Zero Hour in North Korea
If North Korea isn't
bluffing (which, given its past accusations of bluffing, would make this one hell of a bluff) then the time for mere talk is over. Bush needs to take serious action in the next week, or the consequences will not be pretty. Here are two of my ideas of what serious action could entail.
1) Tell North Korea that they can start a bilateral negotiation on a short-term treaty with the U.S. to conclude within weeks, under the unbending condition that the U.N. has total access to all facets of North Korea's nuclear program, and will totally dismantle said program, in exchange for a promise by the U.S. that it will not engage in a conflict to destroy the North Korean government. Also warn that if they do not accept the offer within a week, the U.S. will seek U.N. and NATO cooperation in a war to remove the North Korean government and thereby destroy its nuclear program.
2) (This is less a separate option than a truncation of the above) Create and implement plans to bomb or otherwise destroy all known nuclear infrastructure, while simultaneously beginning operations to eliminate the leadership of the North Korean government. Follow up with complete quarantine of North Korean borders through naval and aerial means to ensure that nuclear materials do not leave North Korea. At this point the country could be disorganized enough for U.S. forces to movein with significantly less casualties then a straight invasion would inflict. Tactical air strikes should also be implemented on all known artillery positions within range of Seoul.
To be honest, neither of these plans will be an improvement of the current situation. The second one should have the caveat that effectively accomplishing the goal of destroying the North Korean government will likely require carrying out a tactical nuclear strike on Pyongyang. The first one has the problem that what will happen becomes much fuzzier and there is an increased risk that North Korea will somehow export nuclear technology or materials. Both of them bring the immense risk that China will become involved. It is unlikely, however, that they will make things worse than the situation will be with continued inactivity. Bush has to ask himself if a nuclear-armed North Korea is an acceptable risk to America's national security. If not, he
must act now.