Mushroom
clouds over North Korea?
By
LeRoy Goldman
Columnist
BlueRidgeNow.com
September 17, 2017
North
Korea has been known as the “Hermit Kingdom” since the 17th
century. But under the rule of Kim Jong-un since 2011, and his father
and grandfather before him, North Korea’s isolation, brutality and
quest for weapons of mass destruction have come to dominate its
existence.
North
Korea has the world’s fourth-largest army. Much of its military
might is located just north of the 38th parallel and within 35 miles
of Seoul, where there are about 150,000 Americans, including about
25,000 American troops.
The
North Korean military arsenal massed near Seoul is protected by a
vast labyrinth of underground caves and bunkers that house artillery
and rocket launchers. It also houses immense quantities of chemical
weapons such as nerve gas. An assault by North Korea against the
South would be devastating.
North
Korea is the most repressive nation in the world. Freedom is
forbidden. Kim’s regime makes extensive use of political prison
camps.
North
Korea derives several billion dollars of hard currency annually from
abroad to fund its development of nuclear weapons and ICBMs by
exporting hundreds of thousands of its citizens as slave laborers to
dozens of countries around the world. Additional hard currency to
fuel the regime’s aggressive nuclear and long-range ballistic
missile program comes from illicit arms sales to nations such as
Syria and terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.
And
now, after years of failure by the U.S. to prevent North Korea from
having the ability to threaten the American homeland with nuclear
missiles, Kim has ballistic missiles that can reach us, has almost
certainly detonated a hydrogen bomb, and will soon be on the verge of
arming his ICBMs with hydrogen warheads.
When
one listens to American military and diplomatic experts opine on
North Korea, their refrain frequently suggests the U.S. has few, if
any, good options to prevent Kim from acquiring nuclear first-strike
technology. In code, many of them are saying, therefore, that we
should do nothing. James Clapper, former director of national
intelligence, recently told CNN, “I don’t think a denuclearized
North Korea is in the cards.” That’s music to Kim’s ears.
A
logic that suggests we can’t prevent an adversary from acquiring
nuclear capability that threatens us, and that we can’t take action
once such an adversary has that capability, is perverted and
dangerous.
A
careful analysis of this nation’s prosecution of war, since the
Korean War in 1950, leaves way too much to be desired. Our
intelligence community missed totally the entry of nearly 300,000
Chinese troops in the Korean War. Many regard that as the most
colossal intelligence blunder in this nation’s history.
In
Vietnam, what our experts believed was Soviet and Chinese communist
expansion was in fact a civil war that, even with more than a
half-million troops, we lost.
In
Afghanistan, we are now in the 17th year of attempting to do what
Alexander the Great, the British Empire and the Soviet Union failed
to do. Like them, we will fail.
In
Iraq, we thumped our chests at the outset of war by proclaiming
“shock and awe” and left years later with a failed nation ripe
for international terrorists.
So
let’s give these experts in the Pentagon, Foggy Bottom and academia
their due, a grain of salt.
There
are two paths forward. There is no doubt that China can oust Kim. It
could do so in many different ways. For example, turning off the flow
of oil from China to Pyongyang would be checkmate for Kim.
President
Donald Trump should send Jon Huntsman, former ambassador to China, to
Beijing. He speaks Mandarin, and the Chinese leadership knows and
respects him.
Huntsman’s
message to them should be unmistakably clear: Kim and his regime must
be replaced immediately or it will be annihilated by the U.S. If
Huntsman can convince Beijing that its choices are either unpalatable
or horrific, they may see the light.
If
China rebuffs the offer, this nation should employ sufficient
military might, including the use of nuclear weapons, to do what
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said is possible: the “total
annihilation” of North Korea.
Such
an assault cannot simply be restricted to Kim’s nuclear facilities.
Doing only that assures a devastating counter response against South
Korea by Kim. No, the assault must necessarily destroy the entirety
of Kim’s regime and his ability to make war.
The
U.S. waited to respond until after Pearl Harbor and after 9/11.
Waiting until after Chicago and Los Angeles amounts to criminal
negligence.
The
eradication of Kim would have additional beneficial consequences. It
would change totally the working assumptions in places such as
Teheran, Damascus, Raqqa, Kabul, Islamabad, Beijing and Moscow. How
nice is that?
Times-News
columnist LeRoy Goldman is a Flat Rock resident. Reach him at:
