North Korea - Now What?

The North Koreans have missed the December 31, 2007 deadline they set for releasing all the information on their nuke program. Now in true N. Korean fashion instead of being conciliatory and continuing to be cooperative, they became combative again....

From the Daily Telegraph --

NORTH Korea said today it would boost its war deterrent, a day after the United States said it was sending its nuclear envoy back to Asia to discuss a disarmament deal on which Pyongyang has missed a deadline.

North Korea failed to fully account for its nuclear weapons program or answer US suspicions that it has secretly tried to enrich uranium. It was supposed to have made the declaration by the end of 2007.

"(We) will further strengthen our war deterrent capabilities in response to US attempts to initiate nuclear war," the prickly state's communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary. More....

The little schizoid Kim Jong Il once again thumbs his nose at the international community. The games we play with him are to an extent necessary. One must realize with him it is more head games and wanting to project the appearance of being important and in control.

N. Korea is NOT a country we should want to get in a war with! The American public is barely able to stomach the deaths in Iraq. A war with N. Korea would dwarf those numbers in half, if not a quarter of the time, if we were fighting them. But we should not allow ourselves to be scared when dealing with them.

One needs to recognize that most of this is rhetoric and posturing by Kimmy boy. We must understand he is not dealing in good faith and like a child will push the limit to see what he can get. I am confident with the way the President Bush is proceeding. His wearing of two hats - labeling them an axis of evil and refusing to talk with them, then subsequently sending a personal letter to Kim Jong Il, while maybe confusing and seem unorthodox to some people, this is EXACTLY the way we need to proceed.

A recent find of enriched uranium on N. Korean centrifuge tubes, North Korea stating they are still fighting the Korean War and the declaration that they are going to "boost its war deterrent," should be considered more alarming than missing the deadline. The report detailing their nuke capabilities will come it is only a matter of time. As for accuracy and transparency.... well this is North Korea. With the understanding that the report will give us more than info on their nuke program than we have now, we should only expect the report to have some inaccuracies and not be completely transparent.

The other day the USA Today ran opinion pieces with opposing views. The USA Today written opinion was watered down version of continued diplomacy, as one could expect, but they did have some valid points. The opposing view was more confrontational and much less receptive of continued diplomacy, but it also had some valid points.

In conclusion, a path somewhere between both these opinions is the way we need to proceed in dealing with this unstable leader. Not placing a value on human life, this is a game for Kim Jong Il. While we are forced to play this game with him we must keep him rolling the dice - we just have to make sure we give him to many "Get Out of Jail Free" cards.