North Korea

North Korea's nuclear program cannot be eliminated short of a regime change, which probably means starting a war. The United States went to war against Iraq because of the possibility that Iraq might someday do what North Korea has already done. Military action needs to be taken against North Korea.

American troops, backed up by South Korean and Japanese troops, would invade North Korea. A preemptive military strike by the United States would include locating all facilities that could be used in a nuclear weapons program, destroying these targets, and preventing North Korea from retaliating with missile strikes. Use of U.S. bases in South Korea would make an attack easier. Although North Korea has capable air defenses and large quantities of anti-aircraft artillery, North Korean nuclear facilities would be vulnerable to attack by bombers armed with precision-guided weapons.

U.S. military strikes would probably destroy North Korea's future ability to produce and reprocess nuclear material for use in nuclear weapons, preventing North Korea from moving from the one or two nuclear weapons that might be available now to the numerous weapons that would be available if production continued. These strikes could potentially remove North Korea's ability to produce large quantities of nuclear material for the next several years.

Engagement has not worked with the North Korean crisis. It has not made the world a safer place, and the large amounts of aid provided North Korea have actually helped a regime that was on its way to collapsing in the 1990's. Diplomatic efforts and six-nation talks to resolve the North Korean missile crisis have failed to produce any breakthroughs.