ASIAN NEWS, OPINION: Conundrum on the Korean Peninsula
By Moonlet Ding
Uncle Sam is rather used to solving international problems with missiles and troops: sending the former Yugoslavian president to the Hague Tribunal; combing Afghanistan for Bin Laden; grubbing biological weapons which might appear in the event that the land of Iraq is full of bottomless pits.
U.S. President Bush has made a particularly great contribution to the "military talks" method by waging war on Iraq regardless of the U.N. inspector's NMW report. As a result, when I heard Bush labeling North Korea as part of an "axis of evil," my reflexive response was "another war is coming." In addition, we have more facts to support the conclusion. North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, expelled U.N. inspectors, and reactivated its nuclear power facilities while Iraq "hands over a 12,000-page account of its weapons production and allows U.N. inspectors to roam all over the country" (London, The Independent), and "not a jam-jar of dangerous chemicals" was found there. What's more, the U.S. did take some actions preparing for war, for example, increasing the number of soldiers on the South Korean side of the DMZ.
Everything seems to suggest that war is inevitable except one factor: location--which brings us to the complicated politics of the region that outweighs all the others mentioned above. North Korea's brother South Korea has long been the close ally of U.S.; it is bordered by China; and it's in Japan's backyard. Those powers, together with Russia, strongly disagree with military options to solve the problem. And, as the Chinese saying goes, the U.S. "wants to throw something at a rat, but is afraid to break the vase." Comparatively speaking, Iraq is unlucky, being surrounded by countries looking forward to its destruction.
Thanks to the location of North Korea, Uncle Sam had to learn to sit down and talk: he turned to the U.N. and the powers mentioned above for help; he urged North Korea to return to the negotiation table to resume the six-nation talks. It is probably the first time that the Bush government has shown so much patience to a hostile nation. Shan't we rejoice in Koreans' good fortune? Actually, we are not that happy despite that we really loathe wars.
When the Iraq war "ended," we breathed easily to some extent. Though a Korean war is not likely to break out soon we cannot relax. We never know when Uncle Sam alone will decide to strike the uranium enrichment program and nuclear power facilities in Yongbyon.
Uncle Sam is rather used to solving international problems with missiles and troops: sending the former Yugoslavian president to the Hague Tribunal; combing Afghanistan for Bin Laden; grubbing biological weapons which might appear in the event that the land of Iraq is full of bottomless pits.
U.S. President Bush has made a particularly great contribution to the "military talks" method by waging war on Iraq regardless of the U.N. inspector's NMW report. As a result, when I heard Bush labeling North Korea as part of an "axis of evil," my reflexive response was "another war is coming." In addition, we have more facts to support the conclusion. North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, expelled U.N. inspectors, and reactivated its nuclear power facilities while Iraq "hands over a 12,000-page account of its weapons production and allows U.N. inspectors to roam all over the country" (London, The Independent), and "not a jam-jar of dangerous chemicals" was found there. What's more, the U.S. did take some actions preparing for war, for example, increasing the number of soldiers on the South Korean side of the DMZ.
Everything seems to suggest that war is inevitable except one factor: location--which brings us to the complicated politics of the region that outweighs all the others mentioned above. North Korea's brother South Korea has long been the close ally of U.S.; it is bordered by China; and it's in Japan's backyard. Those powers, together with Russia, strongly disagree with military options to solve the problem. And, as the Chinese saying goes, the U.S. "wants to throw something at a rat, but is afraid to break the vase." Comparatively speaking, Iraq is unlucky, being surrounded by countries looking forward to its destruction.
Thanks to the location of North Korea, Uncle Sam had to learn to sit down and talk: he turned to the U.N. and the powers mentioned above for help; he urged North Korea to return to the negotiation table to resume the six-nation talks. It is probably the first time that the Bush government has shown so much patience to a hostile nation. Shan't we rejoice in Koreans' good fortune? Actually, we are not that happy despite that we really loathe wars.
When the Iraq war "ended," we breathed easily to some extent. Though a Korean war is not likely to break out soon we cannot relax. We never know when Uncle Sam alone will decide to strike the uranium enrichment program and nuclear power facilities in Yongbyon.
1 Comments:
At 10:10 AM , tortuise said...
I have read you article.I think the situation of North Korea does not like that of Iraq.The nuclear problem of North Korea can be solved peacefully.
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