Letters: With North Korea, no good outcomes for U.S.
Consider these uncomfortable facts: North Korea sees ownership of a nuclear-tipped ICBM with adequate range to threaten the United States as a guarantee it will not be messed with. Kim Jong Un is not going to give up on that goal.
The Chinese probably like having their little pit bull sort of on a leash. But their biggest fear is a unified Korean peninsula that’s friendly to the U.S. So whatever “solution” we intend, that outcome must be put off indefinitely.
Three presidents (Clinton, Bush 43 and Obama) over decades “kicked the can down the road,” and that is why Donald Trump has to make some tough decisions. If Jimmy Carter hadn’t intervened in 1994, this would have been settled with smaller stakes over 20 years ago.
It’s true that there are no good outcomes here, only bad and worse. But the U.S. cannot afford to be held hostage to a scheming little tyrant. Kim isn’t stupid enough to start anything with the U.S., but that’s not his aim. What he wants is a free hand to bully South Korea and (especially) Japan in pursuit of a unification-under-Kim strategy and insurance against being deposed.
The best course would be an internal takedown of Kim by his own military. That would leave a North Korea that was perhaps a little less virulent but appease China while reducing risk for South Korea, Japan and the U.S. Can that happen? Nazi officers tried to kill Hitler. But that didn’t work.
Ron Berti Orlando