Clinton bombs North Korea in 1994??

China is REALLY unhappy, why would Bill bomb Kim? I don't think that the PRC would go to war for North Korea in the 90s but I guess its a matter of how shaken up they still are over Tiananmen Square
 
If recollection serves, it was because of North Korean unwillingness to stop the operation of its reactors and make bombs. I also seem to remember that Bill was well on his way to military action until Jimmy ("I'm still smarter and gooder than the rest of you") Carter took his unauthorized trip and undermined everything the US was working toward.

Had events been allowed to cointinue, I suspect Kim & co would have made themselves so toxic that, as long as US military action was clearly defined to destroy North Korea's nuclear capacity and not to reunite Korea under Seoul, CHina and Russia (both of whom were frendlier to the US then) would have looked the other way.
 
It would depend on what Kim was doing, if the Chinese approved of what he was doing and what the extent of the US attack was. If Kim was telling the Chinese that I have control of the situation and if you don't back me I will open the borders to the PRC and let folks go to China if they want to, they might let the US attack if it was only to take out his Nuke capability. IMHO the PRC has someone close to Kim that would be able to "take care of the situation" if he goes to far off of the reservation.
 
Agreed: if it's a limited strike (TLAMs on the nuclear facilities), the ChiComs will do nothing but "protest the unwarranted act of armed force in Korea." If Kim-il-Sung (he was still alive then) goes south, neither the Chinese nor Russians will support him (Yeltsin's running Moscow-and he's in no mind to help the NKs in any event, while the Chinese would ask that once the NK attack is repulsed, the U.S. and ROKs only return to the prewar status quo (no drive North to Pyongyang and the Yalu).
 

Cook

Banned
Carter took his unauthorized trip and undermined everything the US was working toward.

Wasn’t Carter an authorised ‘back channel’ negotiator?

Given Clinton’s reluctance to use force throughout his Presidency, that he would risk a regional war is questionable.
 
Wasn’t Carter an authorised ‘back channel’ negotiator?

Given Clinton’s reluctance to use force throughout his Presidency, that he would risk a regional war is questionable.

Reluctance? :confused:

1991-98; Iraq
1992-94; Somali
1993-94; Macedonia
1994-95; Haiti
1995; Bosnia
1996; Liberia
1996; Central Afircan Republic
1997; Albania
1997; Congo & Gabon
1997; Sierra Leone
1997; Cambodia
1998; Guinea-Bissau
1998-99; Kenya & Tanzania
1998-99; Afghanistan & Sudan
1998; Liberia
1999(-01); East Timor
1999; Serbia
 
Yeah, Clinton bombed and fought the crap out of everyone. No one would notice an attack on N Korea if it was just a few bunker busters into their nuke facilities.

I'm not really convinced N Korea has nukes even today. I think they faked their test just as Pakistan faked one of their tests.

Bombing North Korea in 1994 would have been a good thing.
 
Reluctance? :confused:

1991-98; Iraq
1992-94; Somali
1993-94; Macedonia
1994-95; Haiti
1995; Bosnia
1996; Liberia
1996; Central Afircan Republic
1997; Albania
1997; Congo & Gabon
1997; Sierra Leone
1997; Cambodia
1998; Guinea-Bissau
1998-99; Kenya & Tanzania
1998-99; Afghanistan & Sudan
1998; Liberia
1999(-01); East Timor
1999; Serbia

Yup, Clinton was the original "Cruise Missile President".
 
Wasn’t Carter an authorised ‘back channel’ negotiator?
QUOTE]

My understanding was that he went over there unauthorized and angered Clinton and Albright considerably, but then got "authorized" after the fact mainly to make the US government not look confused and disorganized
 
Carter made everyone in the Clinton White House very angry: they were furious about being bypassed, and that even though he was no longer in government service, he was acting like he was. A strike on NK was expected; in fact the U.S. was preparing to start evacuating non-essential diplomatic personnel and all of the family members, and pass the word to Americans living in South Korea that they'd best start thinking about getting out. There were even maps in the major news magazines (Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report) about how the coming war would play out-assuming the NKs struck back.
 
Carter made everyone in the Clinton White House very angry: they were furious about being bypassed, and that even though he was no longer in government service, he was acting like he was. A strike on NK was expected; in fact the U.S. was preparing to start evacuating non-essential diplomatic personnel and all of the family members, and pass the word to Americans living in South Korea that they'd best start thinking about getting out. There were even maps in the major news magazines (Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report) about how the coming war would play out-assuming the NKs struck back.

And now, thanks to Mr Jimmy (Noble Peace Prize) Carter, we have Kim's son with his chubby hands on the nuclear trigger and no current or future US President will ever have the flexibility to act decisively again in Korea unless the North blatantly invades the South.
 
Top