Intransigent North Korea

In possessing potential trouble spots for the entire world, Asia has surely surpassed the once notoriously dark continent of Africa! The Middle East has been perpetually in ferment, cessation of the Israel-Lebanon conflict being nowhere in sight despite numerous peace initiatives. The war in Iraq appears yet far from over and nuclear aspirations of Iran colliding with Western hostility towards that country carries with it the kernel of future conflict. Talibanisation of Afghanistan and Pakistan, while creating instability in the administration of both the nations, has helped to spread the spectre of terrorism across the globe. Nepal is in political trouble. Bangladesh has just quelled an armed uprising. while Sri Lanka has achieved what might well turn out to be a pyrrhic victory over the LTTE unless immediate steps are taken to heal the rift between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. In the South East, Myanmar has for too long been a thorn in the free world’s flesh, while political uncertainties have gripped nations like Thailand. However, none of these carry the whiff of global catastrophe as strongly as the activities of North Korea, which former President of the US George W. Bush had once described as an “axis of evil.” The potential of this nation with a communist, autocratic regime and a million-strong army to bring about a crisis of global magnitude is strong indeed.

As if to drive home that point, North Korea has carried out yet another nuclear test, in defiance of international opinion and against pledges earlier made. Adding, as it were, salt to the sore, it has also test-fired three short-range surface-to-surface missiles towards the sea separating it from Japan. These fresh events follow the 5th April launch of a rocket which North Korea had later explained away as an attempt to develop its weather-satellite launching capabilities. Nevertheless, it invited rebuke from the UN Security Council. Statements emanating from the North Korean Government indicate that the nuclear test and fresh missile launches are designed to be acts of defiance against the UN-rebuke. Even if it indeed be such an almost childish act, it deserves yet another international rebuke! Not only has it increased tensions and undermined stability in a sensitive zone that divides communist north Asia from non-communist south, it has also endangered the disarmament talks with North Korea involving six nations including the US and China. It may be recalled that the former had agreed in 2007 to dismantle its nuclear facilities in exchange for food and economic aid. Though, as demanded by South Korea and Japan, the UN Security Council needs to meet to discuss the ominous development, on no account must the six-party negotiations be allowed to come to a halt. China, as before, holds the key to the negotiations and must take the lead in bringing about an irrevocable end to North Korean intransigence. ASSAM TRIBUNE