North Korean Missile Launch

Earlier this weekend, North Korea launched a missile which the nation's leadership claimed was to put a satellite in outer space, but most of the world considered it a demonstration of the nation's ability to make use of long range missiles, and show that they are capable of propelling a warhead into Japan.

North Korea has long been considered one of the primary military threats and most negotiation between the North Koreans and the rest of the world has gone through China. While the United States has played a roll in some of those talks, the Chinese pose an immediate threat to the North Koreans with their own powerful military (certainly the largest in the world). The American weapon of choice in negotiations has long been the use of economic sanctions, but with those in place, their only discussions have been of lifting the sanctions once the nation disarms itself.

The Chinese hold the primary bargaining chip with the North Koreans, and if they feel the threat of nuclear war is increasing with the demonstration of missile launching technologies, then negotiations may open again.

Personally, I don't like the idea of the United States negotiating unless it has to. I'm not a big fan of the "big stick" policies of Teddy Roosevelt (from my understanding of history, the policy more or less destroyed Central America). That said, it's important to show our support for the Chinese, just as its important to allow them to lead the negotiations.

The Chinese need to be at the forefront of negotiations because they're the most immediate threat to the North Koreans. A threat from the Japanese to invade Korea (or a threat from the South Koreans) is not something that will concern the officials in Pyongyang. A threat from the Chinese, before the Koreans have the capacity to do anything with what nuclear capacity they might have, is one that will frighten them (as it should).

I don't want to put the U.S. in a position where it has to look at military action in another country, at least not as a leader of the action. We're certainly not in a position to do it right now, while the Chinese are perfectly capable of handling, with support, a conflict with North Korea, so it makes sense for them to be the leaders in discussing the issue.