhhh.
Its an open secret that North Korea overfishes the oceans, sponsors state-targeted counterfeiting, smuggles vast quantities of narcotics and does all this in partnership with Syria and with Putin.
Technology creep has been going on for decades, so North Korean submarines get more stealthy each day and their missles get better each day.
Each administration refuses to attack such uncivilized states as North Korea, Syria, Russia, Iran. Iran sponsors the terrorism in Europe and North Africa and we do nothing.
Perhaps its too late... perhaps a "Munich-like appeasement point" has already passed. I don't know. Israel should never have sold the Golan Heights to Syria. Syria's appetite is endless.

If we are to strike at North Korea we will have to strike at their submarines, surface vessels, merchant fleet, land-based missles and air force at the same time. We don't have the guts to do it and I'm not sure that we have the capabiity due to prior weapons creep. We fell so far behind in ASW warfare that even North Korean subs are too stealthy for us.

What can we do? Increase the drone war to enlighten the North Koreans to overthrow their leaders? North Korea is a great source of income for South Korea due to the fear of aggression. The USA pays and pays for North Korea's activities but never attacks. We pay for Iran's terrorism. We pay for Putin's crimes.

Our ships are old, our planes are old ... we have been a Paper Tiger too long. We can't even roar properly anymore much less actually attack anyone. Our oh so politically correct military proved that during the Iranian Hostage Crisis with its rainbow all-services team rather than an effective team that could get the job done. The team failed and the officers failed the most.

We hesitated in Benghazi until it became hopeless then we swung into a sort of action' that was doomed from the start.

Its likely to be More of the Same in North Korea. Life goes on. Whitewash is applied and all is well with the world.

There's a three-step approach to begin with:

1) Fire Tillerson
2) Fire Trump
3) Get an adult with foreign policy experience in the room.

Quote: Fleastiff

North Korean submarines get more stealthy each day and their missles get better each day.

While it is true that proliferation of submarine technology has been going on for decades, North Korea really can't afford to stay current. There submarines are old and will probably never be updated.

As to missiles, your statement is undoubtedly true, and they have the advantage of having two of the most important cities in the world within short range.