North and South Korea are at war. They have been for decades now and appear to have learnt to live with it.

Then along came Mr Trump. He is right that previous administrations in his country have failed to solve matters in the Korean peninsula. Being an ally of South Korea makes it America’s business, but does it need to be America’s business? ‘America first’ was Mr Trumps borrowed election slogan so should he feel embarrassed if he backed out of previous administrations continued allying with South Korea? Do we really fear Communist China any longer? I would hope not. Yes, they are expanding into the South China sea, but wouldn’t you?

That’s not the unspoken option. It’s about nuclear weapons. I wonder who in the world is responsible for keeping this genie in the bottle? Non-proliferation is a great idea in principle but is it practical? Is it reasonable to assume all states that wish to acquire and then do acquire nuclear weapons, will play by international rules?

If there is any policing of non-proliferation to be done then I would say it should be done by the United Nations and not an individual state. If an individual state puts it’s head above the parapet and starts telling another what to do, an argument is going to start. Surprise! That is exactly what has happened.

Being well intentioned is not enough Mr President. You have to have the skill to bring about your intentions and so far the only option you appear to have followed is ‘intervene because no one else is’ and then ‘be ready for war’.

There are many other options and here is the one I recommend. Withdraw your navy, withdraw your air force. Consider withdrawing troops from South Korea. Back right off!

That way you will completely make a fool of Mr Kim. He uses other countries by provoking them into a reaction. That reaction he then uses to justify his building of military power to his people. He wants a nuclear bomb to defend his county. More or less the same reason all the countries with nuclear weapons want them, so is that unreasonable?

Make him look a fool Mr President. Leave him standing there with his war machine around his ankles and no enemy to point his rocket at. That is how bullies are overcome in the school playground, and that’s exactly how I would deal with the Korean Kid.

If it doesn’t work what’s the worst that can happen? He commits an act of war against another country. That would justify the country to defend itself and be justified in doing so. At the moment, the worst that can happen is America starting a war with North Korea and that will take away the moral high ground from America. If Mr Trump wants to learn from previous administrations, then he could learn the lesson they have shown by getting it wrong, not to invade other countries. It only ends with a power vacuum and horrors for civilians worse than they endure already e.g. Libya, Iraq. The Chinese will have said that to him.

Another way of controlling the spread of nuclear weapons? I would suggest putting a United Nations guard around every uranium mine in the world. It’s not going to prevent  thefts completely but it’s a more peaceful step than threatening to start a nuclear war with this, and the next and the next country to acquire nuclear weapons..