‘A DIFFERENT LEVEL of THREAT’
N. KOREA RAISES STAKES IN A DANGEROUS GAME
It is easy to dismiss North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, as a looney tunes villain in an isolated, far- flung country — as his cartoonish antics defy the boundaries of parody — but the latest display of military self- awareness through his fifth and most powerful atomic weapons test is creating waves far beyond Friday’s seismic activity on the Korean Peninsula.
It is replacing the laughable, mockable despot tag with a more unsettling sobriquet: the most dangerous man in the world.
The intransigence of Kim — despite some of the most crippling sanctions and unified global condemnation — stems not from his insular ignorance of world politics or a childish delight in military machines, some experts say, but rather in firm ideological beliefs, a messianic drive that makes him more dangerous than just a boy with toys.
The latest nuclear test first revealed itself through unusual tremors from a site used for North Korea’s atomic testing. Scientists in Japan and South Korea quickly said the seismic activity, about magnitude 5, showed wave patterns of a non- natural source.
The date — the 68th anniversary of North Korea’s founding — stoked fears over its source. They were soon confirmed by Pyongyang, notably proud of its accomplishment.
North Korean state television said the test significantly elevated the country’s nuclear arsenal, purposely in defiance of international sanctions after earlier nuclear test and a long- range rocket launch.
It boasted this test proved the government has mastered the ability to mount a nuclear warhead onto a ballistic missile, a concept that dramatically escalates the global threat. The claims have not been verified.
It makes it harder however to laugh at Kim’s bizarre haircut and policy decisions, such as Thursday’s report he had banned sarcasm because he fears officials express agreement with him ironically.
South Korea said the test proved Kim’s “maniacal recklessness;” Japan called North Korea an “outlaw nation” and said the test poses a “different level of threat”; Frances aid it was a “serious act which infringes the world’s peace and security.”
U. S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said the international community must “redouble the pressure” on North Korea, but when asked if U. S. military action was now on the table, he did not answer directly, saying the test “and other provocations” strengthen U.S. resolve to de- fend itself and its allies.
The U. S. would deploy new, more capable missile defences in South Korea, he added.
Even China, long North Korea’s economic benefactor and only major international ally, condemned the test.
China’s Foreign Ministry i ssued a statement protesting North Korea’s “disregard” for international stability, expressed “resolute opposition” to the test and called on North Korea to not do anything else that “worsens the situation.”
Clearly, the fear of walk- i ng i nto a nuclear war through North Korea’s aggressive weapons policy is not just Western hysteria.
Kim, 32, inherited the country’s supreme leadership after the death of his father, Kim Jong- il, who in turn had succeeded his father, Kim Il-sung.
Under his l eadership, North Korea has steadily developed and tested weapons of mass destruction in the face of UN sanctions and diplomatic pressure, causing many to ponder what options might corral him.
“Sanctions have already been imposed on almost everything possible, so the policy is at an impasse,” Tadashi Kimiya, a University of Tokyo professor specializing in Korean issues, told Reuters news agency.
For Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist with the American Enterprise Institute and a senior adviser to the National Bureau of Asian Research, “There is a logic to the North Korean state, a deep and deadly serious logic.”
“Political decisions in North Korea are not sudden, irrational eruptions,” he recently wrote in the National Review. “Quite the contrary, they are conditioned by careful calculation and methodical preparation.”
Kim’s ideology — his strategic objectives — remain the same as his father’s and his grandfather’s: the reunification of Korea under the Kim family and assembling a devastating military arsenal with which to punish its enemies and protect its turf. That makes Kim’s ability to destroy Washington or New York a yearning imperative.
“( North Korea) is a dangerous state — dangerous, not lunatic — and fully intent upon becoming more dangerous still,” Eberstadt said.
Each round of negotiations and each agreement is, in its turn, ignored by North Korea, which sees the United States and South Korea as its primary enemies. In 2006, it tested a nuclear weapon right in the midst of talks to freeze its nuclear program.
“Almost nothing can be done diplomatically to dissuade North Korea from abandoning its nuclear program,” Michael Auslin, director of Japan Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, recently wrote on the frustrations of dealing with a rogue nation.
“It will consistently cheat on any agreement.”
He urged the U. S. to deal with North Korea from a position of strength, not desperation, to treat Kim as a dangerous man, not a crazy kid.
“Rather than hanging on to the fantasy that Pyongyang can be cajoled into relinquishing its nuclear weapons, the United States should consider adopting a more traditional deterrent policy against North Korea. Washington should state that if Pyongyang launches a nuclear-armed ballistic missile, the United States will respond with a full U. S. attack on North Korea,” Auslin wrote.
Any lasting solution, he added, must involve getting rid of Kim.
“The only sure way of ending North Korea’s nuclear threat is to change the regime in Pyongyang. Denuclearization will not happen as long as Kim and his junta are in power.”