>Hi Mike,
>
>As to North Korea, remember 1968 seizure of the USS Pueblo, the 1976 murders of 2 soldiers cutting down a tree , and not least, the events of 1993 and 1994. They are doing it again. It worked once and it will work again. Don't forget that approximately 1,500 Americans have been killed by Northern forces since the ceasefire.
>
>We were building North Korea a nuclear power plant after he promised to freeze his weapons program in 1994. Now it is evident that he lied and he will have both the nuclear power (courtesy of the U.S. and many other nations) and his weapons. He once again has his bargaining power to get what he wants.
>
>http://www.imjinscout.com/DMZ_History2.html
>http://www.isis-online.org/publications/dprk/book/af.html
>

1968 and 1976 were a pretty long time ago -- closer to the actual Korean War, which was over 50 years ago, than to the present day.

North Korea is of course a threat to world stability. My only point to Tom was that I don't see the situation as comparable in any way to Iraq, where we have loads of active soldiers deployed and getting killed every day.

>We need to pull out of South Korea completely, but not without either the South Koreans requesting it or a peace agreement in place.
>

Agreed.

>There are a LOT of opinions on exit strategies for Iraq:
>
>http://www.comw.org/pda/0512exitplans.html
>

True, and thanks for the link. But the only opinions / strategies that matter are the ones our government may devise.