There is definitely no easy way to go about trying to help/control North Korea. Because they hate Americans and still hold a grudge against us, we should try to stay out of the whole situation as much as possible. Kim Jung Il and his guards are much less likely to listen to anything Americans have to say than any other country. Though he probably wouldn't listen to anyone, we would be last on his list. I think the best thing to do is to keep helping the innocent North Koreans who are in need of medical help, along with better nutrition and education. We should attempt to help the people in need similar to the doctor who fixed the blind peoples' eyes with cataracts. If we can't control the North Korean government, why not help the people who are much less fortunate than us and "trapped" in awful living conditions? There's no point in the United States trying to overpower Kim Jung Il knowing that we are putting many innocent lives at risk with the fear of nuclear weapons. Also, we would potentially be digging ourselves into deeper financial debt by sending more troops over to monitor North Korea. Ultimately, we could aim for a compromise with Kim Jung Il to prevent nuclear weapons, but until then, we should be very careful with our actions.

North Korea Response

I don't think there is any way to solve the problem in North Korea. It seems as though they want to be separated from the rest of the world. If any country did attempt to fix North Korea, North Korea would just reject there help. We did try helping them, but it didn't work. So I don't think we should help them anymore at all. The problems seem to be getting worse in North Korea and Kim Jong-Il acts like there are no problems. The North Koreans are being brain washed because of him. Maybe the next leader after Kim Jong-Il will have more sense and solve the major problems. There is no hope for North Korea to change until Kim Jong- Il dies.

North Korea Response

In my opinion I don't think that there is a set way for the U.S. or other governments to "deal" with North Korea. The only thing I think that the world should do is to keep an eye on them. Now for solving the problem of North Korea its difficult to answer. In my opinion it would be when their government collapses. When that happens the U.N. and other governments could all pitch in to help rebuild North Korea. That could be very soon or it could be quite awhile from now, only time will tell.

North Korea Response

I think that we should have nothing to do with North Korea at all. They isolated themselves from us, so why should we help them. It's their fault that they're having problems. Leaders aren't obligated to help the citizens in any way even though it seems like that'd be the right thing to do. We shouldn't worry about the North Korea problem, we aren't obligated to solve it. We just need to let them do them and us do us.

I say that we should sell drugs to North Korea. We would benefit from the money, and get the drugs out of North America. This would also put North Korea into even more of a mess, so that they wouldn't be able to function, and the government would collapse.

METH!!

the best to deal with kim jong il is to not deal with him at all and we shouldn't be worrying about the drug epidemic over there when many americans have drug promblems themselves. If we want to solve their prombles we first have to solve ours. What the leaders should do is just wait until the two koreas unite and fix their own promblems. i think we should help some of the people but we can't because of the great leader so we just have to wait and see what happens.Maybe they will all be meth heads in a couple years and nuke us all!!!

God Bless America

They think us Americans are nothing but power high jerks who just want to control everything and there right. Kim has made it clear that he has some beef with uncle sam and the boys, so heres what we do. I have thought very deeply on this plan and feel like it is the best option. We get a confrence going with Mr. Ill and we tell him hey, either you get your act together or your going to get lit up. Don't step into then jungle if you dont want to mess with the lion. we will lite you kim and if you don't think so then we will pounce on you like a tiger. Go ask your boy Adolf, how messing with the americans is a great idea, oh wait he is dead. Listen kim, and listen closley, if you are reading this my name is Danny Albers, and Americas job is bringing terror to the terrorist. So back up and dont mess with us. You got that Kim.

I dont think it's necessarily possible to solve the North Korea problem. Especially us, being the U.S. with their extreme hatred for us. Dealing with the citizens of North Korea, I feel if they really need the help, one person will risk their life to save the rest of their country. Our world leaders should stand back, and act when asked to. The reason i think this is because if our world leaders aggravate them, then they will be forced to take action. With all their nuclear warfare and pent up anger towards us, do we really want them to react? If they do, i have a feeling the end of the world will come muh sooner than we want. So i say we just leave them be until they ask for help.

North Korea

In my opinion, in order to deal with North Korea, we need to let them be. North Korea already has a failing economy, a hunger epidemic, and a dying leader. It will be within years where North Korea goes under for good. Since North Korea i not receiving help from the outside, they have nothing to bring them back. Even if we started a war with North Korea, they wouldn't be able to afford it. Sure, they'd bomb the hell out of us but once we got over that, they'd be done. So let North Korea ride solo for a few more years and they'll crumble to pieces.

North Korea

North Korea, in my opinion, is run by a lunatic who does not believe in foreign help, even though North Korea was reenforced by China during the Korean War. Hes a self-centered little insignificant man who has no desire to help his own people. He's a man who makes many people who he betrays worship him, and instead of allowing his people to worship a tetragrammaton, he proclaimed himself as being a false God king who lost all value in his self respect to the point where his oppressed people must worship him.

North Korean Response

In my own opinion I think we should leave North Korea alone because if Kim Jong Il feels like we are being invasive on their actions, they could pull us into a world war that could possibly kill the general population. If the U.S. keeps annoying North Korea we could be playing with a loaded gun. I do believe we need to stop the attacks on South Korea because we can't let them bully another country or they'll bully us eventually. Violence is not the answer unless a full-scale war breaks out in Korea.

North Korea...

North Korea, look we all hate it but frankly lets not get all caught up in this bullc*** because we got bigger things to worry about. Housing markets, ecoonomy, debt, we have so much more to be freaked about not of this lunatic running a country by his own knowledge. When they launch something, sure why not? The goal should be keep an eye on them not change them, theyre like an old nun, stubborn beyond belief.

America gets it done

Well here is the deal my survey buddies, if kim jung ill is acting like he has been we should do something about it. We wait this thing out and it can become a serious problem. First, were allies with the South Koreans, and they need to be assisted by us with this problem. We cant have one crazy dude running around saying he is going to bomb everybody then we need to go to war with these people. Some people say americas government is corrupt and it is, but North Koreas government is crazy and that is a lot worse. We need to bust into North korea before they set the bombs off and we need to lite them up on are ground game before those lunatics get there finger on button to blow up the bombs. We need to bring the South Koreans with us so the can save the innocent people while we go black opps on kim and his army. Once we are done, if anybody has a problem we will handle them to and prove to the world that America wants world piece and were willing to get are hands dirty to do so.

North Korea Response

I agree with many others who have posted: we need to leave North Korea alone until AT LEAST Kim Jong Il passes. His son might seem prepared and ready to lead the nation after Kim Jong Il dies, but he is built on military leadership, not dictating the innocent. He will lead the country either into poverty and need to ask for help, which is when we will come in, OR he will lead the country to war which they would not be prepared for. Like I said, there isn't a lot we can do safely until there is new leadership in power, because at this point it is painfully obvious that Kim Jong Il is not willing to change his ways.

North Korea Response

In my opinion, the world is never really obligated to help anyone else other than themselves. Although it may not be completely moral, a nation needs to help itself before deciding to take on others' problems. In the case of North Korea, I believe that this is especially true. Kim Jung-Il has made it very clear that he wants nothings to do with anyone else, and that's his choice to do as a leader of his country. To continue, while what the rest of the world has been told about North Korea may seem sad, we can never quite be certain about what is true and what isn't. Right now, North Korea is not anyone's problem, and thus, I believe it should deal with itself.

North Korean Problems

I feel like there is really no way to deal with North Korea. Kim Jong-Il hates the U.S. and there's nothing we can do about that. But that doesn't mean every citizen hates the U.S. and that could be a good thing. Kim Jong-Il is getting old and will die soon and we should wait until that happens and then try to help their country. That would be the best way to deal with Kim Jong-Il, just to ignore him until he cracks. Once that happens the U.N. can send aid and help the citizens of North Korea. Until that day though, we don't have to help them at all. They have to learn to solve their own problems or it's going to keep getting worse.

North Korea Response

Kim Jong Il doesnt want anything to do with the rest of the world so thats his problem and not ours. We should just leave north Korea alone and let them do their own thing. I think that the only exception for us to be involved with North Korea is if they have American hostages or something like that. We should just leave them alone and once Kim Jong Il does something really bad that pisses the U.S. off we should just bomb them. Our country is much bigger and we have more allies so they would be screwed. Kim Jong Il has already killed so many people for trying to escape so how about we kill him?

Helping North Korea

I think North Korea needs help big time. But like what other people have been saying, we can't just barge into their country and help them without them asking for it. They obviously need help but we should wait for them to ask for help. If we just come into their country uninvited that could turn into war. Creating a war would cause a lot more unwanted problems and it would stear us away from helping North Korea. In the meantime we should just mind our own business until North Korea asks for us to help them out of this mess.

North Korea

I believe that North Korea should be taken over by South Korea. If it helps lower the casaulties of South Korea and the US(seeing that we fight all the wars for South Korea), I think we should drop a nuke on them. It would deteriorate their spirit to fight. I doubt that even half of the North Koreans truly like the system their under. They are forced to live in a certain way and have a threat of dying every day. Taking over North Korea would not be as hard as it was in the 1950's. The North Koreans may just have finally started to create atomic bombs but have not done tests and still have a far way to go. The United States have a much greater army and weapons. After taking them over, we should watch over them with South Korea until South Korea can manage both countries. Then we should finally leave Korea and be watchful to make sure Korea is stable throughout time.

North Korea

In my opinion, the best way for world leaders to deal with Kim Jong Il is to just let him be. North Korea is not helping the rest of the world in any way so why bother. Unless they are harming other countries, which they aren't, i think they should just do their thing. World leaders should not feel obligated to help the citizens in any way. I dont feel a need in caring for North Korea. Kim Jong Il is in control, then his son is going to be in control so the citizens are in a bad situation for a long time. The North Korean problem does not need to be solved. No one should feel bad or care for them. They hate us Americans anyway.

North Korea and Kim Jung Il

The best way for the United States to deal with North Korea and Kim Jung Il is to let them continue their isolation until all else fails. Clearly, we have had little success in the past and it appears like nothing is going to change anytime soon. North Korea is a desolate country with malnutrition and a possible crystal meth epidemic. However, so little is known about the country that we are not even positive whether or not these problems are real or just a facade. One cannot be obligated to help if there is no certain knowledge about the situation. Although our natural instinct is to help the innocent people of North Korea, it is almost impossible to help a country that is the "black hole of knowledge" and is also rejecting the potential for help and aid. The only way to truly solve the North Korea problem is to let it fizzle out. It is only natural that if conditions are as bad as they say then they will reach a point of desperation and slowly become more open for foreign assisstance.

North Korea Response

We are not obligated to help North Korea at all. They chose to be a secretive nation and we have no reason to help them if all they do is cause trouble. Their problems are their problems and thats it. Obviously they have a drug issue but that is North Korea's own fault for that. They opress their people till drug use is only out they have left. Helping North Korea would be sending the wrong message, because they don't deserve it. they keep themselves in silence, and made themselves "the information black hole" and they have to fix it themselvs, maybe the people should step in or something, either way it is not our place to intevene.

North Korea Response

I personally think that we cannot resolve or should even try to resolve their issues. North Korea is the country that has been blocking everyone else out of their life. Kim Jong Il is crazy and if they want change, the people should be the ones putting him away to possibly set up a new government. Many other leaders throughout the world most likely feel obligated to help North Korea because leaders set an example by helping other countries. Simply, we can't help North Korea. It is all chaos!

Independence Can Sometimes Be a Bad Thing

North Korea needs to stop focusing on being totally dependent on themselves and ask for some help. I'm sure that if they asked, they would receive it. We are not a world that will just let a country die if they ask for assistance. As far as dealing with North Korea goes, I think we should just leave them alone until things get too bad or until they ask for help, and it will probably be the second one, considering we get almost zero information from them. But I feel like if we just barged in and tried to assist them, they would get angry and things would escalate into another war, something no one wants.

Quarter 1, Week 1: What's up with North Korea?

First, read the following editorial article, which speculates that North Korea may be experiencing a crystal meth epidemic:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/opinion/09iht-edfish09.html?_r=1&ref=northkorea

The main message of the article seems to be that there might be drug issues in North Korea, but there might not.  Bottom line:  Because so much of what happens in North Korea is secretive, we may never truthfully understand what it is like there.

In your post, consider the article we read in class, the documentary we watched, and this article, and assess the situation in North Korea.  What is the best way for the rest of the world to "deal with" Kim Jong-Il?  To what extent are world leaders obligated to help the citizens of North Korea?  How do we solve "the North Korean problem?"