> North Korea having nukes is a huge problem if you are South Korea or Japan or Hong Kong or anyone else in the region.
I'm not sure I accept that premise. But the U.S isn't listed there? So where is the U.S interest here? Or are we going to go with "stability in the region is in the USes interest"?
North Korea, by and large, is a problem for South Korea. Just as Taiwan is a problem for China (or vice versa). Where does a country draw the line of "national interest"? Because it seems (in the case of the CIA) to have gotten out of hand.
Edit:
> Show me where France has on repeated occasions attacked their neighbours and destabilised the region.
Substitute France with Israel then. There is no consistency with the U.Ses labeling of 'Evil'/'terrorist' regimes.
The US isn't within current strike range of NK. The other countries are. South Korea, notably, has its capital (and 25 million inhabitants) within 35 miles of the North Korean border.
There's some debate as to how much of the NK artillery force is capable of striking Seoul, but there's no doubt that at least some of it can.
And that's just conventional weaponry (explosives, possibly chemical and biological weapons).
Nukes are a completely different ballgame.
NK could disrupt affairs in countries in which the US has significant economic and strategic relationships. But its ability to directly affect the US is somewhat less. At least so long as you're thinking in terms of artillery and missile launches. A ship-board nuke could still make for a really bad day in New York, LA, Houston, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, or even Chicago or other Great Lakes ports.
I'm not sure I accept that premise. But the U.S isn't listed there? So where is the U.S interest here? Or are we going to go with "stability in the region is in the USes interest"?
North Korea, by and large, is a problem for South Korea. Just as Taiwan is a problem for China (or vice versa). Where does a country draw the line of "national interest"? Because it seems (in the case of the CIA) to have gotten out of hand.
Edit:
> Show me where France has on repeated occasions attacked their neighbours and destabilised the region.
Substitute France with Israel then. There is no consistency with the U.Ses labeling of 'Evil'/'terrorist' regimes.