For Regime Change in N. Korea

A tourist looks at a collage made up of pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on display at a unification observation post near the border village of Panmunjeom (DMZ) that has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, Tuesday. The United Nations swiftly condemned North Korea for its test of a powerful nuclear bomb and South Korea announced it would join a U.S.-led initiative to intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction. / AP-Yonhap

By Choi Yearn-hong

The North Korean nuclear blast made headline news on the Washington Post's front page on May 26. As a matter of fact, it drew global condemnation.

It is a pathetic regime in the world. The isolated nation's historical allies, China and Russia, joined the international condemnation. I hope this is the beginning of regime change in North Korea.

What kind of nation is North Korea?

A great number of people have starved to death under dictatorial rule. A dictator is like God to the people. Since 1945, two dictators have ruled the nation.

The current dictator's father ruled from 1945 to 1994. After the current dictator, his son is expected to rule. How pathetic a communist nation on Earth is! It should be perished as soon as possible.

The intent of North Korea's detonation of a nuclear device on Monday was discussed in many different ways:

(1) North Korea wants to be known as a de facto nuclear power nation.

(2) It wants to sell nuclear weapons to some terrorist nations and terrorist forces such as the Taliban and al-Qaida.

(3) North Korea wants to draw attention from the Obama administration, which has so far neglected it in its first 100 days.

(4) It wants to threaten the United States with its nuclear bomb and long-range missile.

(5) North Korea wants to solidify Kim's power transition to his son go smoothly and with nuclear power capability.

Whatever the intent was, the world will look down on North Korea, and the Obama administration will not engage with the country with a so-called appeasement policy.

Obama himself knows the results and outcomes of his two predecessors' approach to North Korea, the Clinton and Bush administrations. North Korea and some leftist South Korean people, including former president Kim Dae-jung, have had wishful thinking of their own.

The Washington Post editorial on May 26 reflects the changing sentiment of American people toward North Korea. The Democrats, including Sen. Joseph Biden, blamed and accused President George W. Bush's North Korea policy for the North's nuclear tests before remembering Secretary of State Albright's visit to Pyongyang during the last stage of the Clinton administration.

Bush did his best from his hard-line policy ``axis of evil" to his soft line policy ``six-party talks" to denuclearize North Korea. All failed. The Democrats are now in power. Obama is cool in dealing with North Korea. His secretary of state is Hilary, wife of former President Clinton.

The editorial urged the Obama administration to take a hard-line policy toward the North. I am glad to see the sea of change in the Washington Post editorials toward the North.

It said, ``What Kim Jong-il's latest provocation should not cause, however, is the response he is seeking: a rush by the Obama administration to lavish attention on his regime and offer it economic and political favors.

``That approach has already been tried by two U.S. administrations which handed Pyongyang a string of bribes in exchange for ceasing its provocations, suspending its nuclear activities and entering negotiations.

``In each case, the North failed to fulfill its commitments and eventually returned to producing weapons and testing missiles.

``It's time, at last, to break this pattern and call Kim's bluff. There should, however, be no new economic factors to the North, no further political recognition, no grant visits by the secretary of state to Pyongyang.

``Kim, who is 67 and ailing, and who appears to be attempting to shore up his authority so as to hand it to one of his sons, should be nothing to help him with that project."

The editorial suggested strong sanctions: To the extent possible, his regime should be rationally but methodically strangled by sanctions ― and any easing should be linked to concrete steps by the North.

Do you know why I made a long quote from the Post editorial? The same editorial was sympathetic to the North and Kim Dae-jung's Sunshine Policy and was critical of the U.S. foreign policy toward North Korea. It has finally realized the regime change is the only way to bring hope to the North.

I propose in this column that the Obama administration should consider a pre-emptive strike of North Korea's nuclear facility once the latter acquires the capability to produce sophisticated atomic bombs with a long-range delivery system.

This is the best preparation for the worse scenario. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

The two historical allies, China and Russia, should be ashamed of their long support of two of the worst dictators before a third one comes. Kim Dae-jung should not blame the Bush administration for North Korea's rogue status and nuclear testing.

He and his cronies should see who the devil is. Don't blame the conservative Lee Myung-bak government for renewing the Cold War on the Korean Peninsula. See things clearly. Don't make liberalism disgraceful anymore.

Dr. Choi is a retired political scientist who had a long teaching career in the United States and Korea. The views expressed in the above article are those of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of The Korea Times.

[출처 : 코리아타임스]