I’ve seen this coming ever since the pre-invasion of Iraq period in 2002. Unless we drastically increase our ground forces (which Rumsfeld refuses to do) we need the 2nd ID in reserve and not tied down “at the front” — and we need it now, not in 2005 or 06 or whenever it actually happens.

The South Koreans are strong enough to defend themselves, rich enough to support their Northern cousins, or both. If they want to scream insults at us let em do it from a distance.

And if they want to throw garlands at the arriving Northerners, start things over at “Year 0″, and move to the countryside for cheerful agricultural manual labor–that’s fine too. It doesn’t matter to us anymore.

Probably the Dear Leader won’t want to replicate the Cambodian experiment anyway–he’s too infatuated with Western alcoholic beverages and movies to start over with austerity. He’ll want SK to keep making Hyundais and Samsungs to support him in the manner to which he is accustomed.

NK knows that the US is the biggest market and money nation — and that it leads the world on major efforts —- if they get the US to sign off on it, they believe everyobody else will join in, but with the US hostile to them, they know even nations like China and South Korea, who want to avoid a possible crash of North Korea at all costs, will feel the pressure and it will dampen the aid they give them.

That’s why they want to sit down with the US alone. If they work out a “deal” with the US, they can go to each of these other nations and say, “Look, we’re OK with America, so you should……”

I’m just a simple soul who’s never been to Korea, (though I could have gone while I was on active duty). Can anyone explain to me why everyone seems to feel it is up to the U.S. to come up with the extortion dough, excuse me, the package of “economic incentives”?

Why don’t the South Koreans be the ones to cough it up? Maybe even the hated Japanese can be persuaded to kick in to the pot — haven’t they acknowledged that they are willing to pay billions to North Korea as WWII reparations, once everything is settled for good on the peninsula?

South Korea can send money to their northern brothers–I gather the previous SK government has established a precedent for “paying off” the North. We can pull out and save our money and go far away; the South Koreans can decide for themselves how much “verification” of Northern nuclear disarmament is needed; and “happy days are here again”!

(For those of you who don’t know, that’s a quote of Harry Truman’s old campaign song, which makes it very appropriate for the upcoming celebration of Korean unification).

Koreans thinking with their potentially bruised egos is dangerous for the world.

This is just too much. We HAVE to pull out of this pre-rational peninsula. Only when the south Koreans are forced to REALLY face reality will they wake up. As long as non pure-bloods are part of the equation, they will be unable to see things as human beings.