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The Prisoner’s Dilemma of North Korea vs. The United States

Today, North Korea is a household term. In recent months, the threats surrounding North Korea have become increasingly more imminent and concerning. As citizens become more and more aware of the current events and understand the direct threat that North Korea has declared, fear is growing within North Americans.

The threats began on August 9th, when North Korea threatened to launch a missile attack on Guam. This immediate threat started a frenzy of panic leading to many government officials making multiple declarations. Donald Trump continued to lead this conversation by only fighting fire with fire by “promising ‘fire and fury’ in response”. With increasing threats and fragile situations, citizens are wondering what the correct move is. Should the United States attack first or should we play stalemate and take a risk?

Game Theory has been used in the past multiple times to make military decisions, and there is a potential decision to be made here in this situation as well. To mimic this as a game theory situation, the two players would be the United States and North Korea. The decision that each player has to make is whether or not to attack. If comparing it to a problem we have discussed in class, the North Korea – United States situation is much like the prisoner’s dilemma. The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a situation where two prisoners have been accused of a crime and have two options, to stay silent or to blame their partner. In the North Korea – United States situation, the options are quite similar: to not act, or to launch a missile on the opposing partner.

This decision though is extremely more extreme than the prisoner’s dilemma as the decisions of officials of North Korea and the United States not only affect each other but their entire nation for years and years to come. Nuclear war can define the future of a nation and its people for centuries to come, and while logistically the United States should attack, it is not morally correct to do so.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/16/what-game-theory-tells-us-about-nuclear-war-with-north-korea/?utm_term=.48bb38cdee42

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/north-korea-tensions-latest-updates-170829111529560.html

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