h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

simple one

what should be done about North Korea and the threats it has made????

Let North Korea reach the cup final with South Korea as the other finalists?

Should be interesting?

MMF

Nuke the entire site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

I thought this was going to be about the Luddites

It does seem like a conflict that could cause a lot of countries to get involved. This could get really bad.

The Luddites were right!

Many Aussies are directly descended from them...

I don't think anyone knows what to do and I think the North Korean government knows this all too well.

>It does seem like a conflict that could cause a lot of countries to get involved. This could get really bad.

Yeah, that's the worst problem. Another problem is who would do the fighting. The South Koreans have too much to lose, the Japanese are constitutionally *prevented* from getting involved, the Americans are already fighting expensive, unpopular wars in two countries against an enemy a great deal less well-armed than North Korea. Britain and France are tied-up in Afghanistan and don't consider North Korea a pressing issue for them anyway - they think the main nuclear threat is from Iran.

There's also the problem of the unknowable nature of North Korea. If invaded, the army might just desert en-mass or they might jump to the defence of the regime; nobody really knows. Pyongyang might have atomic bombs loaded on bombers ready to drop on Seoul or they might have no atomics at all beyond the one they successfully detonated a couple of years ago.

Then there's the problem of "peaceful containment" which has, supposedly, been going on for decades with little progress. The obvious solution is "sanctions against North Korea" but the North is already heavily sanctioned-against and its (somewhat necessary) policy of auturky means it's difficult to use commercial leverage against them.

The obvious solution (to my mind) is for China to absorb North Korea. Or is that too simplistic?

I could see China getting into the conflict on North Korea´s side. Which might in turn bring in Japan, which might in turn bring in the US. Could be bad.

>The obvious solution (to my mind) is for China to absorb North Korea. Or is that too simplistic?

Way too simplistic, you might as well say "the obvious solution is for the United States to absord North Korea". The Pyongyang regime would resist equally any attempt by a foreign power (including South Korea which it refuses to recognise as a legitimate Korean government) because, no matter who it was, it would mean the end of the regime itself. North Korea's government, despite all the pomp about "Juche ideology" and uniting Korea, has little purpose beyond its own survival.

>I could see China getting into the conflict on North Korea´s side. Which might in turn bring in Japan, which might in turn bring in the US. Could be bad.

China's the big unknown factor here. Whether it ever *would* enter a war on the North's behalf is debatable, but just giving the indication that it might would be enough to cause the United States to withdraw the military option - like Russia, China is one of those countries that the US cannot afford a face-to-face military confrontation with except where its own survival is threatened. The whole of US foreign policy post-WWII has been about avoiding such direct confrontations and with good reason.

the sanctions route is allready blocked as north korean has said it will go to war if heavier sanctions are imposed

china would not have to face the US militarily, it has huge resurves of $$$$, in the current economic climate they could bankrupt The States

i think the best course would be 'regime change' with the assistance of china, i doubt he could sustain a war on two fronts

I would have thought China would be just as unhappy about having a 'nutter' in charge of one of its neighbours as anyone else. Maybe China taking over would be for the best. Cant say I would lose any sleep over it. And the N Koreans could hardly be worse off under chinese rule.
Anybody seen the triangular skyscrapper the N.Koreans have built in the capital ? Mad as a box of frogs it is.

oh thanks for that Todaymueller, I can't stop giggling now.

Ryugyong Hotel

from Wiki

The Ryugyong Hotel is a towering, 105-story, 1,083 foot empty concrete shell in Pyongyang, North Korea. If the building ever was completed it would be considered the world's largest hotel, and one of the tallest buildings in the world. Today however, the building remains uninhabited and unfinished.

The North Koreans began constructing the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel in 1987, reportedly aiming for 105 stories to beat out a structure the South Koreans were building in Singapore. The building was to contain 3,000 rooms and 7 revolving restaurants. The estimated cost of building it ran upwards of $750 million, which is 2% of North Korea's GDP. It's generally assumed construction came to a halt in 1991 because North Korea was suffering from famine, acute electricity shortages, and lack of necessary funding. The basic structure is complete, but no windows, fixtures or fittings have been installed. According to http://www.skyscrapers.com, the concrete used in building the Ryugyong Hotel is of unsuitable quality and therefore is unsafe – it cannot therefore be completed as currently built. With annual tourism numbering less than a hundred, some question the logic of building such a massive hotel. Pyongyang's few existing hotels remain to this day, virtually empty.

It's just a ronery hotel, oh so ronery

OP.

>what should be done about North Korea and the threats it has made????<

From a UK perspective..absolutely nothing, unless they are threatening us.

Apart from Trident, the cupboard is almost bare.

<>

From a US perspective..absolutely nothing, they don't have any oil

Hey, not fair, Taff. A formal peace agreement ending the Korean War has not yet been signed; therefore, we're already at war with them, and have been so steadily since 1950.