Come on. This has got to be one of the worst “but both sides do it” opinions that I’ve ever seen. What US did with nukes in 50s-60s in Korea is no justification for nK development in 21st century. Conclusion that “US has dirty hands” here is ridiculous.https://twitter.com/wellerstein/status/975725919661850624 …
I read it more as a "don't be surprised if your enemies want nukes if you threaten them with nukes." Which is to say, not about moral equivalence, but about strategic empathy. One doesn't need to go back to 1950s-60s for that, but it illustrates how long this issue has existed.
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For what it is worth: I have talked with MANY Americans (outside of nuke/mil/policy communities) who think the DPRK are "crazy" for wanting nukes. I think emphasizing that they have been directly threatened by them for +6 decades helps make their interest more understandable.
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But that’s faulty logic. NK pursuit of nukes is because they recognize their conventional inferiority to US/ROK forces. Has little to do with US nuclear deterrence. Much more to do with examples of US preventive attacks (e.g., Iraq, Libya, Syria).
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I am not sure that is actually accurate history. DPRK interest in nuclear weapons is decades older than those preventive attacks. And my understanding is that their serious interest did originally come out of the "atomic blackmail" situation of the 1950s. (Same as China.)
End of conversation
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