What do you think about the problem between South Korea and North Korea?

[Lantert Lurend]

I'm from South Korea.
Germany is an object of envy for the two countries,West and East Germany, promised to expunge any mistrust and antagonism incurred so far in 1990.
In the Korean Pennisula, the longer the division goes, the more problematic this potentially becomes.
The relationship has often frayed in recent years.
Two leaders, Kim Jung Un and Lee Myung Back take a hard line to each other.
Though this division will not be met easily or in a short span of time, I strongly believe eventually
this will be met.
But when and how?

[Exarch]

lee myung bak needs to take it down a notch and go back to the sunshine policy of his predecessors;
the lee admin. in seoul decided to go hardarse on pyongyang so pyongyang returned in kind.

as for reunification, i kinda doubt the new Korean state will want to let go of its nuke program;
some south korean friends of mine still express pride at the fact that the north koreans have a working nuke arsenal

[Dr Zoidberg]

lee myung bak needs to take it down a notch and go back to the sunshine policy of his predecessors;
the lee admin. in seoul decided to go hardarse on pyongyang so pyongyang returned in kind.

Please, North Korea "went hardarse" on the South, long before the current regime decided that the sunshine policy was a ridiculous policy that the North milked for all its worth, without making any effort to live up to its end of the bargain.

There was the Rangoon bombing in 1983, when they bombed the South Korean Cabinet. It led to the severing of ties with Burma for more than 20 years. And then in '87 they took down a South Korean airliner.

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/conte...0/s3076885.htm

as for reunification, i kinda doubt the new Korean state will want to let go of its nuke program;
some south korean friends of mine still express pride at the fact that the north koreans have a working nuke arsenal

Of course, your friends working on the assumption that North Korea actually has a nuclear weapon program. Enough TNT in a hole would have given off a similar result to the last test. Even if they did have a warhead, how would they deliver it?

Miniaturisation of warheads so they can fit on missiles is an advanced technology; its not something you manage with a first-gen weapon. Secondly, their missiles are crap and constantly fail. IIRC, I don't think they've had a successful test of TP-2 at all.

[Exarch]

Please, North Korea "went hardarse" on the South, long before the current regime decided that the sunshine policy was a ridiculous policy that the North milked for all its worth, without making any effort to live up to its end of the bargain.

what's your point?
north korea has always been hardarse, everyone knew it, lee myung bak knew it and he tried to do the idiot thing and out-hardarse kim jung un/kim jong il. too bad that when it came down to it and some south koreans were killed as a result of it, lee lost face and was made to look like a pussy.

the sunshine policy produced results of bringing north and south closer, even if it took decades; the north couldnt go on being isolationist monarchist communist forever, sooner or later it would've had to reform.

[Lantert Lurend]

what's your point?
north korea has always been hardarse, everyone knew it, lee myung bak knew it and he tried to do the idiot thing and out-hardarse kim jung un/kim jong il. too bad that when it came down to it and some south koreans were killed as a result of it, lee lost face and was made to look like a pussy.

the sunshine policy produced results of bringing north and south closer, even if it took decades; the north couldnt go on being isolationist monarchist communist forever, sooner or later it would've had to reform.

Sadly, the recent government just don't recognize the importance of the sunshine policy.
They just think that they cannot just throw money up there as it will cost the nation astronical figure to start with that policy.

[hellheaven1987]

Holy Nuclear War, I have been waiting this for years. Hopefully the holy war can start sometimes around 2014/15.

[Lantert Lurend]

Holy Nuclear War, I have been waiting this for years. Hopefully the holy war can start sometimes around 2014/15.

That will be the teachable moment for mankind.

[Burnum]

what's your point?
north korea has always been hardarse, everyone knew it, lee myung bak knew it and he tried to do the idiot thing and out-hardarse kim jung un/kim jong il. too bad that when it came down to it and some south koreans were killed as a result of it, lee lost face and was made to look like a pussy.

the sunshine policy produced results of bringing north and south closer, even if it took decades; the north couldnt go on being isolationist monarchist communist forever, sooner or later it would've had to reform.

Since when has appeasement ever worked? Besides, the Sunshine policy wasn't working. North Korea kept demanding more, and refused to offer any concessions.

[HissingNewt]

Since when has appeasement ever worked? Besides, the Sunshine policy wasn't working. North Korea kept demanding more, and refused to offer any concessions.

World War 2? Oh, wait. Nevermind about that one.

[Lantert Lurend]

Since when has appeasement ever worked? Besides, the Sunshine policy wasn't working. North Korea kept demanding more, and refused to offer any concessions.

I have somewhat different idea.
If South Korea give up that Sunshine policy, it means that South Korea give up the right of the North Korea.
That only justifies the foreign countries, like US,China,Japan,Russia, to intervene in all kinds of ways.

[Jaketh]

we can only hope the sons western education will have taught him to be less of a douche as his father, reunification may happen then

[Heathen Hammer]

we can only hope the sons western education will have taught him to be less of a douche as his father, reunification may happen then

If his history education has taught him anything, he wouldn't "democracize". Plus, why would he want to give up all those amazing powers he has for some western ideals?

[Matthias]

I'm from South Korea.
Germany is an object of envy for the two countries,West and East Germany, promised to expunge any mistrust and antagonism incurred so far in 1990.
In the Korean Pennisula, the longer the division goes, the more problematic this potentially becomes.
The relationship has often frayed in recent years.
Two leaders, Kim Jung Un and Lee Myung Back take a hard line to each other.
Though this division will not be met easily or in a short span of time, I strongly believe eventually
this will be met.
But when and how?

Hard to say. You mention Germany, so I guess you can look at what happened there. Communism crumbled and the people of East Germany stopped putting up with it. Right now in North Korea, you have a dictatorship that has firm control of the populace. I have no idea what the populace of North Korea thinks of their government, but they seem pretty successfully brainwashed and ignorant. The East Germans seem to have been less brainwashed. Once the ideology internally crumbled, so did the dictatorship.

There is always a case to be made that it may happen when Kim Jung Il dies. In all dictatorships, the changing of the guard can be rather violent, even with an "appointed" successor. And with that violence can come chaos, and authoritarian governments only last as long as there is iron control and order over the populace.

Maybe some North Korean will assassinate him.

It's pretty much impossible to tell what will do it. Lots of possibilities.

Outisde actions could quickly end the division, but at a pretty high cost. Heck, if food shipments to the North ceased, the North would be pretty desperate. The trick is ending it in a way that doesn't lead to war, but that might not be possible.

China is holding some cards for North Korea and can determine its fate as well. North Korea is becoming less and less useful to China. Maybe when that usefulness is gone, the division will end. Regardless, North Korea is kind of a loose cannon and the fear is that it can only end in bloodshed. Hopefully it will not though, but it is more likely that it will (especially for North Koreans and maybe some South Koreans unfortunately).

[Lantert Lurend]

Hard to say. You mention Germany, so I guess you can look at what happened there. Communism crumbled and the people of East Germany stopped putting up with it. Right now in North Korea, you have a dictatorship that has firm control of the populace. I have no idea what the populace of North Korea thinks of their government, but they seem pretty successfully brainwashed and ignorant. The East Germans seem to have been less brainwashed. Once the ideology internally crumbled, so did the dictatorship.

There is always a case to be made that it may happen when Kim Jung Il dies. In all dictatorships, the changing of the guard can be rather violent, even with an "appointed" successor. And with that violence can come chaos, and authoritarian governments only last as long as there is iron control and order over the populace.

Maybe some North Korean will assassinate him.

It's pretty much impossible to tell what will do it. Lots of possibilities.

Outisde actions could quickly end the division, but at a pretty high cost. Heck, if food shipments to the North ceased, the North would be pretty desperate. The trick is ending it in a way that doesn't lead to war, but that might not be possible.

China is holding some cards for North Korea and can determine its fate as well. North Korea is becoming less and less useful to China. Maybe when that usefulness is gone, the division will end. Regardless, North Korea is kind of a loose cannon and the fear is that it can only end in bloodshed. Hopefully it will not though, but it is more likely that it will (especially for North Koreans and maybe some South Koreans unfortunately).

Actually, form the viewpoint of Koreans , China is embracing history of the North-east, I mean Manchuria.(e.g Koguryou)
So, To China, North Korea is important for the policy.
Apart from US, China can turn on a dime

[Dr Zoidberg]

what's your point?

I'm not sure I have a point actually. I just think its time to stop giving the North any sort of leeway. The sunshine policy has helped prop up the regime, without it needing to change an iota. Effort would be better spent convincing China to truly isolate the North to force it back to the negotiating table on our terms, nor theirs.

[SinerAthin]

North Korea is a problem - and it's growing everyday.

I'd support a blitz on North Korea, topple the regime, subdue their army and give the land back to South Korea, whose army should be more than able to control North Korea.


I think it's better to risk getting hit by a few nukes now rather than wait and get hit by a truckload in the future, for their WMD arsenal suure ain't shrinking!

[Lantert Lurend]

North Korea is a problem - and it's growing everyday.

I'd support a blitz on North Korea, topple the regime, subdue their army and give the land back to South Korea, whose army should be more than able to control North Korea.


I think it's better to risk getting hit by a few nukes now rather than wait and get hit by a truckload in the future, for their WMD arsenal suure ain't shrinking!

If war begins again in the Korean Peninsula, for people living in South Korea , it will be disaster.
They are sentenced to death, actually.

[(s)AINT]

If war begins again in the Korean Peninsula, for people living in South Korea , it will be disaster.
They are sentenced to death, actually.

You can say the same for the North Korean people, too.


Mutual Destruction

[hellheaven1987]

I'd support a blitz on North Korea, topple the regime, subdue their army and give the land back to South Korea, whose army should be more than able to control North Korea.

Ha, a few factors have to be considered:

1. How well-developed the fortress system of North Korea is - does North Korea turn every of their hills into Iwo Jima that cannot be cut off?

2. How China is going to react - would Chinese simply give supply and ammo to maintain the big North Korea mountainous fortress?

3. How many casualty Americans are willing to sustain - sure, would American willing to fight a war of dwarf and suffer heavy casualty (we can discount South Koreans here as they simply have not enough men for such adventure alone)?

[Admiral Piett]

Off to the Academy we go