N. Korea: A Dangerous Game of Cat and Mouse

The reclusive Stalinist state has been known for many years for its policy of brinkmanship. What North Korea is not known for is following through on its threats.

Certainly, it would make common sense for any nation not to perform an act meant to antagonize not only The United States, but also its Asian neighbors. However, North Korea’s history is not one of common sense.

Ever since an armistace ended the Korean War in 1953, the North has engaged in a continuous war of words and sometimes has moved into an active military role, especially at sea where it captured the United States intellegence vessel Pueblo in 1968 and has had a number of scrimmages with its Southern rival offshore.

The government of President Kim Jong il, known to his people as “The Dear Leader,” cares little about the welfare of its citizens, other than Kim’s own family, the small cadre of government officials close to him and, above all, the military. And the “Dear Leader” is even more dangerous because of his reported indulgence in erotic movies and literature and, very possibly,
illicit drugs.

There have been cases in history of tyrants starving people to death, but the North Korean regime may be setting a record, at least in proportion to population, for starving its own population. The country has little or no economy to speak of. It is merely a type of Spartan state, reclusive to excess, keeping its population in a continual state of siege and in virtual ignorance of what goes on in the rest of the world.

The split into two Koreas after World War II was an accident. United States and Soviet negotiators agreed to split the former Japanese colony on an artificial boundary, the 38th Paralell. Of course, the Soviets quickly occupied the North and set up their own government under the present dictator’s father, Kim Il Sun. In June, 1950, the North invaded South Korea, resulting in a 3-year war between North Korea and, later, China on one side and South Korea and United Nations forces, led by The United States, on the other. An uneasy truce has existed since 1953, and there is no peace treaty.

North Korea’s admitted possession of atomic weapons followed a long period of attempted negotiations about its advance arms program.

As in all other matters, the North Koreans have been adept at twisting and turning negotiations into stalemates and are always able at lying and breaking their word. To say that this is a government not to be trusted is quite mild.

The expected missle test has already been delayed. North Korea has been playing its traditional cat and mouse game, trying to exhort anything it can out of the situation. Ever since the Korean War, the North has managed to stop crises just short of all-out war.

The United States and other involved nations have been warning North Korea not to test the long-range missle. Be sure of one thing: If the North wants to do it as a gesture of defiance, no words will stop her. The “Dear Leader” is like a big child with a bundle of toys in his nursery.

The problem here is that his toys are lethal.

Trusting North Korea would be utterly naive.