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Sat 29 Mar, 2003 09:18 am
This is the world we are heading to: "Better be strong"
North Korea has vowed to strengthen its military defences, saying it would fend off what it called the "miserable fate" that had befallen Iraq.
A commentary in the state-run newspaper of the ruling Korean Workers' Party, Rodong Sinmun, said that what was happening in Iraq was a result of concession and compromise.
The DPRK would have already met the same miserable fate as Iraq had it ...accepted the demand raised by the imperialists and its followers for "nuclear inspection" and disarmament
It pledged to resist international demands to dismantle its nuclear programme to end the current stand-off over its nuclear ambitions.
North Korea - named by Washington along with Iraq and Iran as part of an axis of evil - has been closely watching developments in the war with Iraq.
It has alleged that its own country could be the next military target of the United States - pointing to the ongoing annual joint military exercises between South Korean and US troops as proof that preparations are under way for a pre-emptive attack.
Those allegations have been firmly rejected by officials in Seoul - but that has done little to convince the North.
Earlier this week, North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament approved an increase in the budget for military spending.
Despite its belligerent rhetoric, Pyongyang has continued to call for direct talks with Washington to resolve the five-month crisis over its nuclear programme.
The US has insisted any talks must be multilateral.
frolic
The problems with North Korea can indeed be laid directly at the feet of Bush and Rumsfeld. They will never be accused of being politically or diplomatically astute. That said what is it that you are questioning in this post? Specifically what comments are you eliciting?
au1929 the number of problems that caused by the Bush administration past, present, and future are to much for this person to think about. And it is getting worse and worse. My personal opinion is the one good thing to come of all this is that Bush is finally proving that money cannot buy everything.
It seems to me the North Koreans are saying that if the United States were sure another country possessed nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction...
...they would think twice and twice again before attacking that country.
Hummm!
It could reasonably be argued that the North Koreans made two valid points here.
1) The United States DID NOT think Iraq had nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction to bring to bear -- and that is one consideration that went into the decision to attack Iraq.
2) North Korea does not want to be attacked the way Iraq was attacked.
The Bush administration has been a disaster in every way possible. The full impact of his blunders are yet to be realized. There is not a hell of a lot more to say.
As au indicates -- THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES will rear its ugly head in full force.
This from the Bush administration to Iraq:
"No soup for you!"
To North Korea:
"Next!
Here we have a 180-degree turn around in administration policy towards North Korea. They seek multilateral talks with N. Korea. This inherently seems correct. Surely Japan, China, S. Korea and even Russia have a dog in this fight. As does the U.S.: it does not want to give Japan a reason to go nuclear.
Just for discussion how about this: The U.S. withdraws all of its 37,000 troops from S. Korea. This would remove one of North Korea's (NK) levers in the negotiations by eliminating the threat posed to our troops from NK's massive amount of artillery. In addition this would send mixed message to NK (Is the U.S. planning a possible strike or is tired of fighting) and, at the same time, free South Koreans from the constant threat of involvement in auto accidents with American GI's.
Should we ask the UN to handle it (after we pull out our troops)? Since there is no longer a communist threat (China's political system is really no different than past dynasties) we need no longer concern ourselves with the domino theory. What are our options?
JM
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