Should the US Disarm?

This article in the Korea Times thinks that if the US disarms its nuclear arsenal all the world including North Korea will be good neighbors and get rid of theirs:

Since the U.S. has the lion’s share of the world’s armaments, both conventional and nuclear, it is incumbent on the U.S. to lead the rest of the nuclear nations in disarmament. After all, the U.S. is the main reason for North Korea’s current nuclear ambition. They are noticeably concerned that they are next on the U.S. hit list, and can anyone really blame them for thinking this way?

Only after the U.S. promises to start doing something about this ridiculous escalation of armaments, then, and only then, can Iran and North Korea be called to the negotiating table. Let’s remember that when it comes to weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. outspends the rogue regimes of Iraq, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Cuba by a ratio of 22-1.

The US could probably decrease some of its nuclear arsenal but to get rid of it would be ridiculous. The writer thinks that the main reason the North is pursuing nuclear weapons is because they fear being attacked by Washington. Yes, they fear an attack from Washington but they could destroy Seoul with or without nuclear weapons many times over with just their conventional weapons. This fact is what has been the biggest deterent to war on the peninsula since the Korean War. The human cost of war on the peninsula is to costly. It is better to keep the peace.

The North Koreans want to build nuclear weapons as a bargaining chip for international aid (money, oil, electricity) since their economy is so horrible. The US has never attacked them (they started the Korean War) and would never attack them due to the threat to Seoul if it wasn’t for the nuclear weapon issue. The US would just assume to sit back and let them implode. So to think that if the US got rid of its nuclear arsenal and the North Koreans would just suddenly stop their nuclear program and be good neighbors is at best naive.

It is additionally naive to think that other countries would stop their pursuit of nuclear weapons if the US got rid of theirs. Imagine how different the Iraq, Bosnia, and Kosovo wars would of been if those countries had nuclear weapons. The international community would have never intervened if a dictator threatened nuclear weapon use, thus leaving these dictators in power to further ethinically cleanse their own people and seek additional military ventures.

Countries will always seek military superiority over other countries. It has been that way since the beginning of time and the US disarming itself will not change that. It will only encourage people to pursue more aggressive and hostile policies. If the US greatly cut its military and got rid of its nuclear deterrent do you think China would cut theirs? Heck no, they would invade Taiwan. Many other nations would feel free to attack their neighbors as well. The strength of the US military is what has prevented large scale warfare the likes of World War II from happening.

Now these rogue elements in the world have turned to terrorism because of their lack of conventional military power. Terrorists will never inflict the amount of casualties large scale warfare inflicts unless they get their hands on weapons of mass destruction. Thus the need to do something about North Korea.