Re: North Korea fires artillery barrage on South Korea
 

Why would China agree in any way to let SK or us attack their client state, that happens to provide a buffer to SK. I am certain they are happy to allow NK continue to act the fool, since there is no danger of NK turning on China. We have no reasonable pressure to encourage them to allow us that type of intervention.

Re: North Korea fires artillery barrage on South Korea
 

Also, N. Korea has a 1.1 million man active army according to [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_troops"]Wikipedia[/URL]. That's a lot of people to shock and awe before they travel the 30 miles from the demilitarized zone to Seoul.

Re: North Korea fires artillery barrage on South Korea
 

[quote=CRedskinsRule;762521]Also, N. Korea has a 1.1 million man active army according to [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_troops"]Wikipedia[/URL]. That's a lot of people to shock and awe before they travel the 30 miles from the demilitarized zone to Seoul.[/quote]

When I said Shock and Awe, I was being facetious. I'm sure a missile strike on some suspected nuke sites would be sufficient. And China can't enjoy having a rogue state on their doorstep either. I would imagine the State dept. could let them know up front that we were going to respond. Then, after we (or more likely SK) do what we have to do, China gets to come out and offer the usual protests, but it doesn't go any further. NK does not want a war, they just want to continually threaten war in order to continue receiving what amounts to ransom twice or more a year.

Re: North Korea fires artillery barrage on South Korea
 

This article has, in my opinion, a very balanced look at the situation:
[url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101126/ap_on_an/as_koreas_clash_china_analysis]Analysis: US carrier visit a dilemma for China - Yahoo! News[/url]