Korea

North Korea is a problem, to be sure.  There’s no doubt the people there are oppressed.  Any country which has completely closed borders, you know  they are oppressed.  One, because they aren’t allowed to leave the country, and so there’s repression right there.  Second, because you know  the administration is worried about what would happen if those borders were open.  Mass exodus?  Probably.   Third, if they can close their borders, they have free reign to oppress their people any  way they  want to.  Who’s to know?

No easy options present themselves.  Re-unification?  Sure, they speak the same language, but there’s nothing in  that  for the government of  the North.  They lose all their power and become ‘the poor northern region of Korea.’  Also, just being crazy and paranoid, they’re not likely  to go  for it.

One thing I do know is that nuclear war (in fact, a conventional war) would be a disaster.  People die in wars.  No matter how oppressed people in North Korea are, I  doubt they want to  be bombed to death.

The way I see it, we need to leave this to the experts: The South Koreans, the Chinese, probably the Russians as they do actually  have a bit of a land border in the icy lands of Eastern Siberia, maybe the Japanese, which would piss the North Koreans off no  end, but they are a part of the region.

The U.S. shouldn’t even be at that table but, since they inevitably  will, they would be well advised to listen to all  other sides first.   Including North Korea.