US seeks 'tough' N Korea sanctions

[geetrue]

In a brief study of the North Korean vs the South Korean problem unfolding ...it is easy to see that the upper hand is with the North if knowledge is an edge that is.

I speak of the knowledge they have of our military and our leadersWe seriously don't know enough about our enemy to try and out guess their next move.

True our people here (USA), the population of South Korean and the world itself knows more about the suffering and trials and tribulations of the North Korean peoples themselves than we know about the leadership of the North.

We know the leaders lie, cheat and steal from their own people that much we know.

We know that the leader is young, but is he impulsive?Here is an interesting find about the evil axis of North Korean/Iran and chose between Pakistan or Syira for the third party.

If you have time take a look at what they have been up to and see what I mean by they know more about us than we know about them.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/claudiar...eration/Indeed

, the recent Scientific Cooperation Agreement between North Korea and Iran bears an alarming resemblance not only to North Korea’s 2002 nuclear deal with Syria, but to a 1993 missiles-for-nuclear-technology bargain between North Korea and Pakistan, according to John Tkacik, director of the Future Asia Project at the International Assessment and Strategy Center.

Tkacik points as a reminder to his written testimony to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last year, in which he described how during a 1993 trip to Pyongyang, the late Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, with the apparent backing of China, reportedly delivered “critical nuclear data” to North Korea, in exchange for North Korean missile components and designs.

Out of these webs of proliferation activities, it is the Iran-North Korea connection that has been emerging as the most virulent, immediate threat. As business partners, they are a particularly neat fit. Iran, with its visions of empire, has oil money.

Cash-hungry North Korea has nuclear technology, an outlaw willingness to conduct tests, and long experience in wielding its nuclear ventures to extort concessions from the U.S. and its allies. Both countries are adept at spinning webs of front companies to dodge sanctions. Both are enriching uranium. The stage is set for North Korea, having shopped ever more sophisticated missiles to Iran, to perfect and deliver the warheads to go with them.

[Oberon]

One would hope that the CIA has a few KPA officers on its payroll, but the DPRK must be one of the hardest nations to operate spies in. Certainly no information can be made public about the internal workings of the DPRK otherwise the safety of the informants would be put very much at risk.

But yes, as an old saying goes "If knowledge is power, then to be unknown is to be unconquerable" although in terms of military force, I'm not so sure that works for the DPRK, but when it comes to second guessing them, you might as well just flip a coin.

[Jimbuna]

I'd be more inclined to return to the negotiating table with them and do so publicly...once negotiations break down (probably inevitable) draw a line in the sand in full view of the world and if they cross it, start taking out military targets via the usual rocket and missile weapons means (non nuclear).

The minute his armed forces start hurting I would hope they'd turn on him and sue for peace or a resumption of sabre rattling only.

I'll get my coat.

[Wolferz]

I would be asking them (DPRK) if they can grow rice and cabbage in radioactive soil?
The combined nuclear arms of the world could conceivably separate the Korean peninsula from the mainland. I think even China would feel obliged to deliver a few of their own, along with every other super power, if they decided to launch a single ICBM at anyone.

[gimpy117]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

I would be asking them (DPRK) if they can grow rice and cabbage in radioactive soil?
The combined nuclear arms of the world could conceivably separate the Korean peninsula from the mainland. I think even China would feel obliged to deliver a few of their own, along with every other super power, if they decided to launch a single ICBM at anyone.

As if. All you would need is one nuke on Pyongyang

[geetrue]

Needed more research, but when I looked at the date on this report I couldn't believe that ten (10) years had gone by.

The report even states what I believe is a major problem.

Simply this, "we do not understand our enemy"

http://faculty.washington.edu/sangok...th%20Korea.htm

The Bush Administration and North Korea’s Nuclear Program
Revised as of April 6, 2003

Shortly after the DPRK expelled IAEA inspectors, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld remarked pointedly that “the United States is perfectly capable of fighting on two theaters at once”—

signaling to North Korea that they shouldn’t take advantage of the USA’s preoccupation with Iraq. CIA Director George Tenet sent a tremor of worry through the United States news media when he testified to the Senate Armed Forces Committee on February 12th of this year (2003) (the day before the IAEA meeting that found North Korea in material breech of the NPT) that North Korea has nuclear armed missiles capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States.

(This “news” actually recycled the 1998 Rumsfeld report that was itself highly exaggerated) Within a few days of Tenet’s testimony the North Koreans announced the resumption of missile tests that had been on hold since 1998.

Note: this study was done ten years ago and is still true today

People sometimes ask me, “Why are the North Koreans doing these terrible things.” It is not easy to answer in one or two sentences. These issues have been simmering for a long time, and so they can be correctly understood only in historical context.

The activities of North or South Korea, however, rarely make the news except when a crisis emerges. Thus, the little day-to-day events that precipitate the crises are rarely on people’s minds. Much of what the North Koreans do is a reaction to US actions or policies, but most of the actions and policies of the US that disturb North Korea are either not reported in the media, or are buried in policy documents that only wonks—in addition to the North Koreans—ever read.

The result of these conditions is that much what the North Koreans do that in fact is rational and systematic from their point of view seems erratic and foolish to even a well-informed American.

In addition to the problem that the US policies to which the North Koreans are reacting are seldom widely know outside the community of policy specialists, is the problem that the solution to North Korea issues can only be successful if it is in harmony with the wants and desires of North Korea’s most powerful neighbors—China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea.

As the US media seldom report extensively on how the Chinese, Russians, Japanese, and South Koreans understand the world­—and frequently even specialists lack insight in this area—ordinary citizens lack crucial information they need to assess whether proposed solutions to the North Korean nuclear issue are realistic or not. When it comes to expectations of what China should do to solve the North Korean issues, misconceptions of Chinese views of the world and their influence on North Korea are especially pervasive.