A Different Perspective on North Korea

It has been interesting to watch how the rest of the world responded to the multiple missile firings of North Korea this past week, and even more interesting to see how the rest of the world viewed the US response. At this stage, the US is still concentrating on diplomatic efforts, primarily through the Six-Party group (US, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia, and China) convened to deal with the issue of North Korea and its development of nuclear weapons.

Not much has been accomplished by this group, and I had until now assigned the blame for the stalemate to the intransigence of both the US and North Korea. However, I read an interesting article in the Taipei Times which suggests another angle to consider.

...it is difficult to propose a solution to this continuing problem. Why is that? Why have years of talks ended fruitlessly? Why have threats, promises, enticements and material rewards had no effect on the behavior of the dictator in Pyongyang?

While Tokyo has been busy lobbying the region to censure Pyongyang over the tests and to back sanctions against the North Korean regime, and while the United States has been busy arranging things at the U.N. Security Council, what has China's response been?

"China and North Korea are friendly neighbors," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman [Jiang Yu].

"North Korea's firing of missiles has no relationship to China," the spokeswoman later said, adding: "We hope to see diplomatic tensions resolved diplomatically and through dialogue and consultation."

...Exactly when will the international community recognize that the key to solving the North Korea problem is to bring pressure to bear on Beijing, not Pyongyang?

North Korea is a basket case, where human beings are treated as less than chattel and the economy is based primarily on foreign aid. How could such a travesty of a nation stand without support from China?

It isn't exactly a secret that most of North Korea's missile and nuclear technology was obtained from or with the assistance of China. And one doesn't need to be an expert in international relations to understand that Beijing is using Pyongyang as a tool to serve its own ends. The mystery is why the international community allows this state of affairs to continue.

And China doesn't want the situation resolved. The ongoing "crisis" is much more useful to Beijing as a vehicle it can use to portray itself as a regional player. North Korea also complicates and frustrates the U.S. in its role as guarantor of regional security, enabling Beijing to set the stage for its own rise to regional power. [Emphasis added]

While it is clear that Taipei has its own agenda when it comes to China, and that its agenda is coloring this analysis, the fact that China could strong-arm North Korea into compliance at any time it wished is clear. If this were 1996 rather than 2006, I could safely assume that the US diplomats and the administration would surely be aware of this and would be quietly working with Beijing to bring about such pressure on North Korea. Unfortunately, it is 2006, and no such assumption can be made.

Christopher Hill, the US diplomat in charge of the negotiations is reputed to be one of the most experienced and respected in current service, and he has been to Beijing for just that purpose. However, Mr. Hill has been undercut by the Bush regime time after time during the delicate talks, and I'm certain he has been told not to push too hard on Beijing which, after all, holds an enormous amount of US debt.

The US regime's feckless war in Iraq, with its attendant costs, and its irrational domestic policies with respect to budget deficits has managed to put us into yet another situation located midway between a rock and a hard spot. No wonder North Korea chose July 4 to thumb its nose at us.