Personally, I support imprisoning anyone who helps subvert sanctions against a despotic state pursuing nuclear weapons.
Lots of good and useful steps we could pursue to reduce tensions and make an accidental nuclear war on the Korean peninsula less likely, even with a regime as awful as the one in Pyongyang. But being a superpower means never needing to admit we've lost at something, I guess.
- Having a bomb
- having one that works consistently (NK has conducted tests that likely failed to produce the expected yield)
- having a device miniaturized to go on a missile
- having a missile capable of hitting targets at significant range (reliably)
- solid fuel rocketry (fueling can be a giveaway of an imminent strike on liquid fueled, allowing preemptive action)
- Evading missile defense systems
- MIRV
I'm not even sure it's oversimplified, though. Your list is a good set of things to worry about if you're going to fight a nuclear war. But from a strategic perspective, what matters is whether the capability is enough to deter, and I'd argue that even the lower end of likely North Korean capabilities is plenty, for most scenarios besides an outright North Korean invasion of South Korea. Yeah, the missiles might miss and maybe the bombs won't explode, but are you really willing to gamble with Seoul, Tokyo and Los Angeles?
Anyway --- sure, let's negotiate about missile technology. That'd be great. But those negotiations aren't going to go anywhere unless we recognize that full nuclear disarmament in the near-term is a big ask, and extremely unlikely.
Is the discussion on what is legal or on what is moral to legally enforce? I had read the parent discussion as being the latter.
Also, USA does not have jurisdiction over Germany. Nor should have.
Currently Russian regime is not that much different from NK regime. Both are under sanctions. In fact, Russia is more dangerous than NK in current situation. Germany needs fuel and it is essentially financing Russia. The only difference between NK and Russia is that nobody is dependent on NK for anything.
This guy helped NK and went to jail. Germany giving money to Russia (for fuel), it's all ok.
Did this guy need to help NK for anything remotely like that sort of responsibility?
This is what keeps me wondering. I guess that a guy with a doctorate from Caltech and in the current technological context could be making a lot of money legally.
From outside it looks like he is some kind of crypto idealist.
How did we get to the point where knowledge sharing lands you in prison? It's because we have mindless shells of human beings in society, the type of people that would call this man a traitor. Let me set something straight: if you are a citizen of a country, it doesn't imply that you love and support your country. You are likely a citizen simply because you were born and trapped there. If you have an urge to defend and protect an imperialistic, globally-dominating sack of shit like the United States Government, you're part of the problem.
Nationalism is a disease.
Otherwise, those who still operate with that mind set exploit you.
It's a nice thought, but unrealistic.