But how?

Now here's an option: Eliminate North Korea entirely

By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--December 24, 2014

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Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, cuts right to the heart of the matter in a piece in today's Wall Street Journal. We're really wasting our time screwing around responding "proportionally" to what Obama calls "cybervandalism" by North Korea. The regime itself poses a serious threat to the security of the region, and certainly to its own people - and once it can attach a nuclear warhead to a suitable delivery device, most likely to the mainland United States as well.

If we're not already trying to bring about an end to North Korea, and ultimately the reunification of the entire Korean Peninsula, Haass argues that we should be. Not only that, but he thinks the communist Chinese might be game:

The recent cyberattacks against Sony are hardly unique; North Korea has a history of mounting such attacks against South Korean banks. There is no evidence that negotiations, sanctions or anything else have had or is having any effect on halting any of these activities. What has changed, though, are the attitudes of North Korea’s neighbors, most important South Korea and China. For years governments in Seoul were at best lukewarm toward the prospect of a unified peninsula, fearing the economic burden this would entail. But South Korean President Park Geun-hye now speaks openly and frequently about the desirability of reunification, portraying it as a potential economic bonanza. For decades Beijing has supported its North Korean ally out of a mixture of ideological commitment, strategic concerns (to keep the peninsula from being united in the U.S. security orbit) and a desire to avoid refugee inflows. This support has been military, diplomatic and above all economic. Almost all of North Korea’s foreign trade, as much as 90% by some estimates, is with China. Beijing provides what is in effect a massive subsidy as North Korea imports far more from China, possibly as much as $1 billion annually, than it exports to China. Increasingly, though, one encounters public and private signs that Chinese officials are viewing North Korea as more strategic liability than asset. Beijing is frustrated that Pyongyang ignores its requests to freeze or even dismantle its nuclear program lest these efforts lead South Korea and Japan to develop their own nuclear weapons. More broadly, China has tired of an expensive relationship in which its interests are greater than its influence. Making matters worse was Kim Jong Un’s decision to execute his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, widely viewed as China’s man in Pyongyang. China needs years and more likely decades of relative stability in the region so that it can continue to address its many domestic challenges. North Korea is a threat to such stability. Meanwhile China’s ties with South Korea have flourished. China is the South’s leading economic partner; Chinese leader Xi Jinping has traveled to Seoul but not to Pyongyang.

It's not really that hard to believe the Chinese see North Korea as more of a liability than an asset. For all of the ChiComs' disregard for human rights - and it is substantial - they are trying hard to build a powerful economy that can be a major player on the world stage. They're trying to be a modern, influential nation. It's hard to see how they're helping themselves to support a regime so backwards that its entire GDP is not much more than Sony's market cap. I think Haass is right that the Chinese would be game. The question, though, is how you do it. To the extent the Norks depend on China's support and protection, you still have to work out the scenarios for what happens if you withdraw it. Bowl Cut Jr. isn't just going to give up the game because his benefactors say no more. Not with nuclear devices at the ready and the likelihood of an international human rights trial for one of the most evil and brutal dictators the world has ever seen. You could try an invasion, but if the Norks really do have nukes and the ability to use them, do you think for a second they would spare Seoul - or even Tokyo if that's possible? You'd almost surely have to undermine the regime from within, and that would require a very delicate operation of identifying potential allies who might have to spend years gaining the trust of the regime, all so they can put themselves in a position to do . . . what? If you're looking for some sort of coup, that's going to require the involvement of an awful lot of people in positions of power. And if they play ball, they're going to want power for themselves, not simply the opportunity to stand down and let the South take over the entire peninsula. I suspect we're already working some of these angles and probably have for years. But it's never quite so easy as it can be made to look in the movies. There's no question, though, that the elimination of North Korea from the face of the earth absolutely needs to be one of America's top international priorities. Whoever figures out how to do it successfully will be a real hero.

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Dan Calabrese——Bio and Archives

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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But how?

Now here's an option: Eliminate North Korea entirely

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