North Korea is the Scariest! May 31, 2009

The title of the blog post was just changed from “North Korea is Scary” to its current wording. It is both, but my new title is here to stay. To me, North Korea is the biggest and scariest threat to the United States and to humanity on many different levels.

Quick recap: in April they launched a long-range missile over Japan, one of our strongest allies, closest trading partners, and (let’s not forget) the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack. After this attack North Korea expelled UN nuclear weapons inspectors.

Quick recap of this week only: Monday North Korea conducted an underground test of a nuclear device and fired six short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan. What’s more their maniacal tyrant, Kim Jong Il announced that the armistice agreement signed to end the Korean War in 1953 was null and void. This would be a nearly-certain cause for war (cassus belli) in many other situations. World War One and the 1967 Six Day War both began over less provocative actions. The magnanimity of this cannot be understated.

Why is North Korea a “threat” to the US national interest?
Protecting our allies is a primary concern. South Korea and Japan are two of our biggest allies; Japan was Secretary Clinton’s first foreign visit, showing the importance of the Japan-US relationship. The Administration is also worried that eventually, in a worst case and far-off scenario, a direct nuclear strike could hit our West coast. For these reasons the State Department must take action. What should we do?