[melling]

Is 30,000 people a lot of troops? I think you seem to be forgetting how large China’s amy is. North Korea has a million man army too.

At any rate, what are your ideas for solving the problem? We could withdraw the troops from Korea and Japan, since you think that is part of the problem?

[zaqokm321]

> Is 30,000 people a lot of troops? I think you seem to be forgetting how large China’s amy is. North Korea has a million man army too.

The US has 6800 nuclear weapons, and it seems that people are getting worried about a country who may not have one single functioning weapon. That's of course if we want to just play this about the numbers.

Of course 30,000 troops is a lot, it's enough to annoy others in the surrounding countries. Imagine the uproar if China put 30,000 troops in Mexico. It isn't just the military threat they pose but also the overall insult to the nations.

Now the size of NK army does not matter, especially when a lot of them do not even have enough food to feed themselves. As far as the size of the Chinese army, if you broke down the differences between the US and China you will see that this isn't just about the size of forces. The US has a huge asymmetric advantage via air.

> At any rate, what are your ideas for solving the problem? We could withdraw the troops from Korea and Japan, since you think that is part of the problem?

Look there is no simple solution, but poking the bear isn't going to work. Diplomatic options will always be better than declaring war on a country like NK. It would be better for China, but other than fuelling the war economy of the US, it is probably in their best favour.

Withdrawing troops, may not be the best idea either but if you leave them there in an aggressive manner you will truly witness more of this disagreement.

NK does not really care about bombing the US, they just want the US to stay out of NK.

[jryle80]

> The US has 6800 nuclear weapons, and it seems that people are getting worried about a country who may not have one single functioning weapon. That's of course if we want to just play this about the numbers.

It's not about a single nuclear weapon, it's about the lasting impact it may have. 9/11 only cost 4000 lives, and look at its impact -- Iraq and Afghanistan wars, terrorism policies. Now think about what'd happen if a war breaks out in the Korea Peninsula. It'd have devastating effect to South Korea, and possibly Japan. It would definitely disrupt the global economy. It may trigger a war with China and Russia.

> NK does not really care about bombing the US, they just want the US to stay out of NK.

NK does care about SK. US cannot unilaterally withdraw the troop. It is obliged to provide military support to Japan and SK

Also, the very presence of the US played no small part in helping both countries to become world economy powers after the devastating WW2 and the Korea war.

If all parties are really interested about reunification, they would agree to something like a roadmap in which the US will gradually reduce its military presence, NK open their market, and an eventual election. The thing is, nobody at the table wants that, not to mention such agreements are historically futile. Think about Vietnam 1954 and 1973 agreements.

[melling]

We’ve been using diplomacy for decades. Obama was very diplomatic. He handled it well,in your opinion, right?

[yeukhon]

This has never been a size problem. China can probably build a human bridge all the way to SF with that population (I am probably exaggerating), but that doesn't mean the Chinese will win. You can tell this from modern warfares (Vietnam, Iraq etc). Size and advancement in tech can get us to the winning zone for sure, but we cannot discount locals' discomfort, loyalty and nationalism.

[viraptor]

Slightly off topic, but I just had to check: Shanghai to SF is around 9873.51 km. Some internet counter estimates China's population at 1,389,221,780. Assuming 50/50 split (can't find a better one now), average height in China is 161.45 cm. That gives us a possible human chain 2 242 898.56 km long. That's more then enough to reach from China to SF.