North Korean Nukes
After North Korea tested a nuclear weapon Sunday night, the media has taken it upon itself to reiterate a series of common prejudices not unlike those used to foment the War in Iraq. Among these one might list the ideas that 1) Kim Jong-il is unstable or insane, 2) the North Koreans are acting out of a desire to proliferate, 3) the North Koreans are among the most likely possessors of nuclear weapons to sale them to sale them to terrorists. These prejudices are accepted uncritically by the mainstream US media and they hamper the ability of Americans - politicians and ordinary folks alike - to deal rationally with the fact of a nuclear North Korea.
Kim -Jong-il may have any number of personal eccentricites. It is a mistake, however, to consider him insane. There are a number of rational considerations that have probably led to this decision on the part of the North Koreans. First and foremost, the US has demonstrated a willingness to invade those listed on Bush’s ”axis of evil” for arbitrary and invented reasons. Further, while much of the world has condemned this invasion all along, no one did much to stop the US from destroying Iraq. By demonstrating that it possesses nuclear weaponry, North Korea has affectively made it impossible for the US or its allies to attempt an invasion. For a Korean, the possibility of a US invasion does not seem outlandish. We have had forces posted on the boarder since the 1950’s.
As for the suggestions that the North Koreans are acting out of a desire to proliferate or to sale these weapons to terrorists, this is a mistake not only because it is more likely that they are acting for strategic reasons, but also because any such action would result in a war that North Korea could not win. Any attempt to aid in an attack on the United States would have devastating consquences for the North Koreans. It is, remember, the US that invented the idea of mutually assured destruction - nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union could be avoided by assuring that the world would be completely destroyed in the event that either side attacked. It’s much more likely that the North Koreans are being honest when they say that they are attempting to deter a potential US assault - there has after all been some talk of invading the other member of the “axis of evil,” Iran.
Of course, I think it’s a bad thing that anyone have a nuclear weapon. The true path to preventing such proliferation, however, is not warfare, sanctions, or talks. Rather, the true path to ending the proliferation of nuclear weaponry is full disarmament. Only when there is no strategic advantage to be had, will nations quell their nuclear ambitions. The world’s two largest proliferators are the United States and Russia. Not coincidentally, they also have the two largest nuclear stockpiles. Only when the United States and Russia begin to take disarmament seriously, we will be abel to hope for a world that is free of the nuclear threat.