How would you feel about a war with North Korea?

I will be the first to admit I know very little about North Korea and why the world lets a crazy man hold it hostage. I wonder why we can't get in there and remove him from his leadership role. It appears (again remember I said I know little) that the entire world doesn't approve of his leadership, so is there really anyone who would come to his aid if action was taken? I don't think a huge show of force with this is the way to go. I think it has to be a sneak assassination, but we need to make sure the next person to lead is not batshit crazy. How do we go about doing that? How do we get rid of him and help the people of North Korea at the same time?

The problem is that the next person in line probably *is* batshit crazy also. Because that's what they've been taught. No one in North Korea has the slightest idea what it means to lead a democracy or even to live in one. This is one reason so many African countries continue to have coup after coup after coup...it takes education over generations to begin to change the mindset of people who know nothing different. Not picking on African countries, it's just that that was my area of expertise when I worked at State. 

In my opinion, to really change a country like North Korea we ("we" meaning not just the US but a coalition of countries committed to democracy) would have to go in there and occupy for a long time. And do we really want to do that? 

Hell NO!!!!!

The fact that the President uses twitter as a foreign policy "tool" is concerning to me. There's no way you can convey an effective message regarding such a nuanced situation in just 140 characters.

Of course I don't want it, but I'm reading a book right now about North Korea and those people need to be free.

Trump is exactly what North Koreans have been brainwashed to believe all Americans are.

I don't know the level of my seriousness or not, but you can't tell me it hasn't happened before. So it is an option no matter what the ethical/moral issue is. And unfortunately I do think that sometimes it is an option for the greater good. Think of how many people would have lived had someone taken Hitler out before he got the concentration camps started? This isn't just about a crazy leader with his hand on the nuclear power button. His people need help and the world stands by and does nothing. So yeah I weigh the universal good of saving a country vs the life of one man. Luckily I never have to make that decision, so I can sit back in my comfy house and throw out all kinds of ideas. If you feel that my option isn't valid, and you don't agree with what President Trump is doing, then what is the answer to it? I see your arguments against those options, but I don't see an option of your own.

And I disagree with your assessment of them being happy. They are told they are happy. Everyone who escapes will tell you a different story that explains just how unhappy and mistreated they are. There is a lot of evidence that points to the fact they are not being treated well in that country. So I don't buy the whole "they are happy with him." argument.

I still can't believe they let him on Twitter either

I think a war with North Korea is inevitable. Trump in office or not, this has been brewing for decades.

The problem with taking out a crazy dictator in another country is that there are no guarantees what will pop up in that person's place. It's kind of like playing Whack-a-Mole. You might be successful in getting rid of one, but another and another will keep coming up behind the one(s) you took out. As someone else said upthread, it doesn't seem like a winning proposal. It seems a little too much like Iraq to ignore the similarities.

I think this too.

NK will be bombing whatever they can for any reason or no reason, they're just looking for a chance to do it. They don't care about living--it's about legacy for them.

Goodness now you put me in a position to defend our President Thanks He is no where near the level of the leader of NK. Im sorry but he isn't. And we in this country have a wonderful tradition of changing out our leaders when we see fit. Which I have a feeling is going to happen with President Trump sooner rather than later. The people of NK do not have that choice. They cannot stand up for themselves against their leader like we can and do here in this country, without the threat of being tortured or killed, or worse, left alone but family being tortured or killed.. You cannot compare the two at all. And now I have to go take a shower.

I didn't literally mean that they would defend communist as such, maybe I should have used another word  but Putin would side with NK if it came to the crunch. Maybe not as oppressive as the NK leadership and government, but you can hardly compare the freedom allowed to many in Russia to the freedom we have here in the west though.

Exactly what I was thinking.
The USA also has a batshit crazy leader now who re-writes the truth and lies to his people.
Who is going to step in and remove Trump from power?
And just like NK - some people who live in the USA also fail to acknowledge how fucked up their leader is.

*Something* has to happen but I'm not sure how that's going to be accomplished or what it's going to look like. The current system is obviously not sustainable, though they've managed to keep it gong this long--they've also been propped up by China, and I think China is going to be an important key in whatever happens. North Korea has been changing slowly, and people do have more access to information than they have for a long time (black market DVDs are popular). Koreans (both north and south) have a very strong sense of their own national identity and their cultural history, and the North Korean leaders are very good at using that and manipulating it, but I think they might find their own way, 점점 (little by little). Though of course if Kim Jong-Un gets provoked then things may happen a lot quicker and more unpleasantly.