A better option for dealing with North Korea

We consider the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) to be a rogue nation. It has a third-generation leader whose life depends on staying in power. He cannot fail to appear strong. His people are some of the most isolated on earth from mass communication, but susceptible to manipulation by his propaganda.

Look at the present situation from the DPRK perspective. In January 2002, President George W. Bush declared Iran, Iraq and DPRK an “axis of evil.” In 2003, we invaded Iraq and toppled its government. We have forced Iran to agree to curtail its nuclear ambitions at the Paris accords. We now want to unilaterally declare them noncompliant with those accords.

What will happen then? In a separate instance, Libya destroyed its nuke program and we (at European request) helped to topple its government and its dictator was killed.

Kim has watched all this. He believes his only chance is to develop his nukes to keep the U.S. at bay. He has thousands of U.S. troops on his southern border where he and South Korea are technically still at war. He cannot afford to look weak or he has no hope. He looks at the past and will do anything to avoid the fate of the other two in the “axis of evil.”

This is the situation we face. So, let the new South Korean leader try to mediate. He is in the middle, has the most to lose, is not a foreign power and understands Korean thinking. Support him and let him try.

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 1:50 PM with the headline "A better option for dealing with North Korea."