Tensions between North Korea and the United States have been extremely high over the past few years. North Korea has continuously developed their nuclear and missile weaponry which has become such a threat to the United States that Trump has now decided to take action. During his speech, he went on to say "North Korea’s nuclear program is a grave threat to peace and security in our world, and it is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal, rogue regime...". With that, Trump has officially announced financial sanctions against North Korea and all countries who do business with them. Compared to the United States, North Koreas economy is rather small and countries will most likely go along with the United States. This is Trumps attempt to try and control the situation and gain support from other nations.
Not only have his sanctions angered North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, but his comments have added fuel to the fire. Kim Jong-Un has vowed to get revenge against Trump for the comments made. With the huge nuclear threat that was already present, this could be bad news for America. Should Trump have spoken about North Korea with disrespect? Has this helped the nuclear problem or just added more of a reason for us to become a target?
3 comments:
Hmmmm. I wonder if this applies to China as well. China is one of the United State's biggest trading partners. China is also one of North Korea's biggest trading partner. We cannot stop trading with China without taking a major hit to our economy. Of course China also does not want to lose the US as a trading partner. The question is whether China will stop trading with North Korea. I don't know how strong the sanctions are, but my guess is that everyone will find loopholes in them, and not a whole lot will change. As scary a thought is North Korea with nuclear weapons is, I don't how much the US can do about it, short of blowing the entire country right off the map (along with all of North Korea's innocent civilians). Kim Jong Un will starve to death, and his whole country along with him, before he gives up North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
First, I agree with Sam. In addition to the problem with North Korea, China's relationship with NK can lead to tensions between the US and China. Getting to your point about Trump. I think that it is not good that Trump spoke with disrespect. If he simply stated that they were a threat and that he wanted to file sanctions, that would have been enough. I believe that his over the top comments have for sure added to this ongoing conflict and that doesn't bode well for America's safety. Like I said above, I think this really escalates the nuclear problem because Kim Jong Un seems to be getting even more angered and vows revenge. If we want to say safer, I think whatever is said against North Korea should be said in the mildest and most polite way.
Kamal, I question your assertion that we should speak to, and correct me if I'm wrong, handle our relations with North Korea in the "mildest and most polite way." I'm no fan of blanketed insults, but politeness is in my opinion totally undeserved. Appeasing crazy persons has a historical record of failure. The dictatorship of North Korea would love nothing more than for the United States to speak of its country politely, as totalitarian regimes tend to require that from their citizens. Moreover, I think that playing nice with North Korea isn't actually limiting the threat at all. Kim Jong Un has been hellbent on attacking America well before Trump, and I don't see him giving that up anytime soon.
America must have a backbone against North Korea. I think the solution lies somewhere in between blanketed politeness and blanketed insults. I acknowledge the disastrous human rights abuses occurring in North Korea, and I would be thrilled to see a plan that accounts for both liberating the innocent and stopping the madman. To qualify my position on Trump's insults, I think media outlets ought to cover criticisms of North Korea based fact, no matter how "mean" they are to Kim Jong Un.
As for China, I understand the economic pressures that China could perhaps put on the US if we are too harsh with North Korea. I have yet to see any such explicitly anti-US, pro-North Korea policies. China has actually been slowly adopting UN sanction norms against North Korea, most recently in regards to petroleum products and textiles.
Post a Comment