War tensions are again building on the Korean peninsula. Even if actual
military conflict is avoided, the tensions themselves have serious
consequences--encouraging militarism in Japan; strengthening rightwing,
anti-democratic forces in South Korea; intensifying hunger and
repression in North Korea; and legitimizing the war on terrorism and
greater military spending in the US. In short, this is a serious issue
and we need to understand what is driving the tension.
The general consensus as reported in the press is that North Korea is
hell bent on obtaining a nuclear weapons program and using it to
terrorize other countries. The US has tried repeatedly to get the North
to disarm, but to no avail. The North never sticks to its word and
cannot be trusted. Therefore, the time has come for tough action.
This may be the consensus but it is not accurate. The truth is that
negotiations between the US and North Korea have always been about more
than the North's nuclear program; they have also been about
normalization of relations between the two countries. And the latter is
something that the US has never taken seriously despite promises to do
so. That is the main reason that previous negotiations have failed. It
has been the US that has been the most unreliable negotiating partner:
it has repeatedly not followed through on its promises and unilaterally
changed the terms of previous agreements. Quite a different story!
We desperately need for a new US foreign policy towards Korea---and the
sooner the better.
For more on the points raised above, I recommend the following articles:
* This one provides an excellent overview of the current situation:
/Leon V. Sigal, "Why Punishing North Korea Won't Work: Toward
Resolution of the US-North Korea Conflict
<http://japanfocus.org/-Leon_V_-Sigal/3163>," The Asia-Pacific
Journal, June 8, 2009.///
* This one provides a bit more historical background: Martin
Hart-Landsberg and John Feffer, "Sanctions and War on the Korean
Peninsula <http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3913>," Foreign Policy in
Focus, January 17, 2007
* This one addresses human rights issues in the North: Christine
Ahn and Thomas P. Kim, "The Untold Story Behind Human Rights
Violations in North Korea
<http://www.kpolicy.org/documents/policy/090616christineahnthomaskimuntoldstory.html>,"
Korea Policy Institute, June 16, 2009.
<http://www.kpolicy.org/documents/policy/090616christineahnthomaskimuntoldstory.html>
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