North Korea is commanding world attention again, after announcing that it tested another nuclear bomb earlier today. Duly spooked, leaders from China to America are reacting like alarmed parents chastising an unruly child for playing with fire, for the umpteenth time.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye called it an act of ‘self-destruction’ showing the ‘maniacal recklessness’ of leader Kim Jong-un. The US warned of ‘serious consequences.’
China’s foreign ministry said Beijing was resolutely opposed to the test and urged North Korea to avoid further action that would worsen the situation.
(BBC, September 9, 2016)
The Groundhog Day reference in my title refers to the fact that these leaders have been reacting with similar alarm to similar tests for years, most recently in January. They invariably impose sanctions, which North Korea invariably accepts as more reward than punishment.
And so the kabuki nuclear dance begins again – complete with world leaders denouncing Jong-un as insane. But Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Therefore, those calling Jong-un insane would do well to look in the mirror.
In any event, commensurate with the Groundhog Day nature of this “international nuclear crisis,” I shall suffice to reprise “North Korea Craving Attention Dennis Rodman Can’t Give,” September 19, 2013. It is as relevant today as it was back then.
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North Korean President Kim Jong-Il is a temperamental and insecure man. Only this explains his habit of making nuclear threats from time to time. Whenever he does, he commands the international attention he craves so pathologically and extorts the aid his people need so desperately…
When it comes to psychological warfare, this North Korean gnome is one Chicken Little who manages to jerk the world’s chain every time. Indeed, true to form, statements of concern from world leaders about what Jong-Il might do followed his antic declaration with Pavlovian predictability. But one wonders why — given his record of idle threats — world leaders even give him the time of day?!
(“Why do World Leaders Give North Korea’s President Time of Day,” The iPINIONS Journal, October 4, 2006)
Evidently, like father, like son, because Kim Jong-un is now doing the same thing – for the same reasons. Specifically, with the international media now obsessed with goings on in Syria, and with a state visit by the American clown Dennis Rodman not generating the kind of attention he craved, Jong-un has resorted to this:
Steam has been seen rising from North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility, suggesting that the reactor has been restarted.
(BBC, September 12, 2013)
This, of course, is the nuclear reactor his father agreed to shut down in 2007 with considerable fanfare as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal. Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that, given the economic straits his country is in (again), Jong-un is playing the nuclear card to incite fear and extort more concessions:
His perverse calculation is that a successful launch [or, in this case, producing more plutonium to make nuclear weapons] will give him a much stronger hand to extort (with threats to attack South Korea or sell nukes to terrorists) tons more money and food when he returns to the negotiating table for patently disingenuous talks about dismantling his nuclear program. And, past being prologue, he’s right.
(“North Korea Commanding World Attention … Again,” The iPINIONS Journal, April 13, 2012)
That said, it’s noteworthy not only that President Obama seems less inclined than his predecessors to cave in to these patented threats, but also that Jung-un seems less inclined than his predecessors to open fire on South Korea to give credence to them.
Whatever the case, here is what I proposed, in “North Korea to The World: Nuke Off!” December 13, 2012, as the only sensible way to deal with this little unruly nation:
Obama should convene a coalition of the willing among Asia-Pacific countries (APEC) to forge agreement on the following resolution, which, significantly, would not be subject to a UN-style veto by any country (namely, China or Russia):
APEC
- Recognizing that the United Nations is unable or unwilling to stop North Korea from violating its resolutions (most notably, res. 1718 against conducting nuclear tests or launching ballistic missiles) with impunity;
- Finding that these violations pose an untenable threat to the Asia-Pacific region;
Resolves that:
- Instead of continuing the feckless practice of bribing North Korea with cash, oil and food to get it to stop these violations, APEC shall henceforth impose the severest possible sanctions, unilaterally;
- If, either as a result of misfire or deliberate intent, any of North Korea’s missiles even threatens any APEC country, the United States shall lead the bombardment of all of its nuclear and missile facilities until they are incapable of even setting off firecrackers, let alone launching nuclear missiles.
All else is folly….
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So, until the next dance….
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