A week ago, on 12 February, DPRK(North Korea) conducted her third nuclear test, in clear violation of the joint declaration with South Korea in 1992 to denuclearize the whole of the Korean Peninsula, her own commitment at the six-power conference in 2005 to denuclearize herself, and several UN Security Council resolutions.
The act was, presumably, to invite closer attention by the Western countries, particularly the US, to her position as a state to reckon with, including the recognition of the present regime based on the hereditary dictatorship of one family. They would also like to be recognized as a nuclear power on a par with countries like India and Pakistan whose nuclear power status came to be accepted in the course of time since their nuclear explosion in 1998 without any international agreement.
President Obama, in his State of the Union speech the next day-was the NK test intentionally conducted on the previous day?-did not say much about it. It came up briefly after the Afghan question. It was basically a domestic speech, although he said, to assure the American people, "We will maintain the best military the world has ever known". But apparently there is a strong feeling of distrust and anxiety the world over as the result of the test. The Security Council will come up with stronger sanctions sooner rather than later.
This writer, however, has said more than once in these columns that it is wrong to apply stronger sanctions, and a Peace Treaty should be put in place as quickly as possible between Japan and DPRK, no matter what the US may choose to do. That may go against the public opinion here, more so after the test. Many would look at such a move as a surrender. But what is the alternative? The US forces are being reinforced under the name of keeping greater presence in East Asia. China is beginning to behave as a military power. Japan has increased the military budget for the new year 2013(April to March) by more than $ one billion. The test comes on top of it all.
We may easily condemn NK, but the matter does not end there. China and NK should know that their behaviour in East Asia is actually strengthening the political Right in Japan who are, if anything, anti-Chinese and anti-Korean. The two countries are supplying them with the best excuse possible.
I have been astonished when both India and Pakistan have denounced the NK test. How can they do this when their own nuclear arsenal is expanding? The British PM is now in India and one of his aims is to sell weapons, if not nuclear ones, but nonetheless sophisticated and expensive ones. He has been preceded by the French President. May I, humbly, request India and Pakistan to put restraint on their armament? I know, of course, that it will inevitably lead to the reexamination of the unequal character of the NPT.
The act was, presumably, to invite closer attention by the Western countries, particularly the US, to her position as a state to reckon with, including the recognition of the present regime based on the hereditary dictatorship of one family. They would also like to be recognized as a nuclear power on a par with countries like India and Pakistan whose nuclear power status came to be accepted in the course of time since their nuclear explosion in 1998 without any international agreement.
President Obama, in his State of the Union speech the next day-was the NK test intentionally conducted on the previous day?-did not say much about it. It came up briefly after the Afghan question. It was basically a domestic speech, although he said, to assure the American people, "We will maintain the best military the world has ever known". But apparently there is a strong feeling of distrust and anxiety the world over as the result of the test. The Security Council will come up with stronger sanctions sooner rather than later.
This writer, however, has said more than once in these columns that it is wrong to apply stronger sanctions, and a Peace Treaty should be put in place as quickly as possible between Japan and DPRK, no matter what the US may choose to do. That may go against the public opinion here, more so after the test. Many would look at such a move as a surrender. But what is the alternative? The US forces are being reinforced under the name of keeping greater presence in East Asia. China is beginning to behave as a military power. Japan has increased the military budget for the new year 2013(April to March) by more than $ one billion. The test comes on top of it all.
We may easily condemn NK, but the matter does not end there. China and NK should know that their behaviour in East Asia is actually strengthening the political Right in Japan who are, if anything, anti-Chinese and anti-Korean. The two countries are supplying them with the best excuse possible.
I have been astonished when both India and Pakistan have denounced the NK test. How can they do this when their own nuclear arsenal is expanding? The British PM is now in India and one of his aims is to sell weapons, if not nuclear ones, but nonetheless sophisticated and expensive ones. He has been preceded by the French President. May I, humbly, request India and Pakistan to put restraint on their armament? I know, of course, that it will inevitably lead to the reexamination of the unequal character of the NPT.
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