North Korea Is Not America's Problem

A recent American Spectator article by Cato Institute’s Doug Bandow gives you the inside track on the bubbling mischief being created on the Korean peninsula by North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. As you’ll note, America’s neocons are rumbling forth with rhetoric like military mobilization in the United States, involving the reserves, a major expansion of the military and a draft. In traditional neocon form, it is suggested that the U.S. needs strong military forces to protect itself from North Korea and to fulfill its alliance commitments.

Who is Kim kidding? China does not need Kim poking his not-so-sharp stick into dark corners. War on the Korean peninsula would lead to mass North Korean refugee intrusion into China, place Japan in an aggressive position, and very likely mean a halt to the never-ending wave of exports China ships off to Wal-Mart each year. And to what positive end for China? I believe the U.S. should have pulled out of South Korea decades ago. South Korea is the giant and North Korea the dwarf. The South should be capable of taking care of itself against a much smaller and technically deficient foe. If America had no forces on the ground, none of this would be going on. How many of our 28,000 troops do you think would get killed if full-scale hostilities broke out? In my three-part series (Part I, Part II, Part III) on Cato’s Chris Preble, I outlined the five-point Weinberger/Powell Doctrine. Give it a look and ask yourself where U.S. involvement with a South Korean security issue fits in. I rate the checklist score 5-to-0 against U.S. involvement.

Doug fills in all the blanks for you and offers a cogent conclusion. Enjoy, learn and benefit from America’s leading foreign policy team. And please consider joining Debbie and me as Cato Institute supporters.