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We must take them seriously
Published Friday, July 3, 2009
In his 2002 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush described an “axis of evil,” which included Iraq, Iran and North Korea. At the time, it was easy to see why Iraq and Iran were included on this list of terror-supporting nations, but North Korea seemed like the odd man out.
True, the country did have the fourth largest standing army in the world, and was run by a tyrannical dictator, but it had never previously shown any belligerence toward the U.S. outside of occasional tough talk that was never taken seriously.
Events of recent days may have shown that Bush knew what he was talking about. Various reports have surfaced saying that North Korea may attempt to launch a missile toward Hawaii sometime this month, as a display of its military might.
Whether or not North Korea actually goes through on this threat is irrelevant. The fact remains that this is a nation with a volatile combination — it has a huge army, it has an intense hatred of the U.S. and it has a brainwashed populace of 20 million North Koreans ready to give their lives for “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il.
If you visit the YouTube Internet site, you can view several videos taken by foreign visitors to North Korea. These mini-documentaries provide a scary picture of the mindset of the people in the nation. Every home must have a picture of both Jong-Il and his late father, “Great Leader” Kim Il-Sung (who, despite being dead, is still considered the “eternal president” of the country). One British visitor goes to a bookstore in the capital of Pyongyang, only to discover that every single book in the store was either written by Jong-Il or Il-Sung, or written about Jong-Il or Il-Sung.
North Korea’s laughable official name reminds me of Mike Myers’ old Linda Richman’s Coffee Talk character on Saturday Night Live. “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is neither democratic, nor does it belong to the people, nor is it a republic. Discuss.”
At some point, President Barack Obama may need to give a “Tear down this wall” speech, similar to what former president Ronald Reagan said when he commanded USSR premier Mikhail Gorbachev to dismantle the Berlin Wall. The demilitarized zone, the border between North Korea and South Korea, is arguably the most dangerous border on the planet — it is estimated there are a combined 2 million North Korean, South Korean and U.S. soldiers on the border, making it a powder keg just waiting to go off.
This is a nation that spends $6 billion a year on its military, despite having a gross domestic product of only $40 billion. It is a nation that has made no secret of its desire to build and maintain a nuclear and chemical weapons program. It is a nation that believes it will ultimately be reunified with its neighbors to the south — in other words, Korean War II may not be too far away.
It is a nation that must be taken seriously as a threat to peace.
Comments
Posted by Dogface (anonymous) on July 7, 2009 at 11:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What do you mean Korean War II? The Korean War has never ended. A cease fire is all that exist between the two countries. What N. Korea is doing at this time could be looked upon as a resumption of hostilities.
Posted by Shamrock (anonymous) on July 8, 2009 at 5:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Absolutely Dogface! And our presence is still there to prove your point.
DMZ in Korea is the most dangerous one in the world. The leader thinks he is a "god" that must be worshipped and obeyed at all moments by all citizens. That's communism at it's extreme! PRAY that they stay within their bounds.
Good "Wake Up" article, Justin!
Posted by outlaw11 (anonymous) on July 10, 2009 at 10:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If either one of you are waiting in the wings for Obama to make a move, then, open another beer, as this is the biggest coward since Carter. Remember when Clinton fired
over the heads of Hussein and Bin Laden, not taking them seriously? Fire 2 missles 2 miles in the air to scare them...duh...2000 years of hand-to-hand combat in the desert and in the mountains does not even awaken them at night...so, this dictator in N Korea is pretty much the same, except he is not educated like Bin Laden (educated in the US and in England) and does not know the difference between life and death...which makes him questionable in the world power market...in other words, he does not care.
This raises the question of where does he get his power...over the years, the US has made many enemies, each
president has deferred interests and aims, and never the same
as the one before him (too rapped up in themselves to consider the citizens), and now this one bows down to people who used to bow to us...guess what people, unless Obama grows a set, we might be on the receiving end, and, I, for one, do not like it...I am a VN vet and will not go down w/o a fight; neither will my son. Our first priorty is to our country, then our family, then ourselves, and somewhere in there is a word called honor. So, Dogface and Shamrock,
guess we'll be on the front lines,huh? Damn good article, Justin.
Posted by Dogface (anonymous) on July 18, 2009 at 1:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I was just trying to point out the fact that the war has never ended and whether you believe it or not the border between NK and SK is one of the most heavily armed military spots in the world.
Our involvement with Korea goes all the way back to Truman. Truman also paved the way for Vietnam. Kennedy put us on a course of no return in Vietnam.
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