SPEAKING FREELY
Sanctions on Pyongyang will backfire
By Kim Myong Chol
(Editor's note: For an Asia Times Online interview with Kim Myong Chol, a Korean
resident of Japan often described as an unofficial spokesman of Kim Jong-il and
North Korea, see
North Korea's only talking head loves the US.)
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say.
Please click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
The unilateral financial sanctions the Bush administration has imposed on North
Korea on alleged charges of money-laundering, drug-trafficking and
counterfeiting of US dollars are far from a
hallmark of the lone superpower's moral integrity and lofty political
principles. They are totally arbitrary and poorly advised steps.
Ill-advised as they are, will the financial sanctions produce political
fallout? If the hidden real objective of the sanctions is to keep the North
Korean threat alive and continue to justify US arms buildup, including missile
defense, the answer is a definite yes.
Keep North Korean threat alive The financial sanctions serve to infuriate the North Koreans, giving them a
pretext to refuse to resume the six-party talks over their nuclear program and
prompting them to increase their nuclear arsenal - with the six-party talks in
disarray. Second, they serve to allow the US to persist in the policy of
hostility toward North Korea and continue to provide raison d'etre for
an arms buildup, including missile defense. On this basis, the financial
sanctions may be called a splendid success.
Successful six-party talks would lead to a peace treaty between North Korea and
the US, full diplomatic relations between the two enemies and normalized
relations between Pyongyang and Tokyo.
Peace with North Korea will expose China as the true target of US missile
defense and the potential threat to US influence. Behind the smokescreen
of the North Korean threat the US has strived to beef up its armed forces and
encircle China.
The financial sanctions, which will produce the desired results, are fraught
with major negative effects.
North Korea is building up its nuclear force at a far higher pace than the
Americans expect. North Korea will pass the United Kingdom and France by 2007
to emerge as the world's fourth nuclear power after China. The North Koreans
will overtake China not later than 2010 to clinch the spot of the world's third
nuclear-weapons state just after the US and Russia.
Three factors make North Korea unique. The first is possession of a fleet of
intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of unleashing retaliatory
nuclear strikes on the US mainland. Second, the North Koreans still torment the
Americans as a result of their victory over them in the Korean War. The North
Koreans are still locked in the life-and-death state of war with the United
States.
The third is that North Korea is well geared for a nuclear exchange with the
US, while the population of the US is anything but prepared for the worst-case
scenario of the "day after", despite its status as the world's largest nuclear
power. Neither is the Japanese population. Nor is South Korea. North Korea has
little to lose in war. However, the US and Japan have too much to lose.
Failure to stop North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons is another reminder
that there is no preventing nuclear proliferation. This is signified by an
abortive bid of the administration of US President George W Bush to
restrict the membership of the elite nuclear club.
A net result is a remarkable decline of US prestige and influence as the sole
superpower and world's policeman, becoming just one of the great powers. The US
is a far cry from what it was. With all its high-tech weapons, ground
superiority and air supremacy, it is being badly mauled in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
North Korea and China are both nuclear powers and are in the process of
strengthening their alliance, political, diplomatic and military, while
promoting economic cooperation. Nuclear-armed and on an equal footing, the
Korean-Chinese alliance is applying great pressure on the waning US, hastening
its decline.
This represents a total reversal of tide for the Americans whose wishful
thinking is to drive a wedge between North Korea and China over the nuclear
issue. South Korea is further distancing itself from the US, leaving Japan the
sole US ally in Northeast Asia. Japan, however, finds itself split between the
two giants.
Cutting off funding for nuclear arms
If the financial sanctions are intended to cut off North Korea's income source
to fund the nuclear-weapons development program, it is highly unlikely that the
objective will be accomplished. The Bush administration is not all that
interested in pursuing the sanctions. Making a scene is simply designed to keep
the allies in line.
This is a hackneyed witchhunt employed since ancient times. The feudal lord
frames a village woman as a witch, deflecting local criticisms for him toward
her, and subsequently keeping control of the village.
The North Korean defense industry is guided by the juche principle,
which calls for domestic funding, brains and self-reliance in materials. The
principle of juche conflicts with counterfeiting of foreign currency and
drug-trafficking to buy foreign materials and equipment needed for the
production of nuclear weapons.
The Bush administration's imposition of a financial crackdown on the Far
Eastern country is untenable because it is tantamount to denying that juche
is the leading idea of the Kim Jong-il government.
North Korea successfully developed a nuclear weapon as far back as the
mid-1980s. The end of the decade saw successful development of the ICBM. It is
sheer absurdity to call for cutting of funding sources for the North Korean
development of nuclear weapons and missiles, 15 years after their successful
development.
The Bush administration has no hard evidence to support its allegations against
North Korea. This having been said, it is characteristic of the Bush
administration to apply financial sanctions on North Korea. Truth is the first
casualty in the conduct of US policy.
The Korean Broadcasting Service (KBS) reported that Macau-based Banco Delta
Asia handed its documents over to US Treasury Department investigators, telling
them they found no proof to back up the US allegations. The South Korean
National Intelligence Agency dismissed the US allegations as unfounded.
It is common knowledge that the allegation Iraq possessed weapons of mass
destruction, cited by Washington to warrant an armed invasion of the Middle
East country, was a deliberate and complete frame-up.
Most US government officials know there is no truth to charges by the Bush
administration that Iran is intent on developing nuclear bombs. The Americans
told a big lie to its key ally Japan about the US beef issue.
Toppling the North Korean regime
Suppose one of the key aims of the financial sanctions is to help topple the
North Korean government, the answer to whether it will be successful is obvious
- no.
The louder the Americans talk about North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles,
alleged bad human-rights record, money-laundering, drug-trafficking and
counterfeiting, the more dramatically the Pyongyang administration comes across
to the North and South Korean people as Korean David, heroically standing up to
the arrogant, self-centered American Goliath. It adds to the Korean nationalist
credentials of the North's government.
Korean nationalist legitimacy lies in standing up to foreign forces, the
Americans and the Japanese among others, and safeguarding the pride,
independence, sovereignty and dignity of the Korean people. Pressure from the
US is a vital factor that sustains the North's government.
Unlike their Chinese and Japanese counterparts that governed their respective
countries, each for up to 270 years, the Korean dynasties ruled the country
much longer. Each dynasty lasted nearly 1,000 years, with very few civil wars.
Of all the Korean regimes that have existed in Korea's 5,000-year history, the
Kim government is the most stubborn, with the North Korean population closely
knit around it.
The North Korean people see a source of boundless pride and glory in holding
Kim in high esteem as their national hero and supreme leader. Their dedication
is such that they are glad to lay down their lives in defense of his leadership
at any time.
The North Korean people find their sacrifices quite satisfying and fulfilling,
since the Kim government has built up capability to administer nuclear
retaliatory strikes on the US mainland thanks to their sacrifices and has kept
the Korean Peninsula from becoming another battleground as a result of its
army-first policy and nuclear deterrence.
The Bush administration's talk about North Korean human rights serves only to
profit the North Korean regime. Whatever the Americans do only benefits the Kim
administration.
Kim Myong Chol is author of a number of books and papers in Korean,
Japanese and English on North Korea. He is executive director of
the Center for Korean-American Peace, and is often called an "unofficial"
spokesman of Kim Jong-il and North Korea.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say.
Please click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
