North Korea launched another missile this last week over Japan. They are planning to launch another one this week. Needless to say, this is causing concerns for the world community. This is a country that has no regard for human rights or life, threaten their neighbors (and us) and even kidnap and kill their visitors or other North Koreans that just bring the outside world to the inside (one can face 15 years of hard labor just for bringing in a video tape of a western movie).

War is not the answer. Kim Jong Un is seen as a god be the North Korean people (or at least, that is what is believed). Through force or beliefs, the people will fight. And the missile silos are known to be well underground. The only weapons we can use to neutralize the threat of a launch would be a nuclear weapon, clearly not an option.

So what can we do to counter the threat from North Korea without going to war? Though I do not believe we can completely neutralize North Korea, I believe we might be able to keep them at bay.

Sanctions

North Korea and sanctions are terms that seem to go hand-in-hand. Though it may seem that they accomplish nothing, the fact is most of the saber-rattling comes after they have been put in place. We need stronger sanctions. The last two sets of sanctions (very hurtful but not quite absolute) were approved by the United Nations Security Council by a 15-0 vote. It is a rare occurrences that countries like Russia, China and the United States can agree on something. We must continue placing strong sanctions on North Korea and choke their economy into complying with the U.N. conditions.

The United States, the central figure within the North Korean threats, should even expand the sanctions. Yes, it would be nice to have the world stage on our side, but North Korea is threatening us with nuclear devastation. I think it is high time we use our economic power to debilitate the rogue nation.

China

China is worried about a unified Korea which is why they support the rogue regime. They too have come under North Korean threats and also see them as a problem to the point that they also supported sanctions. But they need to do more. The United States must actually work with China to pressure North Korea. China is the leading importer and exporter to North Korea. It is high time  to put a little pressure on them to do some more.

Another way we can pressure China to cooperate is to…

Militarize Asia

It is high time to allow Japan and South Korea to protect themselves on their own with the United States as their backers. North Korea does not understand anything except war. Their entire economy is not to raise a happy population or create something, but to prepare for or preemptively go to war. We should encourage South Korea and Japan to raise and army and navy and allow the placement of missile defense systems. If North Korea sees that these countries has the technology and manpower to fight back, they may not be so boisterous. Arming the rest of Asia may also make China aware of the seriousness the rest of the world has.

Shoot the Missiles Down

Another solution might be to shoot down any of the missiles that North Korea launches. This will have a few benefits. First, it will limit what North Korea learns about their missiles. If the missile cannot go through the entire flight, North Korea may not be able to ascertain whether a test is successful or not. Shooting down their missiles will also show them how serious we are and the extent of our technology. If they see that we can shoot down anything they put up that might be enough for them to realize they cannot win with a preemptive strike. Finally, we can test out our newest anti-missile defense systems in a real scenario. Our missile defense systems have started using lasers. This would be a great opportunity to try them out.

Conclusion

It has been rumored that Kim Jong-un was educated in Europe for a time (which might be the reason for his love of basketball) so the outside world may not be completely foreign to him. That also leads a lot of analysts to believe that he may understand the concept of “mutually assured destruction” that has kept the United States and the Soviet Union away from a full nuclear war. But his bombastic threats and continued missile and nuclear tests cannot be ignored any longer. They must be dealt with in a way that assures we do not create a wasteland out of Asia. I believe there are many ways that this can be somewhat accomplished. Only when these fail should we consider a military option.   

 

Pictures courtesy of:
mirror.co.uk
cnn.com
cnbc.com
ctvnews.ca
missiledefenseadvocacy.org