North Korea’s October Surprise
Republicans stood to profit in the 2006 midterm elections from North Korea’s nuclear test because of the “fear factor” and their successful push for sanctions in the U.N. ─ that were unanimously passed by the 15-member Security Council. Pyongyang’s unpredictable defiance deserved harsh sanctions. It has a string of terrorist attacks, kidnappings of foreigners, provocations and broken international agreements behind it to prove its defiant untrustworthiness. However, sanctions alone will not resolve the crisis because they are not enough to pressure a government that was economically and diplomatically isolated. The only people that suffered were We the Apathetic Maids because the price of oil climbed back above $60 a barrel after Korea’s nuclear test.
On September 19, 2005, North Korea signed a denuclearization agreement with America, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea to “abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs.” In return, Washington agreed that the United States and North Korea would “respect each other’s sovereignty, exist peacefully together and take steps to normalize their relations.” Four days later, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sweeping financial sanctions against North Korea designed to cut off the country’s access to the international banking system, branding it a “criminal state” guilty of counterfeiting, money laundering and trafficking in weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. freeze froze $24 million of Pyongyang’s money in Macau banks and brought the regime of Kim Jong-il to its knees.
North Korean refugees in China, called defectors by their government, have bounties placed on their heads and when captured are repatriated to labor camps or worse ─ executed. It is estimated there are more than 100,000 defectors hiding out in China. Many were sold into slavery and prostitution.
The full economic embargo and naval blockade backed by the Chapter VII provisions of the U.N. Charter that carry the threat of military action that the U.S. wanted to impose after Pyonyang’s nuclear test on October 9, 2006, something only Japan supported, is a short sighted fix that merely delays the inevitable ─ North Korea going nuclear ─ and ballistic.
On September 19, 2005, North Korea signed a denuclearization agreement with America, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea to “abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs.” In return, Washington agreed that the United States and North Korea would “respect each other’s sovereignty, exist peacefully together and take steps to normalize their relations.” Four days later, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sweeping financial sanctions against North Korea designed to cut off the country’s access to the international banking system, branding it a “criminal state” guilty of counterfeiting, money laundering and trafficking in weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. freeze froze $24 million of Pyongyang’s money in Macau banks and brought the regime of Kim Jong-il to its knees.
North Korean refugees in China, called defectors by their government, have bounties placed on their heads and when captured are repatriated to labor camps or worse ─ executed. It is estimated there are more than 100,000 defectors hiding out in China. Many were sold into slavery and prostitution.
The full economic embargo and naval blockade backed by the Chapter VII provisions of the U.N. Charter that carry the threat of military action that the U.S. wanted to impose after Pyonyang’s nuclear test on October 9, 2006, something only Japan supported, is a short sighted fix that merely delays the inevitable ─ North Korea going nuclear ─ and ballistic.
posted by Peter de Krassel's Custom Maid Politics at 5:47 AM
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