North Korean Threat

North Korean Leadership:  The North Koreans have a young dictator whose experience, intelligence and judgement are all are subject to question.   Most importantly, his volatility in regard to day to day issues - and even more critically, in regard to potential crisis situations, is dubious at best.  In paricular, his current strategy of trying to obtain free food for his starving people by blackmailing  the world - free food in exchange for restraint in regard to his nuclear weapons, creates a very dangerous situation.

China:   China is the key to dealing with North Korea.  With North Korea being their client state, China is the only country capable of guiding North Korea in the direction best for the international community - and for the citizens of North Korea.

     a)  China should be made to see that it is not in their best interests to have their client state, proceed down it's current path.  We should make sure China understands that Japan, S. Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan may all likely to pursue nuclear weapons if North Korea proceeds unchecked, and that nuclear proliferation in the Pacific Rim is not in their, or anyone's best interests.

     b)  We should make China understands that long term stability of the area would be best served by a reunification between Sourth and North Korea under a Democratic government.

Summary on China:  We should do everyting we can to ellicit China's support in helping to push/guide it's client state - North Korea, in the direction of peace and stability as identified above.

Responsibility of citizens in countries ruled by Dictators:  When the dictator from your country threatens/intimidates other country (s) - or worse yet, when they actually take punitive action against other country (s), the citizens of that country are likely to be the ones to suffer the repercussions of the dictator's actions.  Therefore, it behooves the citizens of that country to ensure the behavior of that dictator are within acceptable international bounds - or, to take whatever actions are necessary to remove said dictator from office.  NOTE:  The same case for this - actually an even better case for this, can be made for Iranian leaders.

Recent Korean Actions: North Korea has threatened the United States with a nuclear "first strike", and they have also cancelled the 1953 ceasefire armistice.

Recommendation: Continue with the "China approach", tyring to get China to reign in N. Korea , or based on their extrememly threatening/provocative recent behavior, use this as an excuse to take out their nuclear sites/savage their military, and basically end this problem once and for all.