We Are All Neocons
Don Kirk concludes that negotiating with Kim Jong Il is a waste of time and lives, and that regime change is the only way the world’s many problems with the Kim Jong Il regime will ever be solved. I’ll let you read it on your own, although I doubt that the Kim Dynasty will be brought to a close the same way Pol Pot’s was.
You mean with a Vietnamese invasion? I concur, it does seem like a long shot.
The Wall Street Journal also takes the line that this finally shows that the North’s government can no longer be negotiated with and that only regime change and a commitment to a “united and democratic Korea” (or “One Free Korea”) is a viable option.
Do you think there is much chance of the US administration committing itself to this?
By the way, this is the first time I had seen the picture for the Hangul on the piece of torpedo. Has it been getting a lot of airtime in South Korea?
http://angrysoba.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-inconvenient.html
No angry, it has not. And if it did not get airtime in the small frozen “footstone” to Asia, (Kor-something) then why would it be headline news outside of it? .. We all know that the Korean peninsula only gets Media Attention when Koreans act like Fools. Yet we westerners know that it is the Northern Koreans who pose a threat to All Koreans “Reputations”. The South Koreans are a Worldwide respected people. Unfortunately, they are a twin which has not realized yet, that their mirror image foe, drags down both of them into the pit. It is time for South Koreas to seize the truth. If North Chosun ever fired upon Suth Chosun, Theybetter wish that the the Tomb of Tangun never existed within 190 miles of Pyoeng’yang. It is time that the children of Silla and Baekju’ stop allowing the defeated children of Koryro from bullying them.
Well I didn’t realize that the Koryo vs. Silla thing was still a live issue (south of the border, anyway).
Guess I’m a Neocon.
(BTW, Having a few diplomats talking in China is not that big a waste of money. The only thing wrong with negotiations is that so many Americans put hopes in them and are willing to yield things to NK just to get them to talk. I’d especially be for negotiations if we could simultaneously carpet bomb Yanggang Province with radios, cash, and newspapers, and also P’yôngyang with surrender leaflets. If only…)
Looks like President Lee is listening: he’s cutting off all trade and barring North Korea from South Korea-controlled sea lanes.
Oranckay, off topic, but why don’t you write a few things for The Marmot’s Hole every now and then? It needs you.
Dammit! President Lee failed to mention Kim Jong-Il by name. He called for regime change, but did not mention the regime’s Dear Leader. Bastard! I’m disappointed with this line in particular:
“It is time for the North Korean regime to start thinking about what is truly good for the regime itself and its people.”
Are you kidding me, Lee? The regime has already been thinking about what is good for the regime itself since Kim Jong-il took power! Its people? The regime’s people is the Pyongyang directed military that sunk the Cheonan, not the civilian population of North Korea! Why can’t South Korea get a president with some taekwando skills and kick Kim Jong-il’s arse?
From Yonhap News Agency, here is the explanation given by South Korea’s government:
Meanwhile, South Korea’s presidential aides said they will leave the door open for North Korea to avert its course of confrontation. That is why Lee did not blame North Korean leader Kim Jong-il by name in the public speech, they explained.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2010/05/24/10/0301000000AEN20100524007000315F.HTML
How does South Korea’s president truly expect Kim Jong-il to suddenly avert his course of confrontation? Are they going to persuade him through the resumption of DMZ loudspeaker broadcasts? Is it possible to confront Kim Jong-il with propaganda messages telling him that the Panmunjom door is open and expect him to change his evil ways? It just makes no sense to me; Kim Jong-il orders the sinking the Cheonan and the South does nothing but turn the other cheek. This should have been the last straw, but instead we get a strawberry. Thanks for nothing Lee Myung-bak!
My apols for picking up on the OT point, but, Kushibo, why don’t you step up there, with your high-productivity, great lateral thinking talent and wide range of interests?
Oranckay, off topic, but why don’t you write a few things for The Marmot’s Hole every now and then? It needs you.
I guess I am a neocon too. Realistically, I don’t see the Kim regime problem really being solved unless the U.S. and South Korea invaded or the North Korean’s overthrow the Kims. I don’t think the Obama admissistation has the courage to go to war aganist North Korea, something really tagic would have to happen before they would do that, or would be fully committed to a free North Korea, which should be North Korea’s future.
slim, I’ve thought about it. I wouldn’t mind putting news-related things up during the 48-hour gaps that occur at TMH nowadays. Of course, the law of karma dictates that my writing will be skewered as badly as I skewered Shelton’s, and Murphy’s Law dictates that I will make as many typos.
But whether I live up to my “contributor” status or not, TMH needs oranckay. The whole K-blogosphere needs oranckay’s well thought-out perspective.