He can't. There isn't enough stuff to go around in NK, so the people who are good at killing people are first in line. This keeps them happy, which keeps him in power. If he formally announced a change in this policy he would be dead before you can go through a bottle of Soju. The militarism is not negotiable. The socialism is. You cannot make a nonnegotialble point a prerequisit for proceeding. You have to start building industry in there and transforming the economy. Once the economy sucks less there will be less pressure for militarism. You have to boil the frogs here. Its delicate, but its not impossible.

What about what Clinton did? We offered to build them nuclear power plants, and even started doing so. They would not ease off on their military exports. If we ease up on restrictions, it's not like they are going to turn around and start making tennis rackets and sweaters.. They will pump up the arms exports to places like Yemen and Iran. The "military-first" thing isn't limited to who gets food first, it governs the entire economy of the country. Every time Kim has gotten something, it's because the fear of the arms build up got it. This action has been reinforced.

Let there be no mistake here.. We are dealing with a Hitler type. He has no interest in having a traditional economy. They believe that the only thing they need is a more powerful military.

AFAIK, you are either talking, or bombing. What does this standoff accomplish? What do you suggest?

China needs to cut off the air supply. Kim's only motivation is regime survival, even if it's at the cost of his people. That will continue and his people will continue to be the loosers. As is, and has been for awhile now, his people are starving to death. If he gets more resources it's only going to go to more arms buildup. It's only going to get worse. It's a clear cycle that they refuse to end. It's been going on for decades and I think the trend is clear. I think it's time to force their hand. Cut off the air supply and force the regime collapse.

I think this is what is going to happen. I don't see how this can continue to go on. I don't see how it can change. The sanctions are just going to keep getting tighter until the place collapses.

When the regime does collapse, it's going to be really, really, really nasty. However, it's only going to get worse as time goes on. I don't see other options. Talking has never worked; they refuse to rejoin talks and they refuse to follow resolutions that come out of talks. Bombing isn't an option. Forcing collapse by cutting off all aid and avenues of trade left is the only option I can see. Is there another?

The reason we don't engage in bi-lateral talks with North Korea isn't because we just don't want to talk to them.. It's because they have never followed any resolutions or taken any multi-party talks seriously. If they took the six party talks seriously, I'm sure we would talk directly with them. They have done _zero_ to even appear like an honest broker in talks.

RE: The reason NK made a bomb...