Well, I haven't heard anything about the West Coast being nuked this weekend, so I guess that means that North Korea's missile test is not an imminent threat. Trouble is, with an ICBM, by the time the threat is imminent, it's probably too late. Just after the missile is launched, it is hot and comparatively slow, a possible target for a submarine-launched ABM. Once it gets on the other side of the parabola, it is fast and cold--not so easy to knock down, then. Hope Bush can deter them from any funny stuff.
I get rather melancholy thinking about North Korea. It is the most thoroughgoing slave state in the world today. North Korea is really just one man, and the state and the people are his playthings. The Hermit Kingdom is not in the same league as Soviet Russia, Communist China, or Nazi Germany--but it is "tops" in its weight class, for sheer horror visited upon its population. How could Americans back in the Thirties and the Fifties live with equanimity, knowing what was happening on the other side of the world? The same way I live now, with a shrug and a sigh for the poor wretches.
Your best English language source for Korea-related bloggage is The Korea Liberator, formerly One Free Korea. The proprietor basically provides his take on articles from the Chosun Ilbo and other South Korean newspapers, but it's a well-informed take. He's been all over the missile thing from the beginning.
Update: In the comments, I'm informed that it's a group blog.
The Korea Liberator is actually a group blog that combined the previous posts from all three contributors’ blogs; Joshua (One Free Korea), James J. Na (The Asianist), and Richardson (DPRK Studies, which is still operating).
ReplyDeleteWe often comment on articles from all sources of Korea-related news, but also provide analysis on other issues that may not be current news items.
BTW, nice comment about socialism above.