Korean War finally is Over!

A peace treaty would be a most welcome development in Korea. It would force the North Korean reigeme to stand down some of its military simply because it would not be able from a propaganda standpoint to justify its ridiculous amount of military spending. On the other hand I don't think that you can underestimate North Korea capacity for doublethink, so maybe they could think up some way, or just lie about it.

I'd also like to add that this treaty hasn't happened yet, and knowing Kim Jong-Il like we do he'll try to secure some sort of aid or a security assurance before he signs off.

The thing that worries me is that the second meeting of North and South Korean leaders was supposed to be in the South, from past statements of Kim-il Jong, but instead, Roh goes North... and the facial expression of Kim didn't appear be too enthusiastic...

Well, his health seems to dropping anyway....

US forces can't be in ROK if anything is to occur, of course. I think we all know why. But no need for the negative connotation..... But nothing has been signed indeed and North Korea does have a habit/reputation of crossing their fingers on their back when signing/saying anything.
But seeing the comments of some of the officials here, I find it hard to believe that the US wants to be out of Korea, even if the Abrams over there is getting the Henderson Field Treatment.

And if Korea unifies anytime soon, it will need a lot of outside, most of which would likely be Chinese, help. NK isn't about to return to its 70s state anytime soon.

Korea will undergo a similar transisional phase as China and Taiwan have, SKorea will invest into NKorea for cheap labor, and NKorea will take the money it needs for economic development, which will also result in demilitarization of NKorea, as the two nations become more and more interdependent over the years the threat of war will fade and become a memory.

In a few decades as this goes on, the two Koreas will enivitably reunify, better prepared to reintergrate their economies.

Things are different this time. There is just a whole lot more at play here than in the past.

As much as people revile Bush the six-party talks have been the best thing to happen with Korea. Korean peace has stopped being a bilateral issue and turned into a multilateral issue. Also, it looks like the election of the Grand National Party will not have a negative effect on ties, like some predicted. The GNP's candidate is talking about having a Korean Economic Community.

However, with a peace agreement Bush has said the U.S. would wait until Korea denuclearizes and that's probably not going to happen until next year.

The biggest issue here is Kim Jong-Il's successor. If he dies before this is over there's no telling how things might go.

If he dies it's possible the whole country could go! OR worse the Whole Region. remember the NK state is a Enigma, the only Socialist Monarchy in the known world. the Death of Kim would open a power vacuum that could usher in a totally new dynamic to the conflict. One of three posible out comes come to mind.
1 A peaceful transition.
2 the NK state slips into civil war. a nuclear power in Civil war is one of those nightmare scenario that should keep some one up at night.
3 a slow change into some other form of government like the way the USSR transitioned into it's current form

Well then, with a healthy dose of irony, let's toast to Mr. Kim's health.

I would guess the probability of a civil war or power vacuum to be low. If no political leader steps up, the military heads would. The danger, rather, lies in how the 5 other parties interprets the situation and what they do.

Vlad Plasmius said:

The biggest issue here is Kim Jong-Il's successor. If he dies before this is over there's no telling how things might go.

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What's to worry about Vlad? North Korea has been under the leadership of The Great Leader Kim Il Sung since 1948, and his son's death would presumably have no affect on Kim Il Sung's continued ability to serve as Eternal President. :nana:

I don't think that Kim's son will succed him any time soon. If Kim's son was going to take power we would have seen him quite a bit more in public. So either Kim doesn't intend to die or reliquish power anytime soon or he is acting like Stalin and is refusing to plan for his succession. If that is the case someone other than Kim's son will take power.

wait i minute i thoguht us station troop in japan and korea beside the reason of north korea was to put pressure on the chinese

Yes. But without an over reason like NK, it is harder to justify.