You know, I don’t talk about it much and it is really not at the forefront of my thoughts, but we are here in Korea for one reason: to deter North Korean aggression. It’s been working out pretty well for the last 50 years. But we are dealing with a madman in Kim Jung Il. Well, we aren’t really dealing with him, and that’s a problem. My sense of things is that the US wants to take a more aggressive posture, while the ROK is still in an appeasement mode. I think history has proven countless times what appeasement ultimately buys: disaster.

So what’s to be done? I’m all for finding a peaceful solution, but that presupposes having a leader in the North that is not insane. Allowing Kim to build a nuclear stockpile is simply unacceptable and would undermine any hopes for regional stability. But there is no easy fix, and once again we are paying the price for President Clinton’s misguided policies. I don’t know what President Bush is going to do, but he has proven he won’t sit on his hands if a threat to our national security exists. A great Korean blog, The Bass Hole, has some interesting perspectives on this situation. I hope it doesn’t come to this. But it might.

This does not bode well for anyone. If we used nuclear tipped bunker busters we risk radiating hundreds of thousands of people in N. Korea, Japan, S. Korea, and depending on a change in wind direction, China and Russia too. This could well spark WWIII. The only real alternative is a conventional bombing campaign so relentless and enduring the N. Koreans would have to be shaken senseless in order to deny them a chance to significantly respond. I’m sure they will still get off a few rounds of their 5,000 tons of chemical artillery, and the missile test Sunday showed they have improved their Russian bought Frogs to 120KM range, easily within striking distance of the US hub in Pyeongtaek (so much for fishing). Any sustained aerial bombardment would have to be followed with a lightning raid North by allied troops to take the ground and try and secure the nukes before they can be fired or relocated. This is a tar baby of astronomical proportions, but I don’t doubt for a minute George Bush isn’t contemplating ending this evil empire on his watch. If he doesn’t do it, we may very well have 8 more years of Democrats in office who would ignore the problem or strike a deal similar to Clinton’s which only bought the U.S. a false sense of security, but bought the Norks more time to conduct their clandestine nuke development.

Read it all. And pray that our leaders have the courage and wisdom to find an appropriate way to resolve this problem once and for all. The Eighth U.S. Army’s mantra is “be ready to fight tonight”. I hope we are.