Why Not Talk Directly? I do not understand the Bush Administration's refusal to talk directly, one-on-one, with North Korea about its nuclear weapons program.
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Isn't it good to open a channel of communication and speak directly with people who have a problem trusting you?
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North Korea is very dangerous to us if, as it claims, it has nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. Kim Jong Il is, recent news reports suggest, insecure and emotional but not insane, as had been widely speculated. If that is true, then surely he should be able to understand that nuclear weapons endanger him far more than they could protect him.
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If he were insane, it would be urgent to kill him and destroy all military installations that could possibly be used to launch a nuclear strike against the United States, thru a "shock and awe" campaign employing long-range missiles, cruise missiles, and manned and unmanned airplanes. Such a campaign from the air should suffice to destroy the threat to the U.S. and South Korea.
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If Kim is afraid of precisely that kind of thing, he can be made to understand that pursuing weapons of mass destruction that can reach our shores makes such an attack far more likely than would discontinuing programs to create such weapons systems, destroying existing stocks, and even substantially disarming. He cannot believe that South Korea is eager to invade, and if China takes North Korea under its defense umbrella, which the U.S. could actually encourage in exchange for giving up nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, he will have nothing to fear from the United States either — well, not unless and until China itself makes war upon the United States, which some people in the Pentagon believe it is preparing for, down the road.
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Unlike Saddam's Iraq, North Korea admits to having nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, so really is a danger to us. The longer we wait to attack, the more dangerous it becomes. Kim must understand that continuing to pursue nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles practically assures that the U.S. will ravage his country, since the Pentagon's understanding is that if we attack by air, North Korea will attack the South by land and sea, so we will have to destroy the entire North Korean military, possibly with nuclear weapons of our own, tactical (small blast) or even strategic (huge blast). In the case of nuclear weapons, we really can't afford to suffer a first-strike upon our own territory.
- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 7:35 PM