Talking doesn’t appear to do much good when dealing with North Korea. So is there another option that will work — short of war?
The Obama administration thinks so. The answer, according to the president and his advisers, is more sanctions.
That assessment doesn’t exactly create confidence. The communist regime in North Korea has been under economic sanctions of assorted types for years. The results are an advancing nuclear weapons and missile program that has much of the world on edge.
But it’s possible this time the government of Kim Jong Il has gone too far. And the sanctions being considered by the United Nations, while more stringent ones are in the works by individual nations, may hit North Korea where it hurts.
The goal is to thwart North Korea’s secretive overseas finance operations that range from counterfeiting to sales of weapons and technology. Revenue from these sources goes directly into the coffers of North Korea’s political elite, not the majority of North Koreans who struggle daily to survive.
A key factor in the push toward tougher sanctions is China, North Korea’s one friend of any consequence in the world. Even the Chinese government, which has routinely argued for a low-key diplomatic approach for dealing with the Kim regime, was alarmed by its most recent nuclear test and missile launches.
So there are reasons to believe that this time around, the U.N. will authorize sanctions with real teeth, ones that will directly weaken the positions of those in power in North Korea.
The alternatives include possibilities that China doesn’t want to see. Chief among these is an expansion of nuclear-armed nations in Asia. South Korea and Japan in particular may soon reach the point of deciding that if they can’t be assured of a reversal of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, they may have to launch atomic weapons programs of their own.
Under these circumstances, China needs to seriously assess the value of its friendship with North Korea.
The consequences of more nations with nuclear weapons is not pleasant to ponder. The spread of this technology not only expands the risks of a nuclear exchange, but also increases the possibility of atomic weaponry winding up in the hands of radical groups determined to reach new heights of terrorism.
And that may be the biggest danger where North Korea is concerned. This is a country that plays by no rules. It would sell nuclear weapons or technology for the cash and not care about the results.
This too, should worry China. That nation has its own problems with Islamic extremism, encouraged by the government’s repression in its Western regions. China’s alliance with North Korea could become very costly.
