Atomic North Korea Rocks the World
October 9th 2006 22:39
Atomic North Korea Rocks the World
Is it just me or are we trying to hard to sound tough and falling apart when it actually gets tough? The rhetoric over the last few years would have all believe that the world was on the verge of invading North Korea to prevent it from joining the Nuclear Club. They were part of the ‘Axis of Evil’ and therefore not suitable to own any atomic weaponry. Yet as North Korea built and tested long range missiles there was little else but talk and threats. There were threats of sanctions and little else to deter an atomic powered dictator from building up his stockpile. Monday 9th October 2006 it was confirmed through seismic reading that the North Koreans have detonated an atomic weapon underground. North Korea with this one action has forced itself through the backdoor into the Atomic Club.
The desire to join the club was probably sewn long ago as far back as the Korean War but it is recent times that may have sped it up. Terms like ‘Axis of Evil’ and ‘Preemptive Strike’ certainly would have been taken very seriously by Kim Jong Il as he contemplated the strength of his Stalinist hold over his population. Watch the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq would have made him extremely nervous. The ‘shock and awe’ approach would have devastated much of his country before he was removed but the possibility of being removed was still there. Like many dictators he saw his political survival as crucial and needed to take urgent actions.
The Korean War lasted just on 3 years and saw the loss of countless lives. Over 2 million Red Chinese soldier poured into help North Korea fearing that General Douglas Mac Arthur was ready to invade their nation also. The General was relieved of duty and a cease fire was established along what is now the most heavily guarded border on Earth. Another ground war may have similar results and achieve nothing, but in war nothing is certain.
Kim Jong Il has now joined the Atomic Powers Club without an invitation. Has he done this as an act of self survival and lessen the threat of invasion? Suddenly hitting hard at one of North Korea’s target will be seen in a different glow, a radioactive glow at that. We now have a new North Korea that can produce atomic weapons and deliver them via a cruise missile to almost anywhere in the region. This is something that North Korea will see as their nuclear deterrent in the same way that France, Britain, Russia, China, Pakistan, India and USA all feel the need to retain their weapons of mass destruction.
The accusation of hypocrisy may be well founded from a North Korean view point. Even India has accused the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty as being like an exclusive carriage on train where the owners of the Weapons refuse entry others but also refuse to give up their own status. However does the world need another member to a club that can kill millions? The 1980’s was the decade where people were obsessed with atomic war between only 2 super powers (USSR and USA). Now as the North Korea steps up to show its might will we enter into a new era of obsession about whose finger is on the button? Perhaps only the thought of mutually assured destruction has created a ‘Mexican Stand-off’. Yet as Maxwell Smart says about a Mexican Stand-off, ‘…it only takes one wise guy’. If there are any ‘wise guy’s’ what then?
As the world wakes up to a new dawn the UN Security Council will meet and talk but what action will they be able to take? Sanctions may cause North Korea to implode, War may cause it to explode and a Sea Blockage may be seen as an act of war.
The question is what else is there that can be done?
Is it just me or are we trying to hard to sound tough and falling apart when it actually gets tough? The rhetoric over the last few years would have all believe that the world was on the verge of invading North Korea to prevent it from joining the Nuclear Club. They were part of the ‘Axis of Evil’ and therefore not suitable to own any atomic weaponry. Yet as North Korea built and tested long range missiles there was little else but talk and threats. There were threats of sanctions and little else to deter an atomic powered dictator from building up his stockpile. Monday 9th October 2006 it was confirmed through seismic reading that the North Koreans have detonated an atomic weapon underground. North Korea with this one action has forced itself through the backdoor into the Atomic Club.
The desire to join the club was probably sewn long ago as far back as the Korean War but it is recent times that may have sped it up. Terms like ‘Axis of Evil’ and ‘Preemptive Strike’ certainly would have been taken very seriously by Kim Jong Il as he contemplated the strength of his Stalinist hold over his population. Watch the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq would have made him extremely nervous. The ‘shock and awe’ approach would have devastated much of his country before he was removed but the possibility of being removed was still there. Like many dictators he saw his political survival as crucial and needed to take urgent actions.
The Korean War lasted just on 3 years and saw the loss of countless lives. Over 2 million Red Chinese soldier poured into help North Korea fearing that General Douglas Mac Arthur was ready to invade their nation also. The General was relieved of duty and a cease fire was established along what is now the most heavily guarded border on Earth. Another ground war may have similar results and achieve nothing, but in war nothing is certain.
Kim Jong Il has now joined the Atomic Powers Club without an invitation. Has he done this as an act of self survival and lessen the threat of invasion? Suddenly hitting hard at one of North Korea’s target will be seen in a different glow, a radioactive glow at that. We now have a new North Korea that can produce atomic weapons and deliver them via a cruise missile to almost anywhere in the region. This is something that North Korea will see as their nuclear deterrent in the same way that France, Britain, Russia, China, Pakistan, India and USA all feel the need to retain their weapons of mass destruction.
The accusation of hypocrisy may be well founded from a North Korean view point. Even India has accused the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty as being like an exclusive carriage on train where the owners of the Weapons refuse entry others but also refuse to give up their own status. However does the world need another member to a club that can kill millions? The 1980’s was the decade where people were obsessed with atomic war between only 2 super powers (USSR and USA). Now as the North Korea steps up to show its might will we enter into a new era of obsession about whose finger is on the button? Perhaps only the thought of mutually assured destruction has created a ‘Mexican Stand-off’. Yet as Maxwell Smart says about a Mexican Stand-off, ‘…it only takes one wise guy’. If there are any ‘wise guy’s’ what then?
As the world wakes up to a new dawn the UN Security Council will meet and talk but what action will they be able to take? Sanctions may cause North Korea to implode, War may cause it to explode and a Sea Blockage may be seen as an act of war.
The question is what else is there that can be done?
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Comment by LaurenD
I wonder if we'd be here in the first place if Bush hadn't lumped N Korea in with his bloody 'Axis of Evil' label. What was he thinking?
What we need are diplomats who understand the N Korean angle. We need to get these folks bak to the table.
I don't know where we can go with these sanctions when Kim Jong Il doesn't seem to mind that his people are hungry while he collects DVDs and sips cognac.
Thanks for tackling this, Damo.
LaurenD