Our North Korea problem
The long view
Regarding “Trump warns North Korea it could face ‘fire and fury’ ” (Page A1, Wednesday), perhaps the latest set of threats between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump will finally break the impasse of what is most likely the world’s most dangerous regimes, but need for caution remains, if only for a single, simple reason. China sent more than a million men to stop Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s forces in 1950 because they viewed a reunified, pro-U.S. Korea as unacceptable. Estimates are that anywhere from 175,000 to a half-million Communist Chinese died in Korea between 1950 and 1953. (About 36,000 Americans died during the same period there.) China paid for the North’s independence handsomely.
While it is good news that Beijing voted with the rest of the U.N. Security Council on the latest round of sanctions, we should not see that as some sort of green light for a preemptive strike on North Korea. We must remind ourselves that China would likely not take U.S. action against its neighbor lying down. So while I fret about Kim’s nuclear program, I am far more concerned about a U.S. intervention that might trigger Chinese response.
Yes, we should be worried about the massive bombardment Kim’s armies can hurl against Seoul, but we should also remember that China might choose to protect the North if U.S. forces move against the North Korean nuclear arsenal. The North’s is a fledgling nuclear force. China has a fairly mature one, capable of laying waste to hundreds of targets across the United States. I pray that the president’s generals have no desire to commence hostilities on the Korean peninsula as we may well find our nation at war with China, with its mobile ICBMs and nuclear missile subs, as well. Chris Bronk, Houston