This Author seems sympathetic to the north's position and it's madman leader. Their and his actions now, cannot be excused by the temporary placement of a few tactical nuclear weapons half a century ago, since removed decades ago and not there now! Unlike the thousands of pack howitzers now threatening Seoul!

And he glibly glosses, with rare callous indifference over the millions of innocent human beings now being held against their will in north Korean gulags, or that the whole of the north is little better than one giant prison camp.

When a mad dog threatens folk that have never ever threatened it. There's just one solution! Take the creature outside and put a bullet in its brains.

That one already absolutely justified death, may well save millions of other lives!?

These folk have had countless opportunities to end this war and in a power sharing arrangement.

Instead this failed regime just keeps on with all the cage rattling, sabre rattling, moral blackmail!

Decades of attempted appeasement have proved a recipe for more of the same inexcusable unjustifiable horse sh!t and endless demands that make ending anything impossible!

One cannot negotiate with a gun held to the temple and in the hands of a demonstrably insane murder playing russian roulette with the survival of our species!

It comes as a complete surprise anyone with any ethics Max, would ever consider going in to bat for this animal, let alone actually doing it with this spurious attempt at propaganda?

I regret bothering to read this commie garbage!
Alan B

Where on earth do people like Max live? It certainly can't be the real one, where things like Pearl Harbour happen, & thousands of your people die.

It must be in some virtual reality, where when the stuff hits the fan, & thousands die when you find you have got it entirely wrong, you can just press the reset button, bring them all back to life, & try again.

Max the real world does not offer the luxury of play acting with the results of dreaming. You have to take the course most likely to minimise the cost in lives & possessions of you & yours. If that means an obliterating first strike, that is what you must do.

God we need protection from day dreaming of academics, so smug & protected in their ivory towers.

The two previous posters have been too kind to Max. He completely forgets when espousing the commie line that the one family see North Korea as "Their" country! Father to son leaders like some European upper class twits.
Murder and threats all come from this garbage and always backed up by Max and his mates.
Personally I would do nothing and let this little idiot with a bad haircut (Not Max, Kim Jong l) urinate into the wind.

This essay is an edited version, with some updating, of an article first published by New Matilda on December 18th with the title “Iraq Mark II: The Fatal Flaw In The Case For War Against North Korea”.

From the North Korean point of view, its status as the most invaded country in the world justifies a nuclear deterrent.

North Korea has been invaded by China, Japan, Russia the US, UN forces (including Australian and British) and South Korea.

North Korea has a nervous relationship with nuclear armed Russia and China who are not in friendly alliance with North Korea.

South Korea was no peace-loving democracy when North Korea invaded it in 1949. The invasion followed several South vs North Korean border clashes since 1945.

South Korea's leader, authoritarian Syngman Rhee, killed 14,000 and 30,000 of his own people during the Jeju massacre, in 1948-49 just before the Korean War.[1]

By early 1950 Rhee had about 30,000 alleged communists in his jails, and had about 300,000 suspected sympathisers enrolled in an official "re-education" movement called the Bodo League. When the Communist army attacked from the North in June, retreating South Korean forces executed the prisoners, along with several tens of thousands of Bodo League members. [2]

Like Dresden or Hiroshima (WWII) North Korea's capital, Pyongyang was bombed flat by the US Air Force during the Korea War. "By the time of the armistice, 75 percent of Pyongyang's area was destroyed by the bombing campaign, which was part of a broader U.S. bombing effort throughout the country which cost the lives of nearly 3 million North Koreans by the time the war ended" [3] Enough said.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju_uprising

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngman_Rhee#Political_repression

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Pyongyang

Remember that the aim of the US in North Korea is the same as in many other countries which have had governments not sympathetic and compliant with its interests. ie "Regime change" to install its own puppets and stooges. Obviously the regular US led military exercises basically stimulating an invasion of North Korea and killing its leaders were likely to turn into a real invasion sooner or later if warmongers in Washington think one had a good prospect of success. Also are more likely to be bullies while likelihood of retailiation is low.

North Koreans are very well aware of the US record of destroying countries with military action. Especially including their own during the Korean War and more recently Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. So if an new attempt is made to attack them they have the option of possibly hitting the bully back hard with nuclear strikes. If likely they could be carried out on eg a US aircraft carrier group or from a missile to the US west coast, an armed invasion is very unlikely