The land of the flighty

[Occhidiangela]

I agree that North Korea will probably not be next because there is not much oil over there. But if I'm correct the US and NK are still officially in a state of war. I can imagine that Kim can think he might be subject of an invasion by the US, and if so I can imagine he wants to get a nuke. Not that I agree with him but is a thing that is called empathy something you and as a matter of fact also kim don't have.

Let's just put the facts in a row. Why did Bush invade Irak? Links with terrorists, possesion of WMDs and being a brutal dictator. Only the last one was true for Saddam (although the US and you) thought (wanted to think) that all three were correct.
Now NK: we KNOW they have WMDs, we know that he is a brutal dictator and we are scared that he might help international terrorism (I don't agree with the last one but the people in charge...and you seem to think so). This is at least 2 out of 3....more than in Iraq.

Thanks for you tunnel vision. Appreciate your supporting my position with greater evidence. The mental defect that induces an attempt to presume that the political dynamics of the Middle East can be cut and pasted into Asia need treatment, get help.

Let's use the same lack of reasoning to examine South America. Chavez has a load of oil, he's a hostile regime to the US, his human rights record is not great (though he's no Saddam) and he is going out of his way to court anti American interestes in the region. By your cut and paste logic, Venezuela is next. But Occhi, you protest, that's a different case, it's not the same sort of threat. See where this is going?

To reiterate: to presume that the presence of missiles and WMD, neither of which NK has used, creates a like political situation is to ignore the actual political structure of Asia, which you again have done. You also mistake political rhetoric and sound bytes for policy. It takes a bit of sifting to filter out the BS from the substance on policy, particularly when you are dealing with an administration as bad at PR as the BushCo. I also don't find the hot air coming from Teheran to be credible as statements of policy. Another box of mostly hot air.

Here's another side to the matter.

New York Times October 20, 2006 Pg. 14

South Korea Tells Rice It Won’t Abandon Industrial And Tourist Ventures With North

By Thom Shanker and Martin Fackler

SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 19 — The government of South Korea told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday that it had no intention of pulling out of an industrial zone and a tourist resort in North Korea, even though the operations put hard currency into the pocket of its government.

During a news conference with Ms. Rice, the South Korean foreign minister, Ban Ki-moon, said he had explained “the positive aspects” of the industrial park at Kaesong and described how the tourism zone around Mount Kumgang was “a very symbolic project” for reconciliation between the Koreas.

At the end of a dinner here on Thursday that united Ms. Rice with her South Korean and Japanese counterparts, a senior State Department official, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity when traveling with the secretary, said the South Korean government had said it would review its support for the industrial and tourist projects — in particular the subsidies for the Mount Kumgang zone.

“We never expected them to announce steps today,” the official said.

In her public comments, at least, Ms. Rice only emphasized the importance of the United States alliance with South Korea. The goal is not to elevate tensions on the peninsula, but to put into effect sanctions under a United Nations Security Council resolution as a multinational effort to press North Korea to return to six-party negotiations and end its nuclear program, she said.

“I did not come to South Korea, nor will I go anyplace else, to try and dictate to governments what they ought to do in response to Resolution 1718,” Ms. Rice said after meetings with President Roh Moo-hyun and Mr. Ban, who will be the next United Nations secretary general.

“What I do think is very important is that everyone take stock of the leverage that we have to get North Korea to return to the six-party talks and negotiate seriously the dismantlement of its nuclear weapons programs,” she said.

Ms. Rice is in the region to press for strict enforcement of the Security Council’s sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test last week. Her toughest job will be persuading South Korea and China, which differ with the United States on how to engage North Korea’s reclusive Communist government.

The senior State Department official said after the dinner that the South Koreans had said they would “have a full program in place” to carry out the resolution in about three weeks, and would not want to announce new steps while Ms. Rice was in town for fear of appearing to bow to American pressure.

South Korea and China hold the key to the effectiveness of the sanctions, which were passed Saturday after intense negotiations, because they share the longest borders with North Korea, and are by far its biggest economic partners. South Korea’s trade with North Korea reached $1.06 billion last year.

Ms. Rice said that she had received no official Chinese report on a visit on Thursday by State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, but expressed certainty that he had delivered a strong message that North Korea’s “behavior is unacceptable.”

She is to fly to Beijing on Friday.

While the United States has long called for further isolating North Korea to discourage its nuclear ambitions, South Korea has taken a different course. Its decade-old policy of engagement has aimed to ensure peace on the peninsula by opening North Korea to trade, investment and economic interdependence.

The nuclear test raised calls in South Korea to re-examine the policy. But officials here have said the United Nations sanctions will not end broad economic and trade contacts with North Korea, a stand backed by South Korean public opinion.

State Department officials describe the tourism zone in particular as a conduit for cash for North Korean leaders. The project, which opens a revered mountain site and hot springs to foreign visitors, has earned North Korea more than $456.9 million in precious hard currency, said its South Korean developers, Hyundai Asan.

On Wednesday, Song Min-soon, a security adviser for President Roh, replied that the project “is not a policy to be changed following somebody’s order to do this or that.”

“We are not deviating from the international community only because we differ with a certain country,” he told reporters. “I’m not going to name that country,” he added, though the context made it clear he was referring to the United States.

In his comments beside Ms. Rice on Thursday, Mr. Ban said South Korea was awaiting more specific guidelines from a United Nations sanctions committee working on details of carrying out the resolution.

But many in South Korea see the United States as trying to drive a wedge between the Koreas, fueling resentment. In a show of support for the engagement policy, Kim Geun-tae, the chairman of South Korea’s governing Uri Party, said he planned to visit the industrial park on Friday “to show symbolically that the inter-Korean economic cooperation projects must continue,” the JoongAng Daily newspaper reported.

The Security Council sanctions bar the sale or transfer of material that could be used to make nuclear, biological and chemical weapons or ballistic missiles. They also forbid international travel and freeze overseas assets of people associated with North Korea’s nuclear program.

Pull your head out.

Occhi