http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/world/asia/us-says-north-korea-agrees-to-curb-nuclear-work.html What about the 15.1% of people living in poverty in the United States? Why should we, the taxpayers, pay for food for a country who has in the past backed out on deals to end their nuclear expansion? Deals like this are ludicrous, and should not happen. This is the problem with us, the U.S., we feel obliged to help others before we help us. For a country that is anti-communist, we sure do a lot to help those countries.
Are dey nuts???... China expresses confidence in NKorea's leader Kim 23 Apr.`12 China's top foreign policy official has met a North Korean delegation and expressed confidence in the country's young leader just over a week after Pyongyang conducted a rocket launch that Beijing had discouraged.
The question is: who is going to send food to the USA, after it finally completes its transformation into the "wonderful" paradise of socialism/communism?
The US should end all foreign aid, starting with the biggest drain of all- Israel. It isn't seen as benevolence any more anyway. It's seen as bribery- and that's what the bulk of it is.
Normally, I'd agree that this is useless. However, North Korea does have a new leader now (at least officially). The people behind him are the same, but with a new face to represent them, North Korea is freer to change course. In theory, if we develop good relations with them now, they might actually be more consistent in moving towards normalcy with the outside world. They're at a very critical point right now. Cuba is approaching a similar position as Fidel's health wanes.
A few baskets with grapes, a bottle of wine and perhaps a nice cheese won't repair decades of mistrust/anger. It will take huge diplomacy on both sides. Although the quick fix is always tried, for a idealistic attempt to skip over the complicated. But the complicated take a long time, with cool heads on both sides. But that hasn't happened in decades either.
The focus on food has to do with North Korea's serious famine problems. Food is what they need more than anything else, so that's why it works better than most things as a diplomatic tool.
Then that is not diplomacy but bribary and the same nonsense that has happened for decades. The usa try to bribe the NK regime, they take your resources, say thank you and go back to doing their own thing. And they can do it, as they stand behind china who doesn't want any border issues. Instead of food, statesmen are needed to rebuild the bridges that have been burnt.
There are no diplomatic tools that work with North Korea. They have been 100% take and 0% give. Helping enemies goes counter to our national interests. I guess that's a nice way of saying that it is stupid.
That is part of the problem. The usa viewing Nk as an enemy. It is too simplistic. It is a complicated situation. Nk has trade with SK and china and also involved in talks to reunify. The usa is stuck in the middle by its own chioce and so far is not doing anything constructive in diplomatic efforts.
A large part of why we're the ones giving them food is that China has mostly run out of patience with them. Still, they can't just keep this up indefinitely. Every time we give them food, strings are attached. The only real issue right now is that the conditions are always limited in timeframe. In effect, the leaders of North Korea are in a very awkward position. If they actually normalize relations with the world and open things up, the cult they've built up will fall like a deck of cards. A large portion of North Koreans really do believe their leader is a god/demi-god. They've also been led to believe that most of the outside world is in shambles. Once this facade is dropped, the people will understandably be very angry with their leaders, so currently, the regime is trying to figure out what to do to spare their own skins.
Again, strings are attached when we give them food. The conditions are always temporary in nature, but so far, that's the best we can get out of them. It's still better than just going to war.
The cult as you put it falling, is the very thing that the chinese fear. And maybe the biggest reason why they defend Nk from the outside world. They want the NK society contained within its own borders. And america or the west in general won't be there to pick up the peices, when the flood gates open to bordering nations being over whlemed. As said a complicated situation. But under estimating the chinese containement policies is probably not wise. It could start a wider conflict if it ever happened. With the views to open up Nk by forcefull bribary and other dubious efforts.
what about the "15.1" of people living in poverty? firstly i'm not certain how you came up with that number, if you count illegal immigrants any statistic would be only an estimate, second why should the government not use the money gained from taxes to enhance international relations? are communistic governments really a good excuse to deprive the people of basic needs? I don't see many citizens organizing food drives to feed the homeless or illegal immigrants, maybe our government sometimes knows best?
I think you'll find that South Korea has more to fear than China from a flood of North Koreans once it's opened up, but it would appear that South Korea is willing to deal with that. A lot of people in South Korea want to reunite with their long lost relatives. China doesn't seem too peeved about our involvement at this point. If anything, they're probably happy to have us deal with them more now.
America should send no food aid to North Korea. They don,t listen to anything the Americans say,but try to antagonise the rest of the world with threats. As China has just given a big vote of confidence to the North Korean government , let them supply any aid that this regime requires.
The poverty line in the U.S. is around $22,000 year income. The per capita in come in N Korea is less than $2,000. Nearly the entire N Korean country risks starvation. Our poor die from obesity-related ailments. I'd expect an economics major to be a little smarter than this. If you have any ethics you should request your professors give you a failing grade for not knowing the above.
