North Korea has a human crisis, too

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., has long been a leading voice on Capitol Hill on the plight of the North Korean people under leader Kim Jong Il. In a commentary in The New York Sun, Brownback rightly suggested the global focus during this missile crisis should be on more than North Korean nukes. “We should not simply treat the North Korean regime as a permanent feature of the geopolitical landscape. Instead we should set a longer-term goal to spread democracy across the entire Korean peninsula.” Of course, that’s a sobering thought, given how spreading democracy is going in the Middle East and central Asia right now. More immediately, Brownback suggests we encourage China and other nations to help fleeing North Koreans find safe haven in United States, South Korea or elsewhere.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

9 Comments

  1. TRACY
    Posted July 10, 2006 at 1:53 pm | Permalink

    Way to go Sam.How about some movement on immigrant reform and lobbyist reform before you go and try to save the rest of the world.Oh, and let’s get health care that is accesible to all (legal) Americans.How ’bout it Sammy?

  2. Ben Huie
    Posted July 10, 2006 at 2:23 pm | Permalink

    I wish a way could be found to buy off Kil il Idiot and his little coterie and unify Korea as was done with germany.

  3. J M Walker
    Posted July 10, 2006 at 4:12 pm | Permalink

    I’m with TRACY on this one. It’s time we took care of this countries problems and let the rest of the world sort itself out.

  4. writerdog
    Posted July 10, 2006 at 6:25 pm | Permalink

    I have mixed feeling on this one, yes we have enough problem here in the U.S. to last for several years.But I also know that with the problem in Korea in that there never was a peace treaty just a cease fire.The problem behind the problem is that N. Korea is mountain while S. Korea has the farm land and to make matters worst N. Korea has a talent for being lead by angry Madmen. Of course hungry people tend to become angry easily, so anger can become focused at other then they real problems.

  5. Kansas Voter
    Posted July 10, 2006 at 7:36 pm | Permalink

    Dear Sam

    You voted to keep our border open and to give illegals our social security we paid for and worked for all our lives. Perhaps you should try running North Kprea before you totally destroy America!

  6. Joe Williams
    Posted July 10, 2006 at 8:19 pm | Permalink

    I agree with you Ben. We should be able to buy him off, but from what I hear, is that Kim is just a child emporeor over in the Hermit Kingdom.

    The real political power is the military generals. They let Kim watch cartoons while they play with missles.

  7. steve
    Posted July 10, 2006 at 9:24 pm | Permalink

    America is in a leadership crisis, first we must address that.

  8. RD
    Posted July 11, 2006 at 12:08 am | Permalink

    W tried to be the bully and bluffed on this one. N. Korea called the bluff. The two of them remind me of a couple of spoiled 3-year-olds arguing about who can do what with what. So who’s the loser in this? The people of both countries and the world.

    I think W should invite Kim Jong Il to join him in Dodge City, where the two of them could be given six-shooters, and they could stand at opposite ends of the dirt main street and have a shootout.

    Why am I not frightened by all of this posturing they’re doing? I spent my childhood doing drills and hiding under my desk from the blasts from the nuclear missiles Russia was going to send here. As if that would have saved us. The only thing that’s changed is the names of the bogeymen. If being blasted into nothing by N. Korea or anyone else is my fate, then I guess it is. I just spent too many years being afraid, and I’m really tired of it. I have better things to do, like living my life each day, instead of cowering under a desk.

  9. Otto
    Posted July 14, 2006 at 4:23 am | Permalink

    Sam is part of a Political party that dominates all aspects of the US political system and a great part of the newsmedia. Maybe he should promote real democracy here so the North Koreans can at least see an example of it.In other words, let’s fix our own mess before trying to fix North Korea.