4 ms·

Why do you think it is that the DPRK places such a priority on emphasizing its nuclear capabilities?

CamperBob2 5y ago
Because the civilized world would bring down the Kim regime, as we certainly should, if we could. Because they have nukes, we can't. This is getting to be a real problem as 21st-century history continues to unfold.
- s1artibartfast 5y ago
  This sounds like a catch-22/ circular logic. We would invade and topple the government if they didn't have those pesky nukes. The government needs to be toppled because they are developing nukes and we don't want them to.
- SamReidHughes 5y ago
  The "civilized" world had plenty of time to do that before NK got nukes, and it didn't. War in Korea would be far worse than peace.
  - CamperBob2 5y ago
    War in Korea would be far worse than peace. The Korean War saw about 1.5 million civlian deaths, according to [1]. It's impossible to say how many died in the 1994-1998 famine alone, but [2] puts it at "240,000 to 3.5 million" and [3] cites figures of "up to 3 million." [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_famine [3]: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/12/how-kim-jong-il-starved-north-korea/250244/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/12/how-kim... So, no. There are worse things than war. For allowing this situation to fester for multiple generations, history will judge us the way we talk about the "good Germans" who didn't lay a hand on anyone but who also did nothing to stop Hitler. You're correct, though, in that the North Korean nuclear program is now an ideal excuse for continuing to do what we did before, which was nothing.
    - SamReidHughes 4y ago
      We might instead be asking why we let South Korea's TFR drop to 1.0 while NK is maintaining 2.0. We don't know by what criteria history will judge us. (I think my fellow Californians will be judged just fine -- Korea's not our problem.)
boomboomsubban 5y ago
Probably because a country that once razed every city in North Korea has spent seventy years threatening them with nukes.

Because the civilized world would bring down the Kim regime, as we certainly should, if we could. Because they have nukes, we can't. This is getting to be a real problem as 21st-century history continues to unfold.

s1artibartfast 5y ago
This sounds like a catch-22/ circular logic. We would invade and topple the government if they didn't have those pesky nukes. The government needs to be toppled because they are developing nukes and we don't want them to.
SamReidHughes 5y ago
The "civilized" world had plenty of time to do that before NK got nukes, and it didn't. War in Korea would be far worse than peace.
- CamperBob2 5y ago
  War in Korea would be far worse than peace. The Korean War saw about 1.5 million civlian deaths, according to [1]. It's impossible to say how many died in the 1994-1998 famine alone, but [2] puts it at "240,000 to 3.5 million" and [3] cites figures of "up to 3 million." [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_famine [3]: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/12/how-kim-jong-il-starved-north-korea/250244/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/12/how-kim... So, no. There are worse things than war. For allowing this situation to fester for multiple generations, history will judge us the way we talk about the "good Germans" who didn't lay a hand on anyone but who also did nothing to stop Hitler. You're correct, though, in that the North Korean nuclear program is now an ideal excuse for continuing to do what we did before, which was nothing.
  - SamReidHughes 4y ago
    We might instead be asking why we let South Korea's TFR drop to 1.0 while NK is maintaining 2.0. We don't know by what criteria history will judge us. (I think my fellow Californians will be judged just fine -- Korea's not our problem.)

boomboomsubban 5y ago

Probably because a country that once razed every city in North Korea has spent seventy years threatening them with nukes.