Ever since Trump took office, the nutjob tyrant running North Korea has been testing him. Kim Jong-Un has ramped up his nation’s weapons’ tests, routinely firing them over and near our allies in an attempt to perfect their technology and provoke the US.
Unlike his predecessor, Trump hasn’t been deterred by the threats. Instead, he’s taken a hard line and issued his own threats to Kim, letting him know that he won’t be allowed to do what he wants anymore. While a lot of folks are happy to see such a change of policy towards the long-standing North Korean problem, there are still many that think the president should focus more on diplomacy than military threats.
As reported at the Hill, over 50 retired military officers are calling on President Trump to change course on his North Korea policy and focus on diplomacy.
“The current approach taken by the United States is failing to stop North Korea from developing its nuclear and missile technology,” the 58 retired officers wrote to Trump in a letter published Wednesday by The Washington Post. “The United States must initiate and lead an aggressive, urgent diplomatic effort to freeze North Korean nuclear and missile development and reduce regional tensions.”
The letter was organized by retired Navy Rear Adm. Michael E. Smith, who leads a new nonpartisan organization called the American College of National Security Leaders, according to the Post. The group is working with nonproliferation advocates the Ploughshares Fund, the Post added.
Despite over 20 years of diplomatic efforts, North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs have steadily progressed, even as the US has thrown one economic sanction at the nation after another.
While the group and the president’s critics have accused him of avoiding talks and looking for a fight, the Trump administration has consistently said it would prefer a diplomatic solution to the crisis. It’s just that it’s also been made clear that should talks fail, military options would be on the table.
The retired officers highlighted the potential devastation that’d be wrought on Seoul, South Korea should a military engagement occur. “Hundreds of thousands” of casualties from North Korea’s “immediate, retaliatory artillery barrage” in the event of U.S. military action, they wrote.
“The United States would be drawn into a preventable war,” they wrote. “Military options must not be the preferred course of action.”
“The United States and its allies must maintain a robust military posture as a deterrent to North Korea,” they continued, “yet the urgent need for success demands we exhaust every possible diplomatic solution.”
How many generations of diplomatic talks must pass before the process can be considered exhausted? It’s always strange to see folks go on and on about diplomacy with the nation, seemingly ignoring the fact that it’s been tried for decades. And that despite the best efforts and promises by the regime to stop their nuclear pursuits, they still developed the bomb anyway.
Non-proliferation is great, but it’s a little amusing that since the original treaty was signed in 1968, and since innumerable groups dedicated to the idea have formed, we’ve only seen an increase in nuclear-armed states.
Of course, no one wants war. But at some point, something else has to be tried. Their technology gets better by the day, and it won’t be long before the US will no longer have the ability to do anything about the problem, due to North Korea’s ability to legitimately strike us with nuclear-tipped ICBMs.
Source: Hill