It works like clockwork, doesn't it? I write a post about how sick I am of the racchi mondai's overwhelming the Japanese government's capacity to negotiate with the DPRK.
Eight hours later, the other shoe drops.
North Korea says will conduct nuclear test
Reuters
SEOUL - An increasingly isolated North Korea said on Tuesday it would conduct its first-ever nuclear test, blaming a U.S. "threat of nuclear war and sanctions" for forcing its hand.
(...)
"The U.S. extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions and pressure compel the DPRK (North Korea) to conduct a nuclear test, an essential process for bolstering nuclear deterrent, as a corresponding measure for defense," the statement said.
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Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said any nuclear test by North Korea would be unacceptable.
Yep, just like stunning success of containing the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran, all you have to do to keep the DPRK in line is set unreasonble, humiliating preconditions for any negotiation and keep racheting up the pressure through sanctions and international isolation.
Works every time.
Your right! Maybe the US and allies should give humanitarian aid and financial incentives to North Korea. This should convince N. Korea to stop testing. Opps, we already tried that and failed. What would you suggest as an alternative plan of action?
ReplyDelete-Eric
Eric - The best solution for dealing with a psychopathic entity is to put a huge distance between yourself and it.
ReplyDeleteMoving the Japanese islands further away from North Korea is likely to be prohibitively expensive, however.
The decidedly less desirable and more uncertain course is to encircle the entity with unfriendly yet not-quite-antagonistic forces. Patience and unity among all robs the pathological of its strongest weapons--1) a sense of panic in one player which leads to that player to accept any compromise so long as it reduces a threat, even if only temporarily and 2)the pitting of outside forces against one another.
The DPRK government freaked out when China joined Japan in voting for the UN Security Council sanctions resolution after the July missile launches. The leadership must have nearly had a coronary when one of its base assumptions--that without a pledge to abandon visits to Yasukuni, Japan's prime minister will not meet with the leaders of China and South Korea --seemed to fall apart this week.