Or so says Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. But if North Korea is becoming a “direct threat” to the U.S., then certainly it is also becoming a “direct threat” to South Korea since the two countries border each other and the U.S. is thousands of miles away across the Pacific Ocean. Yet, North Korea has an economy 34 times smaller than South Korea, half the population, a per capita GDP that is fifteen times lower, food shortages, and a crumbling industrial capital stock. I think rather that North Korea is becoming a “direct threat” to the need for the military-industrial-security complex.

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