Korean Conundrum

Posted by on April 10, 2013 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

When Kim Il Sung brought his country victoriously out of a civil war nearly 60 years ago, the world watched in horror as the Machiavellian dictator took the reigns of a broken nation. Brainwashing the population of the newly established Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, he assumed complete control of the nation, its government, and its people.

Since then, nation after nation has closed off its ports to the DPRK, enforcing the tightest sanctions ever seen. And since then, the world has waited for an impossible regime to collapse, for the people to rise up against the oppressive government, for society to understand that this sort of regime is doomed to fail. But when Kim Il Sung died, there was no glorious uprising, and the people of the DPRK welcomed their new leader with open arms. Now, Il Sung’s grandson is in power, and it doesn’t seem like any such uprising will happen. Though they have been starved, oppressed, and even tortured, the people of the DPRK continue to stand behind their new leader.

What will happen with North Korea is mostly speculation. But one thing is perfectly clear: Its survival is dependent on China. The DPRK’s powerful neighbor has been supporting the rebel country since the days of Il Sung, countering the rest of the world’s sanctions to the point where they are irrelevant (“China and North Korea: On the Naughty Step” – The Economist). And the world has been urging China to reign in the unstable country, but no drastic action has been taken by the Chinese government. Unless China enacts sanctions of their own – which seems an unlikely event – the North Korean regime will continue to stay strong. Furthermore, with fewer people left to remember a time before the war, rebellions will become more and more unlikely as generation after generation is born and educated with the same brainwashing techniques. Though most of the western world is shocked and appalled by DPRK public opinion of the United States, these opinions are actually legitimate for the North Korean people.

Since Kim Jong Un took the reigns in 2011, North Korea has been in the news for their recent nuclear activity. And according to The Economist, “Even by its own aggressive standards, North Korea’s actions over the past couple of weeks have been extraordinary” (“Korean Roulette”). Pyongyang has declared a state of war with South Korea, launched several test missiles, and continually threatens to bomb the United States. And while American public response has been largely comical – including a meme and gif campaign on r/funny – many South Koreans are living in a state of fear. I think it is unlikely that North Korea will put any action behind their words; however, if they do, there is no question that U.S. retaliation will be swift and brutal. Our alliance with South Korea compels us to protect the country, and North Korea has been a rogue nation for far too long.

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