North Korea - What Will They Gain?

[Psyrus]

The problems with North Korea seem to be escalating more and more each day. Is this because of the new administration in the US? Does Hilary Clinton really scare anyone other than her husband?

If a US led international coalition were to invade North Korea do you think China and Russia would come to North Korea's aid? How far off would a third world war be at that point?

I am still trying to figure out what they will gain by antagonizing other countries like this. It just doesn't make sense. Is their main goal to jump start another world war? Or is it just the fact that the country is being run by a man who's a few sandwiches short of a picnic? It would be fairly entertaining if the threat wasn't so real.

[Shaggy Hiker]

North Korea is always about posture and attention. Normally, if they aren't front and center in peoples minds (as far as they believe), they start something so that they can re-negotiate the same deal they had before. It would be funny, if they didn't have bad things to sell and a willingness to sell them.

I heard one analyst suggest that in this instance, they are really just trying to keep people at bay because they are about to go through a change in leadership which could prove very destabilizing. Might be so.

A unilateral military action by the US and allies, would probably provoke a reaction from China, but not Russia. That would be enough, though. It wouldn't be WWIII, but we are a bit too tied up with China at the moment.

[Psyrus]

China is a bit of an odd bird to me. They seem to be sticking with a communist form of government and yet they are embracing a lot of capitalist ideals. I've watched a couple of Discovery Channel documentaries on the country and there seems to be a fundamental shift in their political way of thinking. One danger that has become apparent is their willingness to take part in capitalist business ventures without the proper checks and balances necessary to provide safe products.

I am not sure that China would interfere with any action against North Korea so long as their own interests are not threatened. If it was the US alone I think it would be different but China seems to want to put on a different face to the international community.

[Shaggy Hiker]

That's what we thought last time, too. N. Korea is Chinas client. They wouldn't take kindly to any foreign intervention, as it would cause them to lose face. Face is a big issue.

[NeedSomeAnswers]

North Korea is a very isolated country, but not to isolated to notice the great success of there neighbours South Korea, who are doing very well economically.

To divert the public's attention away from the fact that they are all hellishly poor, they basically spend as much money as they can on there Army in the name of National Security, and as a deterant to the US Threat.

The US and other countries are a threat to North Korea and as such it must prove that it can defend itself

Well that's the type of propaganda that they feed their people anyway.

The North Korean leadership (including but not stopping with Kim Jong Ill) are all happy to continue to periodically keep threatening the international community as long as it keeps them in Power domestically, and i suppose they also want there country to survive in it's present form as North Korea.

Its all politics and Power basically !!!


China sells a lot of stuff to North Korea, Food, Oil, Energy e.t.c, that's their main interest. If North Korea wasn't economically important to them they wouldn't care so much.

Apparently its estimated that Chinese trade and investment in North Korea now totals $2 billion per year

[mendhak]

Interesting read on N.Korea
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...dead-land.html

[Psyrus]

Wow!

...After that, everyone joins the army for 13 years. You leave at the age of 30, and it's only then that you can start thinking about girls and marriage.

Its amazing that they are blaming their problems on the US and South Korea. Their people have no way to know any different. The only thing this will do is breed hatred for generations to come. This explains why they do not want aid from foreign countries. They have spent years brain-washing their people into believing that these countries are evil and cannot be trusted.

[capsulecorpjx]

The problems with North Korea seem to be escalating more and more each day. Is this because of the new administration in the US? Does Hilary Clinton really scare anyone other than her husband?

If a US led international coalition were to invade North Korea do you think China and Russia would come to North Korea's aid? How far off would a third world war be at that point?

I am still trying to figure out what they will gain by antagonizing other countries like this. It just doesn't make sense. Is their main goal to jump start another world war? Or is it just the fact that the country is being run by a man who's a few sandwiches short of a picnic? It would be fairly entertaining if the threat wasn't so real.

Not much you can do. South korea wouldn't support any attacks, as their capital is within artillery range of the border.


Doing any attacks would also put the world on Def Con 2, as China would see it as an act of aggression, they want to keep their buffer countries. That's why they fought so hard in both Korean and Vietnamese wars.