Or Else, What?
Update: Or else, we’ll give you a time-out!
Even a very angry letter seems too much for the “United” Nations, an institution whose very name moves it into laughingstock territory these days.
South Korea nearly managed to say nothing for a whole week, but then broke its silence long enough to play the role of dutiful North Korean enabler and Chinese lap-dog, opposing any binding sanctions. Americans are entitled to wonder why their soldiers are in harm’s way to protect one Chinese possession from another.
At the border between North Korea and China, it’s business as usual. Japan has suspended port calls for a ferry that makes an occasional trip between Wonsan and Niigata. It is reportedly considering banning imports of North Korean seafood and exports of Japanese cash to the North, but has done little else since its U.N. sanctions resolution stalled. That’s more than can be said for the United States, which has done nothing whatsoever thus far.
North Korea seems especially confident:
North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong-il said that his country will not make “even a small concession” to the “U.S. imperialistic aggressors,” as Washington and Tokyo are seeking sanctions on the communist state over its barrage of missile tests, the North’s state media reported Sunday.
“Kim declared that even a small concession wouldn’t be made to the sworn-enemy U.S. imperialistic aggressors,” the North’s Koran Central Broadcasting Station said in an editorial, monitored in Seoul.
“Kim announced a heroic DPRK position, in which it promised to answer to an enemy’s retaliation with retaliation and to an all-out war with an all-out war. That is not empty words,” the radio station said. DPRK refers to the North’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Ignoring repeated warnings by Washington and Tokyo, Pyongyang test-launched seven missiles Wednesday.
These recent threats did at least inspire Seoul to keep the airplanes out of reach of the rabid dog, denying it a few more scraps of meat. Whatever the reason he did it, Kim Jong Il’s predictions that the “international community” would fold like a cheap suit are proving correct, at least as things stand now. It bears repeated emphasis that these sanctions are only designed to impede progress on one of North Korea’s WMD programs, which is why the frustration of the Japanese Foreign Minister is so understandable:
Japan, which sits within easy range of North Korean missiles, said Sunday it won’t compromise on the U.N. resolution, which it submitted Friday to the Security Council. The proposal prohibits nations from procuring missiles or missile-related “items, materials goods and technology” from North Korea, or from transferring financial resources connected to the North’s program.
“To compromise because of one country which has veto power, even though most other countries support us, sends the wrong message,” Aso told national broadcaster NHK. “We can’t alter our stance.”
More:
Austin Bay: The Python Strategy: North Korea in the Squeeze (linking this must-read in the Times of London).
The Clinton Administration was able to get North Korea to sign on to a moratorium on missile testing, and it worked for 8 years. The Chinese and South Koreans think that Kim Jong Il broke the moratorium because he is angry about the financial sanctions.
Relations between North Korea and the US have deteriorated ever since Bush became president, and the current administration deserve some blame for letting the situation get worse.
Yes, I think it’s quite obvious to us all how well that moratorium worked. So are you proposing that we should set a certain amount of U.S. currency that North Korea will be allowed to print each year? How many tons of heroin will they be allowed to sell? Maybe you should propose a quota.
The North Korean counterfeiting is hell of a lot cheaper than the billions spent on missile defense, which at best only works half the time. Not to mention the stock market decline that can happen throughout the world because of insecurity in Asia. If given the choice between financial sanctions or the missile moratorium and the continued success of the 6-Party Talks, most Americans and Asians would prefer the latter.
Also, most of the North Korean drugs ended up in China, and did not affect America very much.
Perhaps dealing with North Korea shouldn’t even be the issue here. Money is directly related to NK’s longevity and money comes from China and South Korea. No UN solution is going to squeeze the flow of money from those sources. If the US wants to affect KN’s bargaining will they have to cut off the source of money. That will mean acting unilaterally to freeze South Korean and Chinese banks and firms that continue to allow North Korean capital to be invested there. How do they effect that kind of sanction without turning South Korea and China into whimpering and belligerent adversaries, respectively?
Mi-Hwa, you impress me.
Mi Hwa at 11:42:
Mi Hwa at 8:04 the next morning:
Kids, this is what happens when you fall asleep with Fox News on. Without your protective tin foil, you’re completely exposed to those Rovian mind control waves.
Yes, Joshua, the 6-Party Talks could have resumed and made progress, if the financial sanctions didn’t keep the North Koreans away. Also, if the negotiations had been going on, North Korea would not have tested the missiles. Blame it on the Bush Admin. for having the wrong priorities.
Fine, but your statement implied — and I think wrongly — that there was some progress to show for the six-party talks. I think that glaring inconsistency is inseparable from your serious suggestion that we should tolerate and subsidize counterfeiting dope-pushers. It really shows just how many concessions the United States would have to make to North Korea to satisfy you.
Joshua, my point is that getting North Korea to give up nukes and missile testing has to come first, before dealing with the counterfeiting and the drug trafficking. However, the Bush Admin. is doing the opposite of what is in everyone’s interest.
I think we could go around and around here all year, just as we did last year. It all comes down to whether you think North Korea is serious about giving up anything and will allow the kind of verification that would permit us some confidence in their compliance.
I have no confidence in their word, their good faith, or their willingness to give up anything. I favor negotiations, but only as a show that we’re willing to take part in them and talk.