The Zincan Slate

We’ve all read that North Korea is a mismanaged and poor country. I wasn’t able to put this into perspective until I saw the picture below (from the Wikipedia Commons). It’s a shame that Kim Jong-il won’t put aside his senseless military and political ambitions. I found a clearer picture of North Korea at night on Yahoo! News.

I don’t know what Kim Jong-il expects to get out of his current foray into the nuclear club. Does he want respect? Didn’t he see what the United States did to Hussein? If there were an invasion of North Korea Kim Jong-il would face a similar fate, unless he could flee to China. I guess we can’t expect a man who is delusional to think rationally.

What can the civilized world do about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions? If we don’t act we risk the proliferation of nuclear arms. Kim Jong-il would undoubtedly sell his arms to organizations or nations that would be unafraid to use them. Inaction would also increase the costs of an invasion. If North Korea became capable of delivering its nuclear weapons to their intended targets, the economic and human costs would be enormous and felt worldwide.

How about sanctions? How could they work on a country that is already in despair? China feeds the North Korean economy with its trade. Even if China agreed to a trade embargo, how could the west know it’s being enforced?

Is an invasion of North Korea the answer? The costs of an invasion would be high, but no one can argue that the west’s victory would be inevitable if it were to face an unallied North Korea. South Korea is not anxious to see a reunified Korea. The costs of reunification would be staggering and make German reunification seem pale in comparison. Would China aid North Korea in the case of an invasion? If it did it would bring its economy to a halt. The U.S. would suffer from this also, but it would recover, as other countries such as India would pick up the business for inexpensive goods.

I wonder if China is considering it’s own options if North Korea continues to go rogue? It doesn’t want a democratic state to border its country. Nothing is more poisonous to a totalitarian state than freedom. Could China be considering a regime change in North Korea, perhaps installing, forcefully or subtlety, a new leadership that would be more obedient to China?