DPRK Forum

This page gives some interesting insight.

Of course, when picking a president, it hinges on a lot more than North Korea, but I rarely hear about how they would handle policy if something should come up, and if it is talked about, it is very brief (unless I missed something, in which case, you good folks can tell me in the comments). After all, North Korea is something to care about along with other policy abroad and at home. Oh also, I added Fred Thompson for good measure (No, I am not a Thompson hack, nor do I support any candidate just yet).

From what I am reading, the party line looks evident with a little variation for the exception of Ron Paul (Who by the way I am not a supporter or a critic), who says

Rep. Paul (R-TX) has voiced opposition to sanctions against North Korea. He believes the country could serve as a market for U.S. goods, saying, “Every market we close to our nation’s farmers is a market exploited by foreign farmers.”

Fair enough I suppose, but to exploit North Korea for U.S. goods would take some doing. Perhaps it can be done. Either case, that is an interesting variation.

One thing that is very clear is the ever changing landscape of the North Korean problem, the challenges faced by the next president will probably change. The current hope of Bush is to denuclearize North Korea and get a peace treaty before his term is up, and while that is all fair and great, that is a very tall order considering North Korea’s unstable nature on diplomacy, action and constant disengagement. Time will tell on the final outcome of the talks, summit meeting and other factors (such as if the talks with japan and North Korea warm a bit, but that seems pretty far away), but what I am seeing is tension all around because different countries in the region have different goals and concerns.

Yes, my hope is the regime will fizzle by the next election, but what my hopes are and what reality is are two very different things, and even those that support actions to make the regime buckle under pressure is a very risky thing indeed and causes a lot of controversy. Of course, South Korea and China are not too keen on that plan and hope for a soft landing (as said many times before), that does not seem very likely. Also, who is in office in South Korea could change things drastically. From what I am understanding, the GNP has a good chance of grabbing the helm, and whoever is chosen as president of the United States could change things as well. So it is all a very intricate dance, the dance goes on, but the style of dance can change with different dancers.