An Aggressive Defense Could Stall North Korea

When the press reports the Bush administration weakest by pulling United Staes troops away from the DMZ and moving them further south in South Korea, remember this letter-to-the-editor that was published in the Wall Street Journal on July 10, 2006.

An Aggressive Defense Could Stall North Korea [subscription required]

“In response to "The China Card" by Michael Auslin (editorial page, July 7): The China Card should, indeed, be played but perhaps even more forcefully. There is also a South Korea card that should be played since appeasement is the center of South Korean policy.

1) North Korean nukes should be tied to providing (or allowing to develop) nuclear capability to Japan and, by Japanese proxy (if they develop their own nukes), to Taiwan. Nuclear weapons are the great equalizer, as was the Colt revolver in the Old West, hardly something China would like to see.

2) South Korea should be "nudged," and North Korea given a clear warning, by redeployment of U.S. forces in Korea further south, out of range of immediate North Korean overrun. As game theorists have long noted, such a "defensive" move is actually quite aggressive, freeing the U.S. to take Draconian measures against the North.

Stuart L. Meyer
Department of Management & Strategy (Emeritus)
Northwestern University
Evanston, Ill.”