170
votes
Accepted
Why are states purportedly performing assassinations with chemical and radioactive weapons?
The reasons given by @zidadawatimmy's answer aren't wrong, but the points made in the original post are also well taken. As your decision to post this question in this forum illustrates, this is also ...
- 73k
99
votes
Accepted
How much influence has Donald Trump had on current efforts to improve relations with North Korea?
According to South Korea's National Security Chief, Chung Eui-yong, speaking to the press after a meeting about North Korea with President Trump on March 08, 2018:
"I explained to President Trump ...
- 10.4k
87
votes
Accepted
How does North Korea prevent their ambassadors/diplomats living abroad from defecting?
There have been a few high-profile ambassadors who did actually defect, the highest being the deputy ambassador in London in 2016. As user4012's answer speculated, the regime does hold family members ...
- 23.9k
85
votes
Why does the US not just accept North Korea's nuclear ambitions and attempt to mend relationships?
From the USA point of view there are two types of arguments. The first ones are those that state that the fewer nuclear capable countries there are, the better1:
Fewer nuclear warheads at risk of ...
- 31.2k
71
votes
How is North Korea democratic, if there's only one party with one ideology?
North Korea is far from the only example. Wikipedia lists a couple of other countries which claim to be democratic but are not, according to 'Western' standards:
Many countries that use the term &...
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69
votes
Why did the US invade Iraq for weapons of mass destruction but not North Korea
Because there's no oil in NK.
And there's the Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty, which would make a war with NK a (nuclear?) war with China.
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68
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How does North Korea prevent their ambassadors/diplomats living abroad from defecting?
I can't answer about North Korea (as nobody really has much visibility into how they operate), but it's known and clear how other countries (like USSR) did it in the past. It's a combination of:
One'...
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60
votes
Accepted
Why hasn't the US tried to stop the North Korean missiles?
The US didn't intervene because Japan was perfectly able to intercept the missiles and chose to not do it.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/28/north-korea-fires-missile-japan
Japan’s J-...
- 1,351
58
votes
Accepted
Why is North Korea allowed to be in the UN?
TLDR: No real law is opposed to their actions and expelling them would suit nobody
According to the UN charter, membership is open to
is open to all peace-loving States that accept the ...
- 8,437
58
votes
Accepted
Is it accurate to compare the nuclearization of North Korea with that of Pakistan and India? Why or why not?
It is important to understand the vast geopolitical differences between the two situations of India and Pakistan developing nuclear weapons and North Korea developing nuclear weapons.
India/Pakistan ...
- 10.5k
58
votes
Why are states purportedly performing assassinations with chemical and radioactive weapons?
Everyone knows what a gun looks like
They are relatively easy to detect, and security personnel may be trained to better spot those carrying a gun. Acquiring a gun, especially for foreigners, can be ...
- 16.5k
57
votes
Accepted
Why doesn't South Korea give up its claim on North Korea?
Simply because abandoning territorial claims will do nothing:
It will neither eliminate the military threat of the "North" Korea, nor would it relax the tensions.
It requires enormous amounts of ...
- 17.2k
55
votes
Accepted
Have the US or Chinese governments indicated a point at which they would invade North Korea?
But where exactly is the line North Korea must cross?
Line setting is generally acknowledged as a bad idea. For example, Barack Obama set a red line in Syria about chemical weapons. Then they used ...
- 89.3k
55
votes
Accepted
Does North Korea accept asylum seekers?
Generally speaking you can always seek asylum, the question is what happens to you afterwards. For what it's worth, North Korea is not a party to the main UN Convention about refugees. So it's not ...
- 30.5k
50
votes
How is North Korea democratic, if there's only one party with one ideology?
Just because a country calls itself something doesn't mean it's true.
Point of fact, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is said to have four false statements in its name:
It's not democratic, ...
- 1,936
49
votes
Does North Korea accept asylum seekers?
Yes, they have accepted some. Wikipedia lists people from South Korea and the USA, including deserters from the Korean War (there is a British soldier included), for example.
Of course, that does not ...
- 31.2k
46
votes
Accepted
What did Trump mean when he mentioned "extortion money" for North Korea?
Extortion is a crime in which a criminal threatens to harm someone, unless they pay an amount of money: "Give me £1000, or you will get beaten up".
In the Early 90s, North Korea indicated its ...
- 115k
43
votes
Accepted
Why is the US seen as the sworn enemy to the DPRK when there were many other belligerents involved in the Korean War?
While Alexander's points are correct and certainly do not help the USA win North Korean sympathies, I think that more than an historical view the answer lies in the current situation:
USA is the only ...
- 31.2k
43
votes
Why hasn't the US tried to stop the North Korean missiles?
If a missile is on a trajectory that takes it into the sea, then shooting it down has a small benefit (you get to practice shooting down live missiles) but a big potential downside: What if you miss.
...
- 115k
43
votes
Why did the US invade Iraq for weapons of mass destruction but not North Korea
WMD were only part of a complex reasoning that led to the Gulf Wars. The West had no serious problems with Iraqi WMD as long as they were aimed at Iran. But then Saddam Hussein miscalculated and went ...
- 106k
39
votes
Is it accurate to compare the nuclearization of North Korea with that of Pakistan and India? Why or why not?
More nuclear powers mean less stability.
There used to be two. Then five or possibly six. But France and the UK were closely allied with the US, so adding them to the mix didn't complicate things very ...
- 106k
38
votes
Is South Korea a province of Korea?
Much of international law is either customary law or created by treaties with different membership. When two states agree on something concerning the two of them, that tends to stand. So trying to ...
- 106k
36
votes
Accepted
Why won't China or Russia modernize North Korea's army by selling them modern military equipment?
Maybe this is a bit of circular reasoning, but UN sanctions prohibit countries from supplying North Korea with such weapons (and much more). You might say this reasoning is circular because China or ...
JJJ♦
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36
votes
Why won't China or Russia modernize North Korea's army by selling them modern military equipment?
Why would both China and Russia want to modernize North Korean army in the first place?
They both (mainly China) derive some benefits from the NK behavior, but they don't completely control NK (that's ...
- 5,648
35
votes
Why does the US not just accept North Korea's nuclear ambitions and attempt to mend relationships?
Enough deterrent
The United States hasn't invaded North Korea in over sixty years. Why does North Korea need nuclear weapons? The existing threat of artillery hitting Seoul is more than sufficient ...
- 89.3k
33
votes
Why doesn't South Korea give up its claim on North Korea?
As a German the message
By now it's completely obvious that the Korean peninsula won't be reuniting any time soon.
has no merit for me at all. I can assure you as contemporary witness that nobody ...
- 4,692
33
votes
Why won't China or Russia modernize North Korea's army by selling them modern military equipment?
Your premise is incorrect as to the state of the DPRK army. The Chonma-ho may not be up to the standards of an Abrams, but it is much more modern than the T-34.
It is unclear if the DPRK really has ...
- 106k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible