North Korea has been in the crosshairs of the United States for decades. The country under Kim Yong is hell-bent on becoming a nuclear power, and for some reason, the USA has been unable to stop it.One reason was the ominous presence of China in the background, which deterred any military action. The rise of Donald Trump has seen a change of equation and the new President has been making bellicose statements against the North. The situation is fraught with danger as many in the White House led by General McMaster favor a quick surgical strike to bring Kim to the negotiating table.
The Washington post has commented that with a known hawk, like Victor Cha withdrawing from the nomination for ambassador to the South due to differences with the men who favor a surgical strike, the future has dark possibilities.
Victor Cha
Victor Cha withdrew his nomination because he felt the atmosphere a bit too hot for him.Many in the White House feel that the only way Kim can be brought to see reason is by military power. This will alarm the South Korean President Moon, who came to power on the promise of negotiations with North Korea. The Winter Olympics are due in the South next week, and probably Kim may hold a massive military parade before that. He is known for such acts of defiance, and one view is that they should simply be ignored.
The military solution advocated by the hawks is no solution at all. The power of the US military has failed to bring peace in the Middle East or Afghanistan. There is no reason to think that a strike will be a success and may well follow a severe reaction by Kim, that could put millions of lives on the Korean peninsula at stake.
Cha is a respected academic, who had served under George Bush. He has published an op-ed in the Washington Post where he argued that a strike on the North will not bring results apart from inflicting thousands of casualties.This is also not to the liking of South Korea. CNN had reported earlier that the South Korean President had said that there would not be any more war on the Korean Peninsula.
Obsession
Donald Trump in his State of Union address to Congress briefly mentioned about the danger from rogue nations like North Korea. It sometimes looks that he has an obsession with the North and Kim like George Bush had for Saddam. He had unleashed a war on Iraq on the pretext of WMD, which have now been proved to be nonexistent.
There is a chance of Trump falling into the same trap.
