2020-07-28

Time To End America’s 70-Year War With North Korea



Time To End America’s 70-Year War With North Korea


Community Voice
Time To End America’s 70-Year War With North Korea

Hawaii’s economy and infrastructure will not survive a nuclear war.

By Yeonhee Sophie Kim, Cheehyung Harrison Kim, Christine Ahn

June 26, 2020 · 3 min read

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Great idea.  Just difficult to get there.  When you have a tyrannical leader in N.K., he will need to want it as well.  I dont see it happening anytime soon unless his Generals have a coup against Kim. 
I'm curious about what the writers of this article expect from a formal peace treaty between N. Korea & the US. Do they expect diplomatic relations to be fully normalized, even if the Kim regime continues with all of their human rights violations? Do they expect all economic sanctions to be dropped, while NoKo continues running their "reeducation camps?" 
The truth is, ending the Korean War with a peace agreement is the precondition for denuclearization.
While I'd like this to be true, this article fails to prove it. The sad truth is that there are no good answers to the North Korea Problem, which is why it has persisted for these 70+ years.
Why can't North and South Korea do what Vietnam did and become one.  Probably due to dictators not wanting to give up absolute power.
I say US military should leave Korea but again, US military leaders also don't want to give up their powers.
All the money saved by closing down Korea could then be used for the military families housed in the US or at the other military bases.
I don't know how you get a peace agreement with somebody who doesn't want one. Personally, I think we've spent enough time and treasure protecting South Korea while it has grown to be an economic powerhouse. Bring our troops home and let the Koreas work it out. If they can make a deal the US can look to joining in on a final settlement.
Due to the armistice, traditionally the US has kept ROK an unaccompanied tour.  Meaning no family, no pets.  Makes sense when you consider that most areas on-pen are w/in arty range.  One year tours mean we have been in Korea for 70 yrs.  One yr at a time.

Last time I checked, DPRK forces have about 8 days worth of ammo for arty.  The thinking is that they would expend all of it w/in a day.  Blanketing grid squares w/ conventional and non- rounds to sow fear, panic & flight from large city centers and clog the roads.

Nowadays?  I dunno.  The threat is still there.  We (UNC) are prepared.

Yes.  This state of things should be ended.  DPRK knows they can get more from sympathizers in a state of war, than if peace broke out.  They already are getting subsidized by enemies & frenemies.  I do believe that our President is on the right track w/ his dealings w/ Mr Kim.
"Korea, a key U.S. ally. More than 170 lawmakers introduced a resolution calling for the end to the Korean War"

Ideologically and economically, the US is addicted to endless wars. Just as the Iraq government requested the US to leave Iraq and the US refused, S. Korea would find it difficult to evict US military from Korea.
The presence of US troops in Korea, is less about being a deterrent against N. Korea, as a war there would be over in minutes, because it would be nuclear. US troops are there to send a message to China. As are the US troops in Germany which are moving to Poland, to agitate Russia.
Obama, as was Trump, elected on their promises to end foreign belligerency, but neither fulfilled their campaign promises. The American public is tired of the destructive waste of endless hostilities, and the country is bankrupting itself, but the entrenched D.C. bureaucracy will continue the policy of US aggression until the bitter end.   
With Kim Yo-jong  apparently calling the shots for Kim Jong-un temporarily any kind of end to the war and unification looks bleak.  She is taking a hard stance on South Korea, already blew up the meeting building and has managed to get under the skin of the South Korean Government.  All the time put in by South Korea and Trump in the last couple of years appears to be for naught.
I view the situation on the Korean Peninsula similar to what has happened between India and Pakistan.  Two countries that were once one.  A peace treaty is unlikely to solve things as the problem is of ideology.

Just like India and Pakistan their difference in ideology will persist until one side or the other prevails.

But what does help is a stalemate.  Neither India nor Pakistan would invade each other in full scale war as they both have Nukes.

The South should build nukes and that’ll put them in a stalemate.  Then sign a peace treaty, drop sanctions and you will surprisingly have a more peaceful situation even if the North builds nukes as well.
 In reply to MauiOcean808
The US military presence in South Korea is functionally equivalent to the South Korea having nukes, and North Korea knows this.
IMHO, the fewer countries with nukes, the better.
 In reply to CATipton
Agreed, the US has South Korea protected under its nuclear arsenal and yes a world with fewer nukes would be even better.

But then this is also a world with a nuclear armed North Korea.  And the South would always have to keep the US happy and on good terms to ensure that military protection.  Quite difficult in a time with a mercurial President who keeps asking for an increase in monetary reimbursement for that protection.
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My amazing friends Sophie Yeonhee and
Christine Ahn
 and I wrote something on why we need a peace treaty with North Korea, from the position of our place in Hawai'i and its working people. (Unbelievable that I get to engage and write daily with these two incredibly inspiring friends!)
CIVILBEAT.ORG
Time To End America’s 70-Year War With North Korea
Hawaii’s economy and infrastructure will not survive a nuclear war.
Susan Menadue-Chun, Christine Ahn and 44 others
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  • Sandra Fahy
    "The false missile alarm in 2018 showed that Hawaii’s economy and infrastructure will not survive a nuclear war with North Korea." - understatement of the century! None of us would survive. Multi-decadal cooling as a result of nuclear winter, and so on.
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    • Sandra Fahy
      Also, "The truth is, ending the Korean War with a peace agreement is the precondition for denuclearization." don't see the link here. Kim won't give up nukes. Any evidence to the contrary?

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