Turn the Problem of North Korea Over to Its Neighbors | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Turn the Problem of North Korea Over to Its Neighbors | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: 'Even if the Republic of Korea's defense then was worth three years of war, the peninsula matters much less to America today. A North Korean attack would no longer be the assumed harbinger to regional or global aggression. Neither Russia nor China would aid an aggressive Pyongyang. And the ROK is well able to defend itself, in contrast to 1950, when Washington had refused to arm its ally after Seoul threatened to invade the north.

There's no reason for the U.S. to remain entangled on the peninsula through its promise to defend the South backed by the deployment of 27,000 military personnel.'

'However, the U.S. government should provide no aid, food or financial, to Pyongyang. Tragically, millions of North Koreans are hungry, and UN Undersecretary-General Valerie Amos has been lobbying for more international food assistance. But it is impossible to keep politics out of even "humanitarian" aid. Government-to-government assistance boosts the Kim regime, which has turned the entire nation into a deadly prison camp.'