Korea Thread: Liberal Moon Jae In Elected

[jimmy olsen]

My impression is that South Koreans in general don't worry too much about the North Korean threat, nuclear missiles or not. As well, I believe, while they have a very low opinion of Kim's regime, they're generally sympathetic to the North Korean population. So if a scenario comes up with protracted fighting in the mountainous North Korean terrain and the attendant casualties, I'm not confident that the South Korean public would be that much happier about it than the American one.

I could be wrong though.

They buried a quarter million soldiers fighting the Norks and the Chinese.  The stories of split families reuniting during the occasional thaw still make the news all the way over here. And, as Timmay hinted, the South has as much pan-Korean pride as ever, and would love to see a united peninsula as much as the Norks.

I've never seen a world map in any school that didn't have the whole peninsula under unifed ROK rule.

[Eddie Teach]

So they're as bad at geography as they are at English? 

[jimmy olsen]

So they're as bad at geography as they are at English? 

You joke, but political claims aside, they're far worse. Americans have a deservedly bad reputation, but they're not this bad.

[The Brain]

Are we sure that South Korea, with its conscript army, has the appetite for sustained mountain warfare and occupation of a country they consider family?

I don't think anybody has need to question the professionalism of the ROK army, conscription or not.

I don't doubt the professionalism of the ROK army. I doubt the resolve of the South Korean people to fight in North Korea once their conscription age sons come back in body bags.

Now, that doubt may be unfounded, but South Koreans are pretty willing to take to the streets when they get their dander up - and I think that they might if they have to pay a price in blood for Trump trying to look cool.

My impression is that South Koreans in general don't worry too much about the North Korean threat, nuclear missiles or not. As well, I believe, while they have a very low opinion of Kim's regime, they're generally sympathetic to the North Korean population. So if a scenario comes up with protracted fighting in the mountainous North Korean terrain and the attendant casualties, I'm not confident that the South Korean public would be that much happier about it than the American one.

I could be wrong though.

Conscription age sons? Like guys in their 20s, 30s, maybe even early 40s? I assume that on mobilization for sustained all-out war they won't just use those who are currently doing military service, but will activate the reserves. I could be wrong, I know dick about Korea.

[Syt]

https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/04/trump-korea/524697/?utm_source=atlfb

'There Is a Chance That We Could End Up Having a Major, Major Conflict With North Korea'

President Trump, in an interview with Reuters, also said while he would "love to solve things diplomatically ... it's very difficult."

President Trump says "[t]here is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea." The comments, which were made to Reuters in an interview, come two days after senior members of his administration, in a joint statement, tried to defuse tensions with the communist state, saying the U.S. remained open to talks.

Trump suggested in the interview that while he would "love to solve things diplomatically ... it's very difficult." The subject of North Korea's nuclear-weapons program has been a U.S. priority since at least the Clinton administration—though efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsular began during the George H.W. Bush administration. But despite bilateral and multilateral diplomatic efforts undertaken by Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, North Korea's nuclear technology has improved, and many experts believe that it could be capable of firing a nuclear-armed missile that could reach Seattle in the next few years.

North Korea's recent missile tests, which are in violation of its international obligations, coupled with its nuclear program, have angered the Trump administration. It prompted Rex Tillerson, the U.S. secretary of state, to say as recently as six weeks ago that the U.S. would not talk to North Korea until it renounced nuclear weapons; Vice President Mike Pence to declare as over the Obama-era policy of "strategic patience" with North Korea; and to warn Pyongyang "not to test [Trump's] resolve" after the U.S. fired missiles at a target in Syria in response to a chemical-weapons attack by the Assad regime and dropped the "mother of all bombs" against ISIS in Afghanistan.

That language fueled speculation that the U.S. was preparing for a military operation against North Korea. But earlier this week, Admiral Harry Harris, the head of U.S. Pacific Command, told the House Armed Services Committee the U.S. should act appropriately "in order to bring Kim Jong-Un to his senses, not his knees." Those remarks were followed by the joint statement from Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

Amid the tensions, the U.S. has also tried to assuage the concerns of its two main allies in the region, South Korea and Japan, both of which are seen as possible targets of any North Korean aggression. The U.S. has sent an aircraft carrier and a nuclear submarine to the region. Earlier this week, the U.S. military began moving parts of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to South Korea. The U.S. and South Korea say THAAD is meant to deter North Korea, which routinely fires missiles that are capable of hitting targets in the South. The system is expected to be operational by the end of this year. Trump, in his Reuters interview, said he wanted the South to pay $1 billion for the system.

The president also appeared to walk back his previous criticism that China waan't doing enough to contain its clients in North Korea. He said Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he met in Florida earlier this month, "is trying very hard."

"He certainly doesn't want to see turmoil and death," Trump said. "He doesn't want to see it. He is a good man. He is a very good man and I got to know him very well. With that being said, he loves China and he loves the people of China. I know he would like to be able to do something, perhaps it's possible that he can't."

China maintains that it has less influence in North Korea than is believed. But Beijing is also concerned that a destabilized North Korea would result in direct consequences for China. Tillerson told Fox News that China had threatened North Korea with sanctions if Pyongyang conducted another nuclear test. Separately, he told NPR the U.S. was willing to hold direct talks with North Korea.

"But North Korea has to decide they're ready to talk to us about the right agenda, and the right agenda is not simply stopping where they are for a few more months or a few more years and then resuming things," he said. "That's been the agenda for the last 20 years."

Trump also said he hoped Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, was a rational actor, and appeared sympathetic to Kim's assumption of power in 2012 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.

"He's 27 years old. His father dies, took over a regime. So say what you want but that is not easy, especially at that age," Trump said. "I'm not giving him credit or not giving him credit, I'm just saying that's a very hard thing to do. As to whether or not he's rational, I have no opinion on it. I hope he's rational."

[The Brain]

he would "love to solve things diplomatically ... it's very difficult."

No one knew how difficult it would be to solve the Korea question.

[CountDeMoney]

Gotta love having a president with a 10 year old's vocabulary that matches both his temperament and knowledge base.

[Razgovory]

It's not impossible for a war-torn, bitter, but unified Korea to fall into the Chinese orbit.

Nobody wants to be in the Chinese orbit.  Not even the Burmese.

Germany has shown some interest in it in the age of Trump.

[Duque de Bragança]

It's not impossible for a war-torn, bitter, but unified Korea to fall into the Chinese orbit.

Nobody wants to be in the Chinese orbit.  Not even the Burmese.

Wrong. HK'ers do.   

[Jacob]

Wrong. HK'ers do.   

Not really.

Some HK'ers do. Many do not. Most, I expect, accept it as a fact of life.

[dps]

I've never seen a world map in any school that didn't have the whole peninsula under unifed ROK rule.

I assume you mean in South Korea, 'cause I'm pretty sure that world maps in US schools show the peninsula as divided.

Then again, you went to school in Florida IIRC, and Florida schools are really bad, so who knows?

[Admiral Yi]

Then again, you went to school in Florida IIRC, and Florida schools are really bad, so who knows?

Rhode Island I think.

[mongers]

Then again, you went to school in Florida IIRC, and Florida schools are really bad, so who knows?

Rhode Island I think.

So dps's notional map of Languishite is really bad? 

[The Brain]

His real school was selling encyclopedias door to door in the Deep South.

[jimmy olsen]

I've never seen a world map in any school that didn't have the whole peninsula under unifed ROK rule.

I assume you mean in South Korea, 'cause I'm pretty sure that world maps in US schools show the peninsula as divided.

Then again, you went to school in Florida IIRC, and Florida schools are really bad, so who knows?

Of course I meant Korean schools. It was an example of Korean nationalism.