| mrstickball said: Its a very difficult situation. War means millions dead. The other option is to do nothing, and allow the 40-odd sailors to of died for nothing. Part of me wants the brutal regime up north gone....Pre-emptively strike the DPRK arty positions against Seoul, and remove Kim Jong Il from power. |
It's a very precarious position. War would mean fighting between the largest and most effective military forces across the globe, economic sanctions would have little impact, and we can't simply expect them to apologize or make reparations. It's either the worst war in 65 years or... nothing.
North Korea have found themselves in a very comfortable situation. They can effectively get away with murder, as any sort of retaliation wouldn't go near as smoothly as, say, Iraq, thus nobody has any want to engage them.
I believe war is inevitable, however. First it's the various missile tests. Now it's the sinking of a large navy vessel. There's no knowing how far the current North Korea will go so long as we continue to let things slide, and eventually they will cross the line that leads to war.
Though it's not as if they haven't been pulling stunts like this for decades (credit to the BBC):
NORTH KOREAN ATTACKS
Jan 1967 - attacks South Korean warship near border, killing 39 sailors
Jan 1968 - commandos storm presidential palace in Seoul in a failed attempt to kill President Park Chung-hee
Jan 1968 - captures USS Pueblo - one crew member dies and 82 held hostage for 11 months
Dec 1969 - hijacks South Korean airliner taking dozens of passengers hostage
Oct 1983 - bombs hotel in Rangoon, Burma in failed attempt to kill South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan - 21 people die
Nov 1987 - bombs South Korean airliner, killing 115
Sept 1996 - sub carrying 26 troops disabled off South - some land in South sparking deadly manhunt
Mar 2010 - torpedoes Cheonan warship, 46 sailors killed
