Who to blame?

The Bush Administration bears most of the blame for North Korea testing a nuclear weapon, for concentrating so much on Iraq, and since the "so-called 'war on terror'" has convinced Kim Jong-Il that he needs nuclear weapons to preserve his regime. Or, the Clinton Administration is to blame, for deeply flawed deals meant to keep North Korea from going nuclear. Or the Chinese are to blame, for being North Korea's primary financial and political benefactor. Or the South Koreans are to blame, for the "sunshine policy" of bribery and appeasement.

All of these factors, and many more, may have played some role. But ultimately, Kim Jong-Il has been determined to build his own nuclear arsenal regardless of what the rest of the world does. He knows his people are starving by the thousands, but he doesn't care. He knows the rest of the world threatens sanctions and political pressure to keep him from building nuclear weapons, but he doesn't care. The only thing the North Korean communists care about is survival, and a nuclear deterrent will let Kim keep blackmailing the world with crazed threats, while preventing outside forces from taking him out.

Sanctions, diplomacy, negotiation, appeasement, threats of military action...it's all been tried, and none of it has worked. Ultimately, the only ways Kim will be removed from power are a potentially catastrophic outside invasion, or an uprising from within. The former is a non-starter; the latter could work. From here on out, we should redouble our efforts to support those brave North Koreans who oppose their government, and to get news and information to the most hermetically sealed society on earth.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at October 9, 2006 11:00 AM