The Korean problem

The Trump administration, through Mike Pence, has given a direct warning to North Korea that a military response might be the only option for dealing with its nuclear weapon and missile programs.

This policy would be sound if the

United States was dealing with a leader who is not a paranoid megalomaniac who has probably never experienced a single moment of reality in his life as “fearless-leader-in-waiting” and in his present role as Supreme National Fearless and Fearsome Leader (SNFFL).

Kim Jong Un’s grasp of reality was aptly demonstrated when he said that he would “obliterate” the United States and that he could conduct an “all-out war” with the United States and presumably win it. It indicates to me that the SNFFL’s personal map of the world might depict an overly enlarged North Korea. I also think that Trump’s threat of military action only serves to confirm the SNFFL’s self-image as a great leader that the world, particularly the U.S., should fear. Perhaps Trump should inform Kim that his sordid little nation is not worth invading. Judging from Kim’s total lack of regard for his own people, it is obvious that U.S. economic sanctions will not work either.

I believe the “Korean problem” is more China’s problem than it is ours. China preserved this “little beastie” by its intervention in the Korean War, and since China is now a major world economic power, its leaders surely realize that a war in their region, particularly one in which they might get involved, would be bad for business. ED CHESS Little Rock