What would the United States do if a foreign nation torpedoed and sank one of our naval vessels in our own waters, killing 46 U.S. sailors? The odds are, we would take decisive military action.
Fortunately, our ships were not targeted, but Communist North Korea destroyed an unoffending South Korean vessel recently, killing dozens. Sadly, South Korea is in no position to respond with military action, as many of its citizens no doubt would like their leaders to do.
It’s not that South Korea lacks a military. Nor is it a poor nation. It has wealth and military might.
Tragically, however, Communist North Korea has nuclear weapons. In 1994, President Bill Clinton agreed to give heavy foreign aid to North Korea if it promised not to build nukes. The nation agreed and took the aid. But later, it expelled U.N. “inspectors” and continued building nuclear weapons. Today it is believed to have at least a few such weapons — as well as leaders fanatical enough to use them or sell them to terrorists.
As a result, South Korea is handcuffed in its response to the torpedo attack. South Korea has been reduced to pleading its case before the U.N. Security Council. That is one of several “measures aimed at striking back at (North Korea) diplomatically and financially,” The Associated Press reported.
But previous U.N. resolutions and sanctions did nothing to stop North Korea. Why would new ones work?
Those are questions the United States should be asking as another nation, terrorist-sponsoring Iran, pursues its own plan to build nuclear weapons. We obviously cannot trust U.N. “sanctions” or “resolutions” to stay the hand of Iran’s radical Muslim leaders. If they get nukes, there is every reason to think they will use that leverage for terrorist purposes.
That is an intolerable risk in an unstable region.