Has North Korea joined the thermo-nuclear club?

[John Hill]

Did somebody mention possums?

[Chuks]

Did somebody mention that North Korea claims to have the H-bomb?

[dubbleyew eight]

chucks were you a personal friend of W.C. Fields?

[Stoneboat]

From the BBC article...

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was speedily convened. There will be efforts to draft a resolution condemning the North's actions as a violation of international law.

That'll scare the living sh1t right outta them.

[BenThere]

So, in a better world, wouldn't the powers that be, whether UNSC, NATO, et al., just decide to splat the NK regime once and for all, rescue the North Korean people, feed them, and restore civilization managed by their South Korean kin? Despite NK's claims to WMD, its regime could be reduced to a rubble in one day of allied resolve. Why don't we get this over with before it really becomes an existential threat?

[500N]

Because you can't splat NK without bringing China into the fold.
Nothing will happen without China, unless you potentially want war with China.

[rgbrock1]

Because you can't splat NK without bringing China into the fold.
Nothing will happen without China, unless you potentially want war with China.

Uhhhh, NO. I agree, China has to handle this. Whether silently, behind the scenes, or with overt threats to rein in Kim Fat Wun.

[BenThere]

China should increasingly see that their bread is not buttered by NK. But China is an inscrutable, by definition, bunch, and may keep NK on its tether for another generation, so long as the NK bunch don't actually pull the nuclear trigger. Once they do that they're toast from all sides.

Unfortunately, lunatics aren't always dissuaded from the fear of certain destruction, and can cause serious damage.

On our side, North Korea can't feed itself or survive on its own.

[500N]

I think China has already seen it. It just has a problem with how to solve it.

[John Hill]

How about trying something new such as putting aside all this ineffective Rambo crap and start some significant positive interaction?

[BenThere]

Get real, JH. Positive interaction has been tried many times. Like Lucy and Charley Brown, NK always pulls the football away. That approach doesn't work.

The sooner the people of NK are liberated from their agony, the better. It's not going to happen unless the regime is taken out, by whoever, not necessarily the US as we've moved away from that role. Maybe the Kiwis'll will step up!? (That's a joke, Son).

Your allusion to Rambo is noted, but is something I would characterize as non sequitur, and puerile.

[John Hill]

Positive interaction has been tried many times.

Some examples would not be hard to find then?

[BenThere]

Some examples would not be hard to find then?

Of course not. Are you aware of the various research tools, such as Google, available to you?

[John Hill]

I am sure that you too are aware that anyone who makes an assertion must, if called upon, produce evidence to support his assertion or forfeit the point.

[BenThere]

Not necessarily. Sometimes you can make an assertion and its logic is immediately clear, prima facie.

In other cases, you can transfer the burden of proof by simply directing your adversary to look for himself, taking advantage of all the tools available, such as the internet. No forfeiture is required, or even implied if good faith rules are observed.

In this case, attempts have been made to cajole or negotiate the North Korean regime into an accommodation both of its and its opponents interests, without any measure of lasting success.

While you choose to characterize international opposition to the regime in North Korea as 'Rambo', sentient observers see it otherwise.

[dubbleyew eight]

I think it is called "coventry". if we can't deal with your sherbet and you won't be reasonable go and sit in coventry. btw it's quite a lonely place.

the NK girl Park has a book out on her desperate attempts just to stay alive there, and her escape. it was just too depressing to buy and read.

china will do nothing to sort out NK.
when Park and her mother escaped over the border they fell into the hands of chinese human traffickers for years and eventually had to walk the gobi desert to escape them.
china is a country and people that have survived thousands of years but doesn't yet have a culture beyond subsistence.

[John Hill]

Not necessarily.

Bullsh1t!

[Chuks]

John Hill loves this tactic. He puts something up and then demands proof of the counter-argument, proof that satisfies his demands. We saw it first with his "Who Started the Korean War," what brought him to prominence, albeit prominence like that of a carbuncle, over at the Other Place.

You will note that he has been very careful not to take any position himself, merely throwing out a clipping or two and some subtle hints. That says it all, really.

[Chuks]

John pretends not to know about this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Policy

And he pretends not to know about this, either:

Despite the Sunshine Policy and efforts at reconciliation, the progress was complicated by North Korean missile tests in 1993, 1998, 2006, 2009, and 2013. As of early 2009, relationships between North and South Korea were very tense; North Korea had been reported to have deployed missiles, ended its former agreements with South Korea, and threatened South Korea and the United States not to interfere with a satellite launch it had planned.

North and South Korea are still technically at war (having never signed a peace treaty after the Korean War) and share the world's most heavily fortified border. On May 27, 2009, North Korean media declared that the Armistice is no longer valid because of the South Korean government's pledge to "definitely join" the Proliferation Security Initiative. To further complicate and intensify strains between the two nations, the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March 2010, is affirmed by the South Korean government to have been caused by a North Korean torpedo, which the North denies. President Lee Myung-bak declared in May 2010 that Seoul would cut all trade with North Korea as part of measures primarily aimed at striking back at North Korea diplomatically and financially, except for the joint Kaesong Industrial Project, and humanitarian aid. North Korea initially threatened to sever all ties, to completely abrogate the previous pact of non-aggression, and to expel all South Koreans from a joint industrial zone in Kaesong, but backtracked on its threats and decided to continue its ties with South Korea. Despite the continuing ties, Kaesong industrial zone has seen a large decrease in investment and manpower as a result of this military conflict.

That took all of one minute using Wikipedia to find out about, yet here is this fellow who pretends to expertise about Korea yet who appears not to know about any of this! Come on, John, stop pretending! Either you know a lot about Korea or else you don't; you can't have it both ways. I can't get at you over at the Other Place, since Rob has given you a pass on all of your BS, while you are very, very quick to go running to him whining about the big boys eating your lunch. Here, though, it's an even playing field, which seems to leave you sulking back there behind the bicycle shed much of the time. Come now, play up and play the game.

[Clever and Cunning.]

Not necessarily.

Bullsh1t!

Yep, you're pretty well full of it.