North Korea there will be blood?

If the North directly attacked the South, The US would have a tacit approval to do at least something initially...since our troops would be dying. Our military is quite capable of reducing their ability to wage war within a matter of two weeks. Its what would be done after that that would be negotiated globally.

If so, it sounds to me like the Generals advised the young leader to be tough so that he would make a fool of himself and his country and so that they could then initiate a coup and get rid of him.

all we need to do is to destroy their weapons. They cant afford to replace them.

destroy all launching sites, all tanks and all planes. We have the capability and could do it in a matter of days. As a country who cant even feed their people, i doubt they could or would attempt to replace their weapons and would be unable to do so quickly, unless China or Russia resupplied them...which would be an unwise chess move.We would have to act quickly and use cruise missiles and B52 runs.we are quite good at the first stage of a war...its the next stages we are not good at.N.Korea has no business with that much power anyway.

Look at what they do to their youth:

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A North Korean teacher holds open a children's pop-up book, which depicts a U.S. soldier killing a Korean woman with a hatchet, in a library room at Kaeson Kindergarten in central Pyongyang on March 9, 2013. For North Koreans, the systematic indoctrination of anti-Americanism starts as early as kindergarten. (David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

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In addition, they threaten the people of S.Korea, who are part of the global community and who deserve protection, if for no other reason than K-Pop.

DEFENSE,yes. I agree. But I guarantee that our involvement will come about as a result of N.Koreas OFFENSE, which they have no right asserting against S.Korea or any of our bases. N.Korea may have a right to its existence, but no more so than does S.Korea.

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The one issue that we have insisted on from the North Koreans is denuclearization. We are not prepared to accept North Korea into the club of nuclear nations. Now the North Koreans have made that pretty clear ... that they expect to be accepted into that club plus they want to get all the other benefits .... The trouble with the North Koreans is that you put something on the table because they say it's important to them and then finally when they get it, they don't seem to be interested in it anymore.

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- Christopher Hill, the dean of the Joseph Korbel School of International StudiesAs many resources as we are investing in this situation, its wont simply go away at this point.

There is no justification, and i think that the United States is acting responsibly diplomatically.China is speaking out against its ally, as well.

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China has added its voice to the growing tensions in the Korean peninsula, saying no country should cause global chaos after the US postponed a missile test to ease war fears.

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Xi Jinping, the president of China, North Korea's financial and diplomatic backer, issued the veiled rebuke of its ally on Sunday after repeated threats from the North of a nuclear strike against the United States and South Korea and joint military training exercises between Pyongyang's two enemies.

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"No one should be allowed to throw a region, or even the whole world, into chaos for selfish gains," Xi told a forum on the southern island of Hainan, without naming any specific country.

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Nearly everyone agrees that N.Korea is the one initiating conflict and acting irresponsibly. It remains to be seen who throws the first gauntlet, and if China gives us tacit approval for a limited response, I think we have the responsibility to put the little un in his place. Of course, diplomatically China wins either way.

They are mostly all bark and no bite, but it is only a matter of time. We need to defang them before we get bit.

You are totally right. After reading your post, I see that yes, it IS too late to beat these guys. I say we ust keep economically sanctioning them, but if they so much as throw an errant missle and kill either American troops or S,Korean civilians, we cruise missle their military capacity back to the stone age!We cant very well afford to allow them to build nukes or they will have us where they want us. China, meanwhile, lets it happen and waits for the US to fall.

What are we supposed to do, then? It looks as if though this ragtag bunch of brainwashed Asians is gonna hurt us one way or another.We cant afford to be propping up any more dictators either. Look where that has gotten us......

China is quite wise. They know that allowing N.Korea to be the "bad guy" could cripple the US financially, as we are quite near the tipping point financially...fiscal cliff, if you will. Another costly war certainly wouldnt help us. We also have made(created) many new younger avowed enemies of our nation/state policy globally, and irritating N.Koreans wont help our future. As you say, we do place a high value on human life, and we value 100 of our own casualties higher than 100,000 enemy ones. A sad commentary on our morality...and the world watches and we are judged.And yet...to do nothing and to bring our boys home...seems so logical and yet some special interest somewhere wants them out there micromanaging the globe. I cant figure out who profits from it, though...

I think what jar is trying to tell us is that even if the US could eventually wipe out the enemies ability to fight, the enemy likely will get in at least one shot that will cause thousands of casualties...this not even taking into account the cost of such a conflict. Is it worth it? Must we continue being the global cop and at what price?