Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
Have you read any of the material David Maxwell linked to? It provides an excellent starting point for informed discussion. Having watched the peninsula for many years without having actually studied it I found them an excellent way to fill in gaps in my own observations.

As a starting point I'd suggest this one for being quite recent:
No I haven't and not about to now... maybe over the weekend.

It would be interesting to hear from you a little more on this previous statement of yours:

... even if China was "the key", that would get us nowhere, because the Chinese have no interest whatsoever in trying to "fix" the DPRK, and that's not something any outside influence is going to change.
You can - and probably will - play with the definition of "fix" but the fact remains that without the support of China NK would fold in a matter of weeks/months.

I would be interested to hear why a stable North Korea closely allied to China would not be in the Chinese interest? Want to take a shot at that?

As to your rather interesting comment that it all hinges on the NK armed forces I would ask you how long do you think they would last - as an effective force - if they were to be deprived of pay, food, winter clothing, fuel, weapons, ammunition?

I've been on the receiving end of this sort of "influence" and know that no matter how strong the spirit is - which actually strengthens in the face of such adversity - such deprivation will reduce the armed forces to a mere shell... they will probably stick together only for self preservation but will have no ability for any significant military action other than perhaps a spirited last stand (a la Gen Custer).

Please try to answer this yourself and not refer me to what Maxwell has written.