Emergency Kim Jong il Posting
Now that Dear Leader has allegedly tested another nuclear bomb, with the effect of a 4.2 magnitude earthquake, the international community is ready to threaten sanctions.
Sanctions? Really? How has this strategy worked in the past? Not very well, which is why we’ve come to this current situation. Economic sanctions are the weakest hand when dealing with North Korea, mostly because the man in charge doesn’t think rationally. Kim does NOT care if the US, South Korea or Japan backhand him with the strictest in economic sanctions. No, what he does care for is th
reatening his immediate neighbors, and bullying his way into achieving some sort of clout in international relations. Further sanctions will only fuel the brush fire that is the North Korean Nuclear Crisis.
Kim has already stated that his military is ready for mobilization (even though we know they are mal-nourished and ill equipped). Now that Obama has pledged to fully protect Japan and South Korea, I wonder what will happen if Kim forces Obama’s hand. Will the freshly elected president of the free world open up another war front? Or will he, again, try diplomacy in order to bring peace to the Pacific Rim?
If Obama does choose diplomacy, he had better go into it with a better road-map than the 6 party talks. Even with Russia and China turning their backs on Kim, Obama will have a hard time talking his way out of this one. The best play he can make is to appease China on the immediate threat North Korea poses to them, and have the force of all 6 party members directly addressing Kim. If it comes down to trading bullets, at least Obama can rely on China to back him up.
