Political pundits continue to caution us of the danger of angering the North Koreans since all of Seoul is within artillery range of the North Korean army, and any attack on North Korea would cost hundreds of thousands of casualties among he populace of the capital city. If the pundits knew a little recent history, they would know the North Korean artillery sea of fire was a fraud. I’m working from memory here, so don’t hold me to exact details, but the larger picture is correct. In the closing weeks of World War 2, two Soviet armies surrounded a defenseless and hugely swollen Berlin filled with thousands of refugees fleeing before the Soviet advance. The Soviets pounded Berlin for about 6 weeks with approximately 8,000 artillery tubes of mixed calibers, plus three complete air armies of several thousand bombers flying lazy 8s above the city and dropping bombs at leisure, hardly bothered by intermittent flak. When the round the clock shelling and bombing stopped the tanks and infantry descended on the rubbled city. After the war, the Germans issued a report of the final battle and listed the number of civilians killed as approximately 10,000. In 1945 Berlin had enough shelters for the civilian population, and Seoul has enough shelters for the civilian population. Putting off confronting evil always leads to higher casualties than need have been the case.

The question is not what to do
Nor is it how to do it
It must be done, the choices few
Wash hands and mutter screw it
Or warn the Norks and make it heard
Be firm, don’t make it muddied
.If they don’t kneel just give the word
And smash them till they’re bloodied