The world had its chance to end this epic tragedy for 50 years and it did nothing. Now the madman has some nukes and all options are out of the question.
Good job world peace. Way ta go.
The UN have sanctions against North Korea because of its nuclear testing. Negotiations for nuclear disarmament (if successful) allow reductions of the economic sanctions. Improving its economy will directly help the people to some degree.
Activists help pressure governments into bringing up issues at summits (or at the very least they raise awareness in the general community) which can lead to better communication and trade ties.
So its clear that some amount of aid, negotiation and activism can help the people of a struggling country.
Invading a country in that situation will lead to loss of life. It is also expensive and will probably cause deep seated hatred for many years, which in history has led to more conflicts down the line.
The parent comment doesn't deserve 9 points, it doesn't even deserve 2 points. It just appeals to our propensities for aggression.
I think its time to recognize that war is sometimes the answer, whether or not you think it appeals to our human aggression.
I'm not sure just how deeply indoctrinated those people are. Is an uprising still possible? (my guess is yes) If so, a surgical-precision hit targeting "Dear Leader" might be enough to provide the initial spark. I'm sure this option is being considered somewhere, somehow. Whether it's deemed worth giving it a try, and whether it's successful remains to be seen.
It's partly because of war-mongering articles like this from the NYT that americans are so intent on war as a universal tool to "help" other countries.
If it makes you any happier, as soon as some very precious natural resource is found in North Korea you can be sure there will be US troops.
A war-mongering NYT article? That is a contradiction in terms.
The only reason we haven't invaded is because China is protecting North Korea, and they're only really doing that because they don't want a massive flood of refugees into their country.
No, but the North Korea regime is based upon fanatic nationalism, which isn't really that different.
But all of this is a side show. The real reason North Korea has not been invaded is because the Seoul metro-area holds 24 million South Korean citizens, and most of it is extremely vulnerable to potential artillery bombardment from North Korea. Realistically the North Koreans could kill hundreds of thousands if not millions of South Koreans in no more than a day of shelling if war broke out on the peninsula. The only way for the south to effectively wage war would be to completely evacuate Seoul as a prelude, and that action alone would probably trigger a war before the evacuation was complete.
This, of course, doesn't even begin to factor in nuclear weapons.
The Korean peninsula is a long, ongoing hostage situation. North Korea holds its own population hostage as well as much of South Korea. This is why so little progress has been made on getting rid of the North Korean regime, there are only bad options and even worse options at this point.
But the United States Government not taking out Communist China and Kim Sung-il's North Korea during the Korean War has to be one of the largest war mistakes in history. So much misery could have been avoided if they'd done it the way Chiang Kai-shek wanted and pushed through Korea into China. The Communists got a huge boost from seizing the Imperial Japanese weapons after WWII, but they were still far underequipped compared to the U.N. forces in South Korea. Then the Soviets got nuclear weapons and the stand-still happened, and lots of people suffered for it.
North Korea has to be one of the most vicious places in the world. I'd sign up pretty quickly if an international coalition went to tear down its government.