Time to end the war with North Korea

Re U.S. envoy says Kim is ‘begging for war,’ Sept. 5 The world is not risking war with North Korea. We are already at war. The Korean War ended only in a truce in 1953.

So what does North Korea want? An end to war, recognition of its borders and recognition as a sovereign state. The United States, South Korea, the UN and their allies should approach North Korea and offer to negotiate an end to war.

However, an authoritarian state like North Korea needs an enemy. This is its raison d’être. Without an enemy, there would be no authoritarian regime, no nuclear weapons program, but also no Kim Jong Un.

Kim is a gonner, and the generals will take over, unless Kim can convince the country that he is its saviour and can open the door to foreign investment and a disarmament program that scales back weapons in return for economic rewards.

It will be difficult, but China has been down this road itself. China could mentor its North Korean ally, with UN support, as long as the United States doesn’t try to control the outcome the way president George W. Bush tried to manage Iraq, installing an American-style capitalist kleptocracy and calling it democracy.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s idea of negotiation is to up the ante militarily until someone blinks. Sorry Donald, but this isn’t the place for schoolyard bullies; the stakes are too high. Ian Burns, Toronto Kim Jong Un is behaving in a way consistent with the legacy of his forefathers — paranoid dictators, desperate to survive amid global rivalries and an old regional war that has never truly ended. Indeed, there is more to this crisis than Kim and his unpredictable antics.

North Korea is often referred to as a “highly secretive nation.” Such references give pundits and politicians an uncontested platform to make whatever assumptions suit them.

But the legacy of the Korean War (1950-53), which divided Korea and its peoples, is hardly a secret. The savagery of this war saw 4 million people killed, including 2 million civilians.

Both Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump are dubious figures, driven by fragile egos and unsound judgment. Yet, they are both in a position that, if not reined in soon, could threaten global security and the lives of millions. Javed Akbar, Ajax