The North Korean flag. PHOTO: AFP/ FILE
The North Korean leader’s latest provocation was to unilaterally scrap the armistice which had been in effect since the end of the Korean War. Last year, he had moved a long-range rocket to a launching pad to coincide with a nuclear security summit in South Korea, although the rocket tamely fell to pieces and landed in the sea when it was tested. He has also threatened pre-emptive nuclear strikes against South Korea, boasted that his country’s missiles can reach the US and also refused to answer South Korean calls on a hotline phone. North Korea is obviously an enormous headache for its neighbour and the US but its nuclear capability essentially shields it from military attack and so, sanctions are the only weapon that can be used against it.
The problem, as always, with sanctions is that they end up hurting the people while doing very little to dislodge the dictatorial government from power. Negotiations have been tried countless times and any agreement has always been short-lived. Kim Jong Un is even more bellicose than his father and has shown no interest in giving up his nuclear capability in return for better relations and the possibility of aid from the US. The only way a dictator can feel safe is if he has the nuclear capability to deter an attack. This is a lesson North Korea seems to have taken to heart.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2013.
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"but its nuclear capability essentially shields it from military attack" Incorrect. The actual opinion is that their nuclear capabilities aren't presently a threat. The sanctions are in place with the intent to keep it that way. Not to harm them because they can't do it any other way. Regardless of what the pudgy little monster may want people to think, the US is entirely out of reach of their weaponry at present time. They're still equipped like a military in the 1950s. He is currently making threats he has no way of backing up.
The only way a dictator can feel safe is if he has the nuclear capability to deter an attack. This is a lesson North Korea seems to have taken to heart. . Rubbish - N Korea was belligerence long before it had nukes and anyone who thinks nukes is a guarantee against attack ignores the battles that the USA, Russia, China, UK, France etc have all endured after they have developed nukes.
And it works. Help standing upto a bully like US