Confrontation With North Korea

One would give the astute North Koreans more credit than to resort to the film-flam hollowness of an old shell game by shifting, rearranging and changing the history of the spent atomic fuel rods to outwit and frustrate the cognizant Hans Blix, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (June 3).

The strategy of the Koreans is quite simple and operates worldwide, “justice delayed is justice denied.” When one form of duplicity has obstructed world progress to contain atomic proliferation beyond reason and the ax is about to fall, another cry is heard as the North Koreans plead to convene for bilateral discussions with peer groups or going back to square one.

LOUIS E. HYMAN

Los Angeles

* Israel took out Iraqi nuclear facilities in the early 1980s and we all cheered. We must do the same in North Korea. Haven’t we finally learned that trying to appease the likes of a Saddam Hussein or a Hitler does absolutely no good except to reassure ourselves that we did everything we could reasonably do before we took military action? We should take out Kim Il Sung’s nuclear war-making capacity right now, before he uses it.

As “leader of the free world,” Americans ought to be disgusted with their diplomats negotiating to appease the latest reincarnation of Attila the Hun. The end of history is a long way off, and it is up to us to make sure it comes out as good as we can make it.

HOWARD CAPLAN

Manhattan Beach

* Even though the United States has the largest and most potent arsenal in the world, we fear for our survival when Third World “rogue” regimes begin to construct nuclear bombs.

Third World countries do not need 100 or 1,000 times overkill to threaten the United States.

Although we fear the nuclear intentions of North Korea, this Third World country has no fear of our nuclear capabilities.

JOSEPH WALDBAUM

North Hollywood

* I’m very surprised that The Times would run Pat Oliphant’s cartoon (June 10) showing North Korea as a monkey-like creature walking on all fours, and having a mouth from one protruding cheek to another.

As an Asian American, I wonder if such a caricature would have been allowed if North Korea was an African or European country.

ROY H. TODOROKI

Montebello

* After the Korean War, the South gained economically from the U.S. The North has gone deeper into poverty.

The Clinton Administration was correct to offer North Korea both economic and diplomatic concessions to give up its desire for nuclear weapons.

Fighting a second Korean War will cost a legion of American lives. No American wants this to happen, but what if the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center had been armed with a nuclear device bought from North Korea?

CAREY LIVINGSTON

Yucaipa