NORTH KOREA AND ITS PARIAH ROLE THREATENING MILLIONS I recently witnessed the televised exchange on Asian Voices February 16 between Gordon Flake Executive Director of the Mansfield Foundation and Associate Professor Yongtiao of Peking University as they discussed North Korea’s recent nuclear test. Flake pointed to present U.S. treaty commitments to Japan and South Korea and emphasized North Korea’s action will result in further alienation of its government and people from the rest of the world. Flake reviewed the last twenty years of sanction failure in turning the direction of North Korea away from nuclear pursuits. Although Flake admitted heightened U.S.-China intelligence collaboration he accused the Chinese of acting as a shield for the North Koreans the last four years. He highlighted U.N. resolution 2082 against nuclear testing in the North and its failure to dissuade the North Koreans as well. Professor Yongtiao enunciated that China will work closely with the U.S. and cease relying on persuasion alone. Yongtiao felt the North will continue to pursue nuclear development and accelerate missile development. He indicated China’s pressure on the North would be at best gradual. He advocated more sanctions and his government’s desire for a stable Korean peninsula. This was a pathetically weak airing of U.S. foreign policy and Chinese resolve. Missing were any threats of reactive military force from the U.S. or China as well as no red lines or even mutually shared destruction proposals. It’s obvious that we are pursuing a failed policy that may well lead to deaths of millions of innocent civilians if ignored by our government. We must take this isolated brutal regime seriously and develop a plan that features massive force in retaliation if necessary. Dr. Alan G. Phillips, Sr.