'US wants to take S. Korea into new Korean war'

[tranquilium]

I think the Kim regime is mostly responsible, for following a foolish policy and not caring about its own population. The second tier of responsibility lies with people who support keeping this regime alive for their own geopolitical needs, and this includes both China and USA.

Well, according to 2011 data, North Korea population is 24,451,285. Assume the maximum from that article (which is almost certainly exaggeration since the lower bound is 240,000), this is equivalent to 2.86% death rate/year over the five year interval. UN estimation of NK natural death rate in that time period is about 0.98%. This adds up to an annual death rate for about 3.84% during the famine. In comparison, a normal death rate of United States in 1800s is about 2.7% per year. So while the Korean famine is a large disasters, I would hardly call it "worst in human history"by a long shot.
Actually the natural death rate tells something else about NK as well. UN estimation of NK annual death rate in 2012 is about 0.9% annually. This is a rate that is lower than that of European Union (1.005%), slightly higher than United States (0.84%) and China (0.771%). Now, death rate is a very interest reflection of the well being of the society. For example, the highest death rate is seen in African nations (and former Soviet states such as Russia and Ukraine) and without exception, these are also the states that experience the most social and economic turmoil. Of course, the list move to countries with lower death rate, the economic/social status of the nation and the death rate no longer correlate directly, this is because these nations typically meet the threshold which a nation can adequate support itself. (European and United States and to some extent China, has higher death rate due to aging population) This means while North Korean certainly isn't doing great, but its government are actually ran by people who know what to do.
While myself isn't a fan of NK government, I can understand some of their plight because I am Chinese and there is a similar event in our history.
The great leap forwards, the worst and only famine that occurred in PRC history. (Which, by the way, created an annual death rate of just under 2.0%) After that disasters, there has been many people studying the event and the Chinese government itself learned a lot from that experience and there has been no famine on Chinese land despite natural disasters in the past decades. There are many reason for this, one of such reason is the discovery of Daqing petroleum Field in 1959. Like I explained in the previous posts, modern agriculture has several key techniques, such chemical fertilizer and machine farming, which drastically boost agriculture output to leveled unimaginable by the ancients. Before Daqing, China simply doesn't have a reliably source of petroleum, thus it can't manufacture fertilizers nor it could machines to boost agriculture production. As a result, when the huge drought from 59-61 hit, the Chinese farmlands are simply not producing enough food for the population. (Daqing itself took several years to actually enter full scale production and by then, it is too late to prevent the famine during Great Leap Forward) This situation is very similar to the one in NK.

 

[Pboy]

Hopefully it doesnt go that far to a war.

Got to say that the NK leaders are really dumb.

Instead of focusing on crap like this they should feed their poor people and develop the country.

 

[xyxmt]

It would be important for SK to see US intentions, US Economy will sink more into recession after Afghanistan pullout unless it can find another war theater and this time not with her own soldiers or at least minimum soldiers. Iran is not a possibility because they cant get another country to fight Iran, Koreas can provide perfect setting.

 

[Hasbara Buster]

In short, NK isn't always this miserable. It is US sanctions that turned NK this way and you are wondering why the North Koreans hate US with such passion?

This is the only fact that matters really, the rest is hollow American propaganda.

 

[shuttler]

I don't think "democratic" is a requirement for not-getting sanctioned. I mean, Saudi Arabia is an Islamic monarchy, which is pretty much the farthest thing from "democratic" in American definition and you don't see anybody sanctioning the Saudis.
Aside from one war with South Korea, which is actually a civil war and for the purpose of unification, NK also didn't start any war. I don't think NK ever trained any terrorists or engaged any act of terrorism. Hmm, come to think about it, aside from very angry sounding articles, NK really didn't do anything in the past 60 years.

Correct. Even if DPRK is eliminated, the US will increase their military posts in the Peninsula
Their target will move closer towards the harm of China and Russia!

"democracy" is an excuse for an invasion.

 

[tranquilium]

Hopefully it doesnt go that far to a war.

Got to say that the NK leaders are really dumb.

Instead of focusing on crap like this they should feed their poor people and develop the country.

No leader in human history, except the very very rare insane ones, will purpose go out and make their people miserable. (Those insane ones typically have a very short reign, whatever faults the Kims had, their reign is anything but short.) NK is between a rock and some hard places. As I mentioned earlier, it isn't so much that NK leader don't focus on feeding their people, it is simply that they cannot. Without reliable source of petroleum, you simply can't run modern industry. In fact, without petroleum, even basic requirement for modern society, such as electricity, becomes a problem. Petroleum doesn't just function as fuel, it is also an important industry raw material used to create items critical to modern agriculture such as fertilizers. Remember, North Korea is no India or any of the tropical nations. Its latitude is very high and chemical fertilizers are required for the land to produce adequate amount of food.

Let's take a look at its possible choices:

Idea #1, change their alignment and ally with US: This solves the sanction issue nicely and put NK in touch with Middle East petroleum. Whether it is a communist country is not really important since US had allied with China in the 80s against USSR, as well as having a number of allies that would be considered "dictatorships".
Problem: NK sat right next to the Chinese border and very close to the north population/industrial center of China. While Laoning's status as industry center as diminished somewhat in the recent years, it still hold LOTS of important Chinese industrial complex. For example, Shenyang aviation corps, which produces J-11, Su-27 and J-21 are located in Laoning. There is no way China is going to allow a pro-US state to exist on its border. Since all economic and political centers are located near Chinese border (not that NK has much of a strategic depth to begin with), antagonize the Chinese this way is probably last thing NK want to do.
Idea #2, go look for alternative sources of petroleum: There are a few nations that does not really give a crap about US sanction, for example, China, Russia, Iran, etc. While China doesn't export oil, Russia and Iran are both large oil exporters. North Korea can look to buy oil from them.
Problem: What does NK have to trade for petroleum? In Soviet era, the Soviet Union ran a very generous program to its allies. This means NK, Vietnam, etc were able to receive fuel and energy at discounted price. (The financial drain from allies is a small part of the reason why USSR collapsed) Neither Russia nor Iran is even remotely as generous as USSR. Iran itself is under heavy sanction and the petroleum is literally the life line for the country. If you are Iranians, are you going to sell the petroleum to NK for miniscule amount of profit or are you going to sell it to China who will pay handsomely for it? Similarly, while Russia is better off than Iran, its economy is nothing to write home about. The North Korean simply can't compete with Europeans or Chinese in free trade.
Idea #3, forget about Industry, let's go for service and tourism: For many countries in this world, developing industry is simply not possible. (In fact, there is probably less than 20 country in the entire world that claim it has a decent size industry) These countries typically survive on a few things, for example, exporting food, exporting resource. NK doesn't really have these two things, so that is out. Some of the country also have prolific tourism or offer services. (From respectable once such as IT or Financial service to rather disreputable ones like prostitution. Don't laugh, people have to survive.) Maybe NK can explore its potential in those fields?
Problem: NK has some success on tourism. There is a small, but steady stream of Chinese tourists visiting NK every year. Unfortunately, to be quite frank, the entire Korean peninsula sucked rather badly as far as tourism goes. Now, when you take a tour, you are expect to see something unusual or important. Unfortunately, as far as geography goes, the Korean peninsula is nothing remarkable. The culture part is even worse. While the Korean like to claim they invented this and that, the unfortunate truth is that Koreans are pretty much the punching bag of East Asia throughout the history. If the Japanese got ambitious and in a conquest mode, they will take it out on the Koreans. If the Chinese got annoyed, guess who ended up getting screwed? Not to mention all those nomadics up north. As a result, the Korean culture never took off like the Chinese or even the Japanese. (There are, of course, way more things to discuss on this topic, but this is already getting too long) Now there is another kind of attraction besides culture or geographical. Not all tourist visit Paris for the Eiffel tower or Versailles. Some of them are there for the LV bags and other luxury goods. Unfortunately, these luxuries are typically the result of a very developed economy, something the North Koreans do not have at all.
This is, of course, on top of the US sanction which already prevents NK from contacting much of the world.

As you can see, there really isn't much the North Korean can do to improve their situation. Everyone likes to say "you need to make your people's life better". However, saying is one thing and doing it is another thing entirely. Not every nation is United States or China. They simply don't have that much control over their environment.

That being said, there are "some" things NK can do to...make the best of a bad situation. As I stated before, NK has an important strategic meaning for China. While the China are not going to carter NK like USSR, it really can't let NK up and collapse. The Chinese do send quite a bit aid to NK each year to keep them going. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised that recent moves from NK are means to get China to give them more aid.

 

[gambit]

The current state of North Korean economy is at least 80% the fault of US.

Bullsh1t. The current state of the North Korean economy is entirely the fault of North Korea.

To elaborate, starting from the onset of cold war, US and its allies have pursued aggressive containment of "communist states", namely USSR, China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam and other Warsaw pact members.

Nothing wrong with that. Communism should and must be contained.

In order to combat US sanction, these communist states eventually went to form their own economic sphere.

This pretty much put to rest the argument that North Korea's economic condition is the fault of US sanctions. Trade is a privilege, not a right. At best, you have the right to PROPOSE a trade relationship, but not to IMPOSE it. So if you have only the right to propose a trade relationship, the corollary is that you also have the right to refuse to enter into one. If I refuse to trade with you because you are left-handed, that is my right. It may be absurd but a right nevertheless. I understand that people like you have a difficult time grasping the concept of freedoms and rights. But try...

An important thing about trade is that you must have something worthwhile to trade. You cannot impose crap on those who produces goods. The US allowed the importation of the Yugo, a crappy car from -- where else -- Yugoslavia.

1985 Yugo GV - The 50 Worst Cars of All Time - TIME

Built in Soviet-bloc Yugoslavia, the Yugo had the distinct feeling of something assembled at gunpoint.

It sold badly in the US but it is a luxury item for most in communist countries.

The communist economic sphere produced mostly crap. Their leaders were chauffered around in Western cars, cooked with Western appliances, and wiped their behinds with Western toilet papers. I wished I saved a roll of East German toilet (wax) paper as souvenir when I played tourist in East Berlin when it existed. Glad I took others' advice and brought my own TP into the city. I guess China would have exported rolled dried leaves at the same time back then? But I doubt that you are old enough to live through those times.

So even without sanctions, the communist alliance throughout the world would have continued to live in relative backwardness compared to the democratic/capitalist countries. Could the microwave oven, something that YOU probably take for granted in modern China, come from the Soviet Union, let alone North Korea? No, it could not and it did not. The result is that communist countries can only foist crap onto each other because crap is the only thing they know how to produce.

USSR sat at the center of this system and provided fuel, heavy industrial product to other nations while the other nations, such as NK, provide light industry products and food to USSR. (Again, China was the oddball out because Sino-Soviet split which resulted in China forming its own system) The resultant system turned out to be quite successful. Indeed, from 50s to early 80s, NK actually enjoyed higher living standards than both China and South Korean. Back then, the defectors run from South Korea to the North.
However, following the collapse of USSR, the NK lost its biggest trading partner and the core piece of its economic system. For example, NK's main revenue originally come from two sectors: food and light industrial products. The latter ran into US sanction, which prevent NK from selling its product on international market. Trying to sell them to China also did not work because China itself is an absolute giant in light industry. However the decisive factor that destroyed both NK light industry and agriculture is the loss of USSR provided fuel.
Modern agriculture is quite different from agriculture in feudal times. NK, as small as it is, is still much much bigger than most ancient states. In order to support a population of this size, modern farming techniques, such as chemical fertilizer, truck and machines are absolutely mandatory. With USSR gone, NK sudden found it couldn't run its machine anymore. This is because China is strapped for petroleum itself and US tightly sanctions NK and prevent others from selling petroleum to NK. It is rather ironic that the North Koreans who were, for the longest time, food exporters, now suffers a food shortage.
In short, NK isn't always this miserable. It is US sanctions that turned NK this way and you are wondering why the North Koreans hate US with such passion?

That is odd 'logic'. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the major aid supplier to North Korea, is not the cause of North Korea's poverty? Flawed economic policies have no role at all?

 

[Audio]

"democracy" is an excuse for an invasion.

Being threatened with nukes is a better one.

 

[tranquilium]

Bullsh1t. The current state of the North Korean economy is entirely the fault of North Korea.

Nothing wrong with that. Communism should and must be contained.

This pretty much put to rest the argument that North Korea's economic condition is the fault of US sanctions. Trade is a privilege, not a right. At best, you have the right to PROPOSE a trade relationship, but not to IMPOSE it. So if you have only the right to propose a trade relationship, the corollary is that you also have the right to refuse to enter into one. If I refuse to trade with you because you are left-handed, that is my right. It may be absurd but a right nevertheless. I understand that people like you have a difficult time grasping the concept of freedoms and rights. But try...

An important thing about trade is that you must have something worthwhile to trade. You cannot impose crap on those who produces goods. The US allowed the importation of the Yugo, a crappy car from -- where else -- Yugoslavia.

1985 Yugo GV - The 50 Worst Cars of All Time - TIME

It sold badly in the US but it is a luxury item for most in communist countries.

The communist economic sphere produced mostly crap. Their leaders were chauffered around in Western cars, cooked with Western appliances, and wiped their behinds with Western toilet papers. I wished I saved a roll of East German toilet (wax) paper as souvenir when I played tourist in East Berlin when it existed. Glad I took others' advice and brought my own TP into the city. I guess China would have exported rolled dried leaves at the same time back then? But I doubt that you are old enough to live through those times.

So even without sanctions, the communist alliance throughout the world would have continued to live in relative backwardness compared to the democratic/capitalist countries. Could the microwave oven, something that YOU probably take for granted in modern China, come from the Soviet Union, let alone North Korea? No, it could not and it did not. The result is that communist countries can only foist crap onto each other because crap is the only thing they know how to produce.

That is odd 'logic'. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the major aid supplier to North Korea, is not the cause of North Korea's poverty? Flawed economic policies have no role at all?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is true face of imperialism. If you ever think whether those defense budget of your nation is worth it, this is your answer.
Does the actions of the current NK government matter? In the eyes of someone from US, the answer is very simple: Of course not! They are communist, they must be bad! They must be contained regardless of what they actual do.
Does NK's social and economical condition, its plight and its history and how it comes to way matter? In the eyes of someone from US, the answer is again very simple: Of course not! Even though we sanctioned and made every effort to destroy their economy, their economy must be their own fault! Does less advanced nation's needs and their efforts matter? In the eyes of someone from US, for the third time, the answer is again very simple: Of course not! Even though we made sure these less advanced nations cannot get in contact with new ideas and technology, even after we made every effort to isolate them, to contain them and to keep them backward, their situation must be their own fault! How can you argue with logic like this!

Back to the actual discussion. It is rather laughable to link the quality of the products with the type of economic system. Out of 206 sovereign states in the world, there are probably 20-30 to right now that do not claim to be "democratic". The actually nations that actually call themselves communist right now can be counted on one hand. So does these "democratic" nations all have better products than communist states such as China or Vietnam? Of course not. According to 2012 data, China alone accounts for 23.4% of total global industry production. It is also the number 1 exporter of goods. Vietnam isn't as big as China, nonetheless it has higher GDP than more than 100 "democratic" states. Gee, people must be very stupid if they prefer these "low quality" stuff to the point that they account for a quarter of the total global industrial production.
Quality of the product is determined by the technological level, as well as the associated standard and regulation possessed by the nation making the production. During the cold war time, it is understandable that communist states could not match the industrial capacity of the western world. With the exception of USSR, the communist states are all newly industrialized nation and the western world have about two centuries of lead. USSR itself was actually only industrialized after WWI. Essentially, this is analogous to an undergraduate students saying the an elementary school student doesn't know as much as him;therefore, the elementary school students must be stupid.
As for alive during the cold war time, I am curious why "democracy" is emphasized. Because you know, the whole power to the people thing? That was the USSR motto. The US motto was freedom.

Being threatened with nukes is a better one.

That only work if said target doesn't actually have nukes, but only "hypothetically" have them. Because, you know, if the target actually do have nukes, then chances are they are back by a major nation and as a standing national policy, US doesn't fight anyone who is realistically capable of fighting back.

 

[gambit]

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is true face of imperialism. If you ever think whether those defense budget of your nation is worth it, this is your answer.

Imperialism? No one forced anyone to adopt our ways. Look at your own China and see how much Western influence WILLINGLY adopted by Chinese.

Does the actions of the current NK government matter? In the eyes of someone from US, the answer is very simple: Of course not! They are communist, they must be bad! They must be contained regardless of what they actual do.

Communism is bad.

To date, there are only two successful communist societies: The Family and The Monastery.

Anyway...Do YOU enjoy the freedom of speech in the US? If yes, then what make you think communism is any better than that? Do YOU have an internal passport? I do not and am certain neither do you. But since communist countries usually have internal passports to monitor and control citizen movements, what make you think that system is morally superior to the one you are enjoying right now?

And the list goes on and on...

Does NK's social and economical condition, its plight and its history and how it comes to way matter? In the eyes of someone from US, the answer is again very simple: Of course not! Even though we sanctioned and made every effort to destroy their economy, their economy must be their own fault! Does less advanced nation's needs and their efforts matter? In the eyes of someone from US, for the third time, the answer is again very simple: Of course not! Even though we made sure these less advanced nations cannot get in contact with new ideas and technology, even after we made every effort to isolate them, to contain them and to keep them backward, their situation must be their own fault! How can you argue with logic like this!

Back to the actual discussion. It is rather laughable to link the quality of the products with the type of economic system. Out of 206 sovereign states in the world, there are probably 20-30 to right now that do not claim to be "democratic". The actually nations that actually call themselves communist right now can be counted on one hand. So does these "democratic" nations all have better products than communist states such as China or Vietnam? Of course not. According to 2012 data, China alone accounts for 23.4% of total global industry production. It is also the number 1 exporter of goods. Vietnam isn't as big as China, nonetheless it has higher GDP than more than 100 "democratic" states. Gee, people must be very stupid if they prefer these "low quality" stuff to the point that they account for a quarter of the total global industrial production.
Quality of the product is determined by the technological level, as well as the associated standard and regulation possessed by the nation making the production. During the cold war time, it is understandable that communist states could not match the industrial capacity of the western world. With the exception of USSR, the communist states are all newly industrialized nation and the western world have about two centuries of lead. USSR itself was actually only industrialized after WWI. Essentially, this is analogous to an undergraduate students saying the an elementary school student doesn't know as much as him;therefore, the elementary school students must be stupid.
As for alive during the cold war time, I am curious why "democracy" is emphasized. Because you know, the whole power to the people thing? That was the USSR motto. The US motto was freedom.

Why is it laughable? After that sentence, I see nothing to explain why is it absurd to associate inventiveness and productivity with the type of political/economic system inside a country. Industrialization have only limited influence, especially when industries are in state control, as how communists preferred. Technology is not something that is granted by heaven. It must be cultivated and disseminated. Communist countries routinely restricted access to technology that could have been cultivated by creative minds among the citizenry.

Explain why a technological powerhouse like the Soviet Union could not produce the microwave oven.

According to 2012 data, China alone accounts for 23.4% of total global industry production.

News for you, buddy...

Those manufacturing capabilities that you boasted about came from outsiders. As someone who is active in the semicon manufacturing industry and have gone to China to help set up our own facility there, I know how much semicon technology transfer from the West to China.

So just in my industry alone, 90% of what China is using now came from the West.

 

[kalu_miah]

I see the debate back and forth. @tranquilium, what is your opinion about Kim Dae Jung's Sunshine policy as a strategy for further economic engagement with South Korea?
Sunshine Policy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kaesong Industrial Region - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South Korea imports millions of guest workers from many Asian countries, while there is millions starving in North Korea. If there is more industrial complex like this, these alone could start changing the horrible situation in this country.

This Sunshine policy was abandoned by current US supported Saenuri Party:
Saenuri Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

while the UDP supports this policy:
United New Democratic Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In this recent election, the Chaebol and US supported Saenuri won the presidency by a narrow margin. In my opinion, Chinese polit buro should consider helping the UDP to come to power, who can then restart the Sunshine policy, as I see that as the best policy forward, a policy created by Koreans and supported by most in both North and South Korea, except for US puppet politicians and wealthy chaebols, who are taking the US side for business interest. Koreans suspect that the US wants to keep bad relationship between both Korea's to not just keep their bases in East Asia, the US is also selling obsolete old weapon systems, arms and ammunition to South Korea for big bucks, I just recently heard.

You may wonder why I take part in this discussion about Korea so much as a Bangladeshi-American. I have been around Koreans for decades for various reasons and what I write is actually the point of view of a Korean person I know well, who supports the current opposition UDP.

 

[tranquilium]

I see the debate back and forth. @tranquilium, what is your opinion about Kim Dae Jung's Sunshine policy as a strategy for further economic engagement with South Korea?
Sunshine Policy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kaesong Industrial Region - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South Korea imports millions of guest workers from many Asian countries, while there is millions starving in North Korea. If there is more industrial complex like this, these alone could start changing the horrible situation in this country.

This Sunshine policy was abandoned by current US supported Saenuri Party:
Saenuri Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

while the UDP supports this policy:
United New Democratic Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In this recent election, the Chaebol and US supported Saenuri won the presidency by a narrow margin. In my opinion, Chinese polit buro should consider helping the UDP to come to power, who can then restart the Sunshine policy, as I see that as the best policy forward, a policy created by Koreans and supported by most in both North and South Korea, except for US puppet politicians and wealthy chaebols, who are taking the US side for business interest. Koreans suspect that the US wants to keep bad relationship between both Korea's to not just keep their bases in East Asia, the US is also selling obsolete old weapon systems, arms and ammunition to South Korea for big bucks, I just recently heard.

You may wonder why I take part in this discussion about Korea so much as a Bangladeshi-American. I have been around Koreans for decades for various reasons and what I write is actually the point of view of a Korean person I know well, who supports the current opposition UDP.

I think that ultimately, any Korean peninsula policy boils down to US-China balance in the area. As long as China and US are in a state of stalemate in East Asia, any progress or change made by either South or North Korea will be superficial at best. The two Korean nations can switch government or make changes, but it will not change much in the grand scheme of things. Too many people are hang up on the whole communism vs capitalism thing. China doesn't need a communist North Korea and US certainly doesn't need a capitalist South Korea. What they need are strategic allies/subordinates and history shows that they don't really care the specific government. (For example, US supported a number of dictatorships and monarchies, such as Mubarak etc. Many important allies of China, such as Pakistan and Tunisia are not communist at all.)
That being said, in my opinion (which is a Chinese mindset, I can't speak for the Korean mindset), unity is priority above all else. With unity, you have strength from greater numbers and greater resources. With unity, you can achieve greater things. The biggest problem with both Koreas are that they are simply individually too small to realistically competing in the international arena. If they are united, then they have a nation about 220 thousand square km in size and 75 million population. Granted, it is still fairly small comparing to the likes of US or China, but it will be able to match a typical European nation. Alas, like I said previously, as long as China and US are in a stalemate, unification of the Korean Peninsula is simply a pipe dream.
US selling old and obsolete weapons to its allies is nothing new and to be fair, even those old and obsolete weapons are much better than what the minor nations can come up by themselves.

 

[SRP]

US economy will collapse if there is no war

i agree with you.
Everyone needs oil to fuel their economy but US needs war to fuel their economy
ex- Iraq, Afghanistan

Why US thinks they are the protector of mankind?

 

[kalu_miah]

I think that ultimately, any Korean peninsula policy boils down to US-China balance in the area. As long as China and US are in a state of stalemate in East Asia, any progress or change made by either South or North Korea will be superficial at best. The two Korean nations can switch government or make changes, but it will not change much in the grand scheme of things. Too many people are hang up on the whole communism vs capitalism thing. China doesn't need a communist North Korea and US certainly doesn't need a capitalist South Korea. What they need are strategic allies/subordinates and history shows that they don't really care the specific government. (For example, US supported a number of dictatorships and monarchies, such as Mubarak etc. Many important allies of China, such as Pakistan and Tunisia are not communist at all.)
That being said, in my opinion (which is a Chinese mindset, I can't speak for the Korean mindset), unity is priority above all else. With unity, you have strength from greater numbers and greater resources. With unity, you can achieve greater things. The biggest problem with both Koreas are that they are simply individually too small to realistically competing in the international arena. If they are united, then they have a nation about 220 thousand square km in size and 75 million population. Granted, it is still fairly small comparing to the likes of US or China, but it will be able to match a typical European nation. Alas, like I said previously, as long as China and US are in a stalemate, unification of the Korean Peninsula is simply a pipe dream.
US selling old and obsolete weapons to its allies is nothing new and to be fair, even those old and obsolete weapons are much better than what the minor nations can come up by themselves.

I agree that US and China dynamics is essentially the main determinant factor, Koreans do not make much of a difference in this equation. But there is one significant difference, South Korea under US influence is enjoying the fruits of trade with the whole world and reached a high standard of living and developed status, whereas the situation in North Korea is the exact opposite. You have mentioned in an earlier post that China went through similar situation like North Korea, but the situation is not similar, because China is not influenced by any vastly superior power or is a victim of geopolitics by other powers, the way North Korea is. Although initially China was isolated, later leaders like Deng Xiaoping moved China towards a more open policy and now China is one of the fasted growing countries. As long as Kim regime stays in place, we may never see a North Korean Deng Xiaoping.

I have some social science and geopolitical theories of my own. When you have time, please take a look at:
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/164048-kalu_miahs-new-world-order-road-map-future.html
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/215368-sun-tzu-doctrine-asia.html
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/180755-geopolitics-asean-region.html

I have tried to adjust the initial idea from a West dependent re-ordering to a China/Asia dependent re-ordering of world geopolitics.

The latest ideas are summarized in these posts that is relevant to Korean peninsula:
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/180755-geopolitics-asean-region-15.html#post4129015
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/180755-geopolitics-asean-region-15.html#post4146701

Please let me know your thoughts on this and the above threads, those that are still open.

 

[shuttler]

N.Korea has been too aggressive over the last few years. Instead of focusing on feeding its people, it has been busy provocating the South Koreans and the US.

Getting rid of that nuisance should be China's number one priority.

Kim actually extended his olive branches to Obama via Dennis Rodman. Not only Obama failed to receive and return friendship, but the us regime has also escalated the hostility towards DPRK and then each side has been exchanging bouts to this stage