Nashville Congressman Jim Cooper says despite international outcry over North Korea’s military buildup, the U.S. is not keen on confrontation. A botched North Korean satellite launch has helped stoke fears the isolated country is preparing for another nuclear test.
Cooper says North Korea is “embarrassing itself” by continually putting its nuclear ambitions above its people, many of whom are near-starving. At the same time, Cooper, who sits on the House Armed Services committee, cautions North Korea is not a place the U.S. wants a fight. Cooper points back to the Korean War, saying “we tried that.”
“It was a very tough battle, especially when the Chinese got involved – a lot of lives were lost, and we ended up basically in a stalemate. It’s still today an unresolved conflict. We have had a half-century of U.S. troops in South Korea.”
Cooper says China is the closest thing North Korea has to an ally in the region, and is also a major holder of U.S. debt, financing America’s military. Cooper figures that lends more power to China’s role in the region, and could complicate involvement there.
And he echoed a remark he made a few months ago, amid rising calls for U.S. involvement in Syria – Cooper said quote “we can’t be the world’s police.”
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM