The troubling nuclear buildup in North Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a Sept. 3, 2017, meeting with a committee of the Workers' Party of Korea about the test of a hydrogen bomb. No location was disclosed. Credit: AFP/Getty Images / STR
The United States has more than 23,000 troops stationed in 83 bases in South Korea, plus tens of thousands more in 112 bases in Japan, along with its nuclear-armed fleet headquartered off the Japanese coast, and B-52 bombers based on Guam [“Is it back to basics with North Korea?” Opinion, Sept. 10].
If China or Russia stationed nuclear-armed forces in Mexico or Canada, and deployed nuclear-armed fleets of warships off the U.S. coasts, and then imposed sanctions on the United States, how would we react?
The threats of President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis against North Korea will not cause that country to end its nuclear program, because they know about U.S. sanctions and inspections in non-nuclear states such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
Offer North Korea a true peace treaty, with no more U.S. military exercises and war games with South Korea on and near the Korean peninsula; no more U.S. forces in South Korea or near Korean coasts; and normalization, including trade, between North Korea and the United States, all in return for a halt to its nuclear program. See how the country reacts.
Pre-emptive war on North Korea would violate the UN Charter and international law.
Ed Ciaccio, Little Neck
Editor’s note: The writer is a member of the Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, a nonprofit activist organization.
North Korea’s recent weapons tests illustrate the accelerated progress of Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program.
This should come as no surprise. Nuclear technology is not the secret it was just after World War II. Pyongyang’s scientists and engineers are building on the work of many who preceded them. Each nation that has pursued nuclear weapons has experienced advances and setbacks such as those North Korea faces. Each of those nations has also ultimately achieved its goal.
If there is any certainty, it’s that North Korea will achieve its goal.
In true fashion, our politicians have kicked this can down the road for far too long. I’m afraid any viable solution to Kim Jong Un’s nuclear threat has long since passed.
John Bruno, Garden City Park
