Memorandum On North Korean Nuclear Aggression

Memorandum On North Korean Nuclear Aggression

To: President Trump

CC: Vice President Pence

From: Allison Cannon, Secretary of State

Date: March 20, 2018

Subject: The Nuclear Threat That is The Democratic People's Republic of North Korea

Context

            America is facing an unprecedented threat from North Korea with its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. North Korea's blatant aggression cannot be ignored, and economic action must be taken immediately. War must be avoided at all costs and diplomacy must be the forefront of all strategic operations, but America must never compromise with North Korea.

Task

            In order to ensure long-lasting peace and prosperity not only for the American people but every nation around the globe, it is necessary to make sure that Kim Jong Un never launches a nuclear weapon. It is essential to denuclearize The Democratic People's Republic of North Korea without causing already tense relationships to be strained any further. The United States has many national security threats, so it is essential to neutralize this one as quickly as possible in order to focus on other vital issues.

Solution

            Denuclearizing the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea will not be a natural process and must be carefully thought out before any action is taken. A military response would be devastating. There is no doubt that Kim Jong Un would retaliate with all his military might if the United States attacked the country. Of course, our military is far stronger and would obliterate the enemy in a matter of days, but not before North Korea had the chance to bomb South Korea or even send a nuclear missile our way. The only step forward is economic sanctions. Diplomacy talks will lead nowhere as neither side is willing to compromise, and in our case, rightfully so. Not only should we impose sanctions on North Korea, but we should also impose severe sanctions on China as well. China is the only country with some sway over what North Korea does and therefore it should be doing everything in its power to remove the nuclear weapons. Since they are not, it is necessary to impose the sanctions to send a message that we are relentless on this subject and will take nothing less than complete denuclearization.

Evidence

            The United States has taken part in numerous arguably successful sanction policies in the past such as the ones placed on Iran. Iran, wanting to enter the global market finds commerce much more difficult when strapped with sanctions. There have been some issues with whether or not Iran has followed the rules of the Iran deal, but even so, the sanctions do have an impact on Iran's wallet. The United States had used sanctions on countries that seem to be our allies as well such as South Korea in 1975 when sanctions helped discourage South Korea from acquiring a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. There is no guarantee that sanctions will be effective in this situation but as of now, it seems the most viable and peaceful option. 

Failed Solutions

            Military action is not the route to take. In the past, we have used military force in similar situations, and it has backfired tremendously. Specifically speaking, the war in Iraq was one of the worst mistakes in our country's history. We invaded under the assumption that there were weapons of mass destruction and eventually found nothing. Countless civilians and American soldiers were brutally murdered, and this is a situation we must not repeat. Invading North Korea would lead to possibly millions of deaths if nuclear war ensues and it is not a risk the United States should be willing to take.

Implementation

            Sanctions must immediately be placed on North Korean officials. Instead of implementing widespread sanction that would hurt the already impoverished people of North Korea and feed into North Korean propaganda, it would be much more effective to target specific individuals. The regime does not care about the state of its people so making the citizens' lives harder would accomplish nothing. Economically hurting the officials might stir them to give in to our demands or at the least be open to communications. Widespread sanctions, on the other hand, would be better suited for China. China has the ability and often the desire to keep its citizens from starving. Therefore, the burden of the sanctions will fall on the government and China will not put up with these sanctions for long until it comes to the table. We should quickly rescind the sanctions if China agrees to help to denuclearize the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Summary

            In summary, it is of the utmost importance to denuclearize North Korea. Using economic sanctions is the most peaceful way to coerce North Korea into giving up its weapons. North Korea is a far too unpredictable enemy to possess such power. Nuclear weapons could easily cause the destruction of humanity, and if we allow other nations, primarily those hostile towards the United States to gain the technology, we are that much closer to nuclear destruction. Even if the hostility is not towards the United States, atomic war affects the entire planet. No one wants to live in a world where 193 countries are all holding their breath waiting for someone else to make a wrong move.

Works Cited

"2003 Invasion of Iraq." Wikipedia. March 22, 2018. Accessed March 22, 2018.     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq.

Taylor, Adam. "13 times That Economic Sanctions Really Worked." The Washington Post. April   28, 2014. Accessed March 22, 2018.             https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/04/28/13-times-that-  economic-sanctions-really-worked/?utm_term=.81e6dece0c16.