North Korea this week has threatened to end the 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement in response to a series of military drills that began on March 1st between the U.S. and South Korea. The North is viewing the drills and exercises as a threat and has notched up its own drills and presence across the demilitarized zone. The drills will continue for 2 months even with the North donning the U.S. as its "sworn enemy"
In December, the North fired a ballistic missile over Japan in what the North claimed to be a peaceful satellite launch. Yet the satellite has confirmed to be dead in space and the North claims that the launch was a success. In response to this, the U.S. has called the satellite launch a cover up to test intercontinental ballistic missiles and the North has been subjected to extreme economic trade sanctions by the U.N. Furthermore, and since then, the North Korean government has successfully tested its third nuclear bomb at a test site near the Chinese border.
The U.S. and South Korea have been fairly well versed to North Korean threats since the Armistice in 1953. The North has even gone so far as to promote anti-U.S propaganda within its country for the last 50 years. With the North now bearing nuclear power, the questions are: How much of a threat is the North now that it has a new leader and new weaponry? What are the implications of Nuclear War on a moral stance? Does this new leader know what he is doing with the most powerfully destructive weaponry in the world in the palm of his hands? Where does China stand in this? And more importantly, what is the U.S. going to do?
Anything from here is speculation. On a global and moral view, the countries of the world have been working on denuclearization for a long time. However, since the North's recent nuclear test, the U.S. has started producing more counter defense measures with anti-missile systems. This in turn has created an international stir with China and Russia ratcheting up their own nuclear programs. Are we on the road to another cold war arms race? Hopefully not.
We already know what nuclear bombs do. They blow up entire regions and leave those regions devastated with radiation poisoning for decades. Depending on how strong the bomb is, those decades could turn into centuries like the Chernobyl disaster site. Why would any country desire to inflict such devastating destruction upon any life or upon their own world? Can we not be brothers and sister in the human race to the extent of protecting our own planet from a wasteful existence? After all, we all live here and we have no other options for planetary habitation.
This is not unknown to China, the U.S., South Korea or Russia. The Chinese even having protests in their streets condemning the recent nuclear test in response. What about the North though? And what right does the U.S have in dictating whether a country has nuclear power? What right does the U.S. have in promoting such harsh sanctions on the country. The North is impoverished, right?
The answer is yes, the north is impoverished. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK; NK government) seems to be grossly involved in the impoverishment of its own citizens. Furthermore, the DPRK has a history of systematically oppressing its lower class and redistributing the country's wealth and common needs in so that many of the lower class citizens starve. The country is so bad that it has been considered one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world -- with recent reports of cannibalism and famine. Not only this, but the DPRK is the only government in the world who actively still uses Gulag camps. What are Gulag camps? In short, they are political prisons, assuming for citizens who protest against the way the government has treated its people.
The country is in dire need of human rights and humanitarian aid and here lies the problem: Any economic stimulus given to the country goes straight to its now nuclear powered military program. It is no wonder that the U.N. presses harsh sanctions. In light of this, it is also a very good question whether the DPRK could responsibly hold a nuclear device. If they won't be responsible about their own people, how can they be responsible with a nuclear weapon?
Of course, now you can ask, how can any country be responsible with a nuclear weapon? And that I will discuss another day.
Sources:
Wiki Korean Armistice Agreement
North Korea Fires ICBM
Chinese denounce North Korean nuclear test
Gulag Camps in NK
Famine and Cannibalism in North Korea
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