If we're going to rule out negotiations with North Korea, we have to be ready for war

[Zorro]

During a visit to Seoul last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson drew some reddish lines around North Korea.

“Twenty years of talking has brought us to the point we are today,” Tillerson said at a news conference. “Talk is not going to change the situation.” If North Korea threatens South Korean or American forces or elevates the level of its weapons program, Tillerson warned, preemptive military action is “on the table.”

Tillerson’s comments did not come entirely out of left field. For months, Washington has been abuzz over the possibility that North Korea may successfully test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to an American city. In a New Year’s address, North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un indicated such a test could come sooner than we think.

But Tillerson’s warning did signal that the Trump administration is taking U.S. policy toward North Korea in a new direction — that we may be serious about abandoning engagement and willing to pursue containment through military action.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-gallucci-north-korea-icbm-missiles-tillerson-20170323-story.html

[gordianot]

1. I have an idea!

Trump could tell Vladimir that Kim Jong Un was making faces. Vlad is no one to mess with he is so tough.

[Igel]

2. It's a problem.

We negotiated Georgia. And got Abkhazia and S. Ossetia.

We negotiated Crimea. And got the slow war in the Donbas.

Heck, we negotiated to get a separate N. Korea. And we negotiated to the current non-stalemate there now.

Sometimes the only option is losing or fighting. Sometimes--often--there's a bluff or just the real willingness to fight that does the trick. The other side sometimes bluffs. Sometimes they just reconsider. Or just need blood drawn to save face.

Some assume others never bluff or back down. They're uncertainty and risk averse.

But as soon as use of force is off the table you've lost some scenarios.

[NickB79]

3. Then they'd better be prepared to rebuild Seoul

And bury a million dead South Koreans, because even with preemptive strikes, the N. Korean military has enough conventional artillery and missile battery emplacements dug in across the DMZ to tear apart that city within an hour of all-out hostilities.

And that doesn't take into consideration the very real possibility of a few nuclear warheads being launched as well.