North Korea annouces that military action would lead to WWIII.

They want their oil shipments back.

Perhaps they want to give S. Koreans further reasons to hate the United States. Make S. Koreans feel we're responsible for putting their peninsula on the track toward nuclear war.

 

How does a smaller animal scare away a bigger one? With threats, and or making itself look as big as possible.

By repeatedly alluding to the fact that war will come from action they are skipping the niceties and throwing in "the pot limit" right from the start in an attempt to scare the US away from taking direct action towards the DPRK. Will it work? Not in the way that NK hopes.

 

Whats wrong with N.Korea having weapons as long as they dont use them against the US? Sure they may attack S.Korea but why should the US be worried about that?

 

A couple thousand troops? Give or take, of course.

 

Why worry about South Korea?

Maybe because we promised South Korea 50 years ago that they will not be left alone.

Maybe because South Korea was ment to be the test of the real "New World Order" that small countries would not be invaded by their neighbors.

Maybe because South Korea is a democracy and is being threatened by an evil, Stailinst regime who has NEVER abided by its word.

Maybe because a nuclear attack on South Korea would throw the region into choas, with Japan, China and Russia suddenly taking action.

That said, I think we should tell the South Korean government to decide, do they want our troops there. We have about 37,000 in country. That is not enough to do anything offensive against North Korea. And unlike our troops elsewhere, these troops are tied down to defensive positions, they are not free to be used against other threats.

Roght now, these troops are only targets. Pulling them out, while signing a strong alliance with South Korea, shows that we are still committed to their defense, but gives us more freedom of movement.

 

Indeed, US presence in Korea is more or less symbolic. South Korea has one of the strongest militaries in the world but the US troops serve two purporses:
a) It's a show of commitment by the US to ROK, that they would support the Koreans at times of conflict and would not do anything to jeopardize the security around DMZ
b) It shows DPRK that South Korean military is kept in check by the US. As long as the Americans are there, ROK would not take any rash actions, say crossing the DMZ so DPRK is not agiatated.

 

The US troops there refer to themselves as "The 2d Division Speed Bump". You are right, it is symbolic.

But do you really believe that the ROKs would invade the North without provocation?

Finally, the Republic is a democracy. There are large elements that want us out. If they are the majority, we should go. But sign a stronger alliance first.

 

No, of course not. But the US presence seems to make North feel safer and when the North feels safer, we all feel safer - at least that is the rationale.

I agree. No matter where you go, people don't like having foreign troops on their soil and perhaps it's time.

It would be interesting to see what kind of arrangement would be made. We do have to be careful here, since any type of conflict in Korea will involve China, Japan and South East Asia in some way.

 

We care because now that they have atomic weapons, they can develop vehicles to deliver them across the Pacific in the future.