By Matt Patrick, Columnist
These days, diplomacy between the United States and North Korea is a lot like poker. High-stakes poker. Global, high-stakes poker. Thermonuclear, global, high-stakes… you get the idea.
If recent events are anything to go by, North Korea is confident in its hand. Recent North Korean video propaganda has depicted attacks on the White House.
The North Korean regime has threatened to attack U.S. military installations in the Pacific, and, perhaps most ominously, recently renounced the decades-old armistice that ended the Korean War.
Put simply, the United States is calling North Korea’s bluff.
Diplomatically speaking, it is getting hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel for peace.
The United Nations has been leveling tougher and tougher sanctions against North Korea in hopes of reaching a peaceful solution.
In response, North Korea has decided to invalidate the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War between them and the United States. The U.S. has provided food and foreign aid to a famine-stricken North Korea for the past decade.
That aid has been denied.
Some are worried about the possibility of a nuclear attack on the United States by North Korea.
As of this point, there is zero need for alarm. North Korea is long from developing the technology needed for a strike against the mainland United States.
Students are urged to advocate for a peaceful resolution to our problems in North Korea.
A peaceful resolution to this problem will require tremendous international effort that will not come easily.
If not resolved soon, this issue will become the problem of our generation’s leadership.
Open and armed conflict could become extremely bloody, costly and lengthy.
Such a war could come to define our generation.
If our generation can stay informed and be patient, perhaps we can usher in an era of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
If our patience is not appreciated by North Korea and peace cannot be reached, there is no reason to fear.
If the worst happens on the Korean Peninsula and peace no longer becomes an option, remember that the United States is holding the best hand.
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