Problem is.

North Korea had a long history of being open to Diplomatic Bribery, and the US has taken full advantage of this, tying aid into its negotiations for decades. Problem was that now the NK have worked out that this was the ONLY bargaining chip the US had and finally called the bluff.

I would like to think that this will be solved diplomatically. I am certain that if the US takes military action the problem would not be NK but China. And I think that the solution has to come from China here... Which would rankle the US.

I would like to think that, but I am not certain due to the religious and right wing fundamentalism that seems to be driving Bush's policies (or at least the policies of the guys that run his presidency)... Still there are few natural resources to be exploited, so the chances of a military solution are low (Not that the shit in the middle east was about oil... Oh No...)

Worrying developments. If there was ever a loose cannon in international politics it's North Korea. The worry is what options there are for the international community to bring to bear in response. The North Korean government obviously couldn't care less about the welfare of its own population, so economic sanctions are limited, and they're so isolationist and irrational that any kind of condemnation is just going to be ignored. Then again, a military option is obviously a difficult one to take because the North Korean government is crazy enough to just nuke something in response.

What's somewhat ironic is the UN have just annouced a South Korean as the next Secretary General.

Now that will either further fan the flames of the NK/Sk divide or maybe actually help smooth relations a little. But with a US friendly Secretary General in the UN will the US have better leverage?

Korea detonate a nuclear device-

The US say "This is a great danger from the axis of evil."

China says "This could destabalise the entire pernisula."

France says "Pah - You call that a bomb!"

John (who knows about such things from preveious work we are not allowed to talk about) wet himself laughing when I told him how big the estimate yield was!