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Why do you think it's so easy to track North Korean officials? Decapitating the leadership in Iraq didn't happen quickly, why would it so much easier in North Korea, a country with far lusher vegetation?

Seoul is only 35 miles from the border with North Korea. The North has artillery which can hit Seoul, hence the South needs to be very careful not to provoke the North. Any engagement would be costly.

Have we seriously learned nothing from Iraq? Take out the leadership, and you are left with a failed country and a population that is likely to be hostile.

Next you'll tell me that we'll walk into NK as liberators...

It is not another Iraq. Iraq has a very specific nationality problem between Shi'ya and Sunni, and it is a separate nation from 1920s. People in both side of Korea are connected through blood and family relationship, South Korea have a very strong will to help restore the government/police/economic system in NK. The U.S. wouldn't have got into such bizarre situation as in Iraq.

Are you kidding me? Do you even know Iraqis?

The whole Shi'a/Sunni division is blown out of proportion by intelligence agencies, both foreign and local, trying to alienate Iran.

If the Koreans are "connected", the Iraqis are intertwined. Intermarriage is very common, with couples maintaining their own sectarian identity.

I was raised as Sunni (not in Iraq) but have attended a Shi'ite religious school for a whole year .. without realizing. That's how similar the two are.

Now, that's not fair. By most measures NK is already a failed country...

It won't make its population any less hostile (and armed) when they find out that their beloved leader has been assassinated by the exact people they've learned to hate for as long as they can remember themselves.

Yes, "liberate" the people with bombs and assassination.

History appears to like iteration.

It annoyed me for a while. People didn't kill themselves and bomb for an ideology; they do so to realize a political goal. Sometimes, the religion pursuit serves as a very good medium to convince people into such extreme action, nevertheless, it is not meaningless. In your post, you imply that such suicide attack would invoke in the process of reunification but IMHO, it is very unlikely. Most of suicide bombers hold a religion belief and a very strong desire to realize or just spell out a particular political pursuit. Someone would argue that the Communism ideology is a religion, but you should look at Russia, at East Europe, even if it is a religion, it must be a very unpersuasive one. There must be a loads of troubles when you try to reunite two countries, but I guess that would be much more peaceful process than the Iraq or Afghanistan.

It was sarcasm man. I'm not defending using suicide attacks to invoke the process of reunification. Personally I would let the Korea peninsula future alone, where koreans would take care of themselves.

But again, what do I know? I'm a westerner programmer with limited sociopolitical knowledge.

The problem as we found out in the 50s is not in defeating the DKRP, it is in defeating China.

Canada is much different geographically and geopolitically than North Korea, also North Korea ISN'T on the US doorstep.

As a better example of what would happen to North Korea if it were on the US doorstep, look towards Cuba. The US by and large tolerates Cuba to exist in it's current form as long as it does not pose a significant threat to US interests. If Cuba decided to stockpile nuclear weapons you'd see a much different reaction.

Since the 50s the DKRP has been essentially in China's hemisphere of influence under it's own unwritten version of the monroe doctorine.

It's really interesting that you mention China because seems to start to get a bit annoyed and ashamed by North Korea. What North Korea is doing is very bad for business (and war would hurt it even more so), North Korea is not a significant trade partner and China doesn't care about ideology any more as these days it's a communist country only in name; it's de facto a capitalist dictatorship.

I don't think China will abandon North Korea but I also don't think they would be as willing to support North Korea as they have done in the past.

I agree, but that means that the USA doesn't need to respond if China will keep NK in line.

The problem as we found out in the 50s is not in defeating the DKRP, it is in defeating China.

That's not a difficult matter. Unlike the situation between the US and Russia in the 50-60's, China is heavily dependent on trade with the US and the rest of the world.

Step 1: Cut off all trade with China.

Step 2: All Chinese-owned T-bills are declared null and void and Chinese assets at US banks are seized. (Followed by some forensic accounting to track down bonds they own through subsidiaries.)

Step 3: Japan/SK will almost certainly do the same. So would Taiwan if they want to stay under our military umbrella.

If steps 1-3 haven't completely destroyed China's economy:

Step 4: Naval blockade. Any cargo ships entering or leaving a Chinese port are seized.

China has a lot to lose, and very little to gain. If we were serious about overthrowing NK, China would be foolish engage in open hostilities in an attempt to stop us. All they could really do is play passive aggressive games that would make our life marginally harder.

It's likely all the guns they have aimed at Seoul have a fail deadly fall back in the case of an attempted decapitation attack. In which case, we would be blowing off South Korea's head off.

Hell, the Soviet Union and the US during the cold war assumed it would be retard hard, if not impossible to wipe out each other's entire chain of command. And they had nukes. And they tried REALLY hard.