North Korea tested their 2nd nuclear weapon this weekend and has fired three surface to air missiles off of their coast yesterday. How does the Obama administration confront North Korea regarding this blatant disregard of a U.N. resolution? With weak words says Jeffrey Emanuel.
The inexperienced president and his administration appear reluctant to go any farther than issuing sternly-worded admonitions to the rogue state.
Yes I’m sure that Kim Jong Il is trembling with fear now after the fear-inspiring statement President Obama made.
Today, North Korea said that it has conducted a nuclear test in violation of international law. It appears to also have attempted a short range missile launch. These actions, while not a surprise given its statements and actions to date, are a matter of grave concern to all nations. North Korea’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons, as well as its ballistic missile program, constitute a threat to international peace and security.
By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community. North Korea’s behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea’s isolation. It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
The danger posed by North Korea’s threatening activities warrants action by the international community. We have been and will continue working with our allies and partners in the Six-Party Talks as well as other members of the U.N. Security Council in the days ahead.
HT: Michelle Malkin
Then, of course, we have the U.N. “stop it or we’ll say stop it again” Security Council to add to the drama – while North Korea prepares for war and threatens military action on the South if it’s ships are stopped or searched. Instead of taking us seriously North Korea is laughing at us.
Obama wants to implement the six-party talks (one’s that he said were an utter failure for President Bush). What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Brian Kennedy from The Corner says let’s use some common sense.
These recent tests demonstrate both how serious the North Koreans are and how manifestly unserious the United States remains. Throughout the Clinton, Bush, and now the Obama administrations, we have lived under the delusion that we could negotiate with the North Koreans or the even more absurd notion that we could use China to pressure them. None of this has worked.
We are not going to stop North Korea from seeking to produce nuclear weapons unless we do one of two things. First, we could launch a preemptive nuclear strike on their nuclear-weapons facilities and their major cities — so as to both reduce their capability and preempt a lethal conventional counterattack by North Korea on South Korea or Japan. This we will not do.
Or, we could build robust missile defenses that make the North Korean nuclear missiles meaningless. This would be relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of war, and effective in that our missile-defense technologies could stop a missile launched from North Korea (although not yet a North Korean missile launched from a freighter ship off our coast).
Missile defense, that sounds like a great idea.
Oh yes, the Obama administration thought in light of a nuclear North Korea and nuclear Iran that it was a good idea to cut back on this. Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, whose state is positioned well to deal with (or be negatively impacted by) a nuclear North Korea urged against the cuts. Perhaps Alaska or the West Coast getting attacked would be a “matter of grave concern” as well.
Charles Krauthammer says another solution would be a nuclear Japan. That I’m sure will not be palatable to the Obama Administration, but it would tip the scales in the region. Dick Morris & Eileen McGann agree regarding Japan and say economic sanctions could be effective as well, if China will get on board.
The irony, of course, is that North Korea is probably the single state in the world most vulnerable to international sanctions. It produces no energy of its own. If China chose to bring the country to its knees, it could do so in a heartbeat. But will they?
China is worried about triggering a flood of North Korean refugees across its borders and tends to be protective of its erstwhile ally.
But the real pressure point on China is Japan. If the Japanese signal that they will respond to the North Korean nuclear test with a decision to change its constitution and develop nuclear weapons itself, the impact on both China and North Korea will be intense.
HT: Gov. Sarah Palin
The time for just talking is over, toothless U.N. resolutions are not helping. We need teeth to go along with the rhetoric. It is the only thing the North Koreans will understand.