A little respect

Ever since I was a child, I’ve been told “no” countless times.

“No, Ashley, you cannot eat the entire package of Oreos.” “You absolutely cannot stay out past 11!” To which, of course, my response was, “But all my friends get to!”

I kind of understand how North Korea feels right now. On Oct. 4, 2002, the United States asserted that North Korea admitted to secretly developing a program to enrich uranium to weapons grade.

If true, this would be a violation of a 1994 agreement made between Pyongyang and Washington to freeze North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The allegation by the United States resulted in a resumption of the reprocessing of plutonium and the ejection of international inspectors. And on Sunday, North Korea launched a rocket that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean.

Take a deep breath. It’s OK.

Yes, the rocket was capable of delivering a warhead of 1,000 kilograms to a distance of some 6,000 kilometers, a distance far enough to hit parts of Alaska.

Yes, North Korea defied the United States, our allies and several United Nations resolutions. And yes, even though Pyongyang insists the rocket was intended to launch a satellite into space, most of the world’s intercontinental ballistic missiles began life as satellite launchers since Sputnik in 1957.  

It’s safe to say the rocket launch was, at least on a certain level, a military endeavor. But what North Korea wants is not to eventually attack us or other peaceful nations.
They want respect. While it now is largely accepted that the Bush administration misrepresented intelligence data in order to justify the invasion of Iraq, little questioning has been addressed to the accusation that reversed U.S. policy in North Korea.

Selig Harrison, a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center of Scholars, writes, “Relying on sketchy data, the Bush administration presented a worst-case scenario as an incontrovertible truth and distorted its intelligence on North Korea (much as it did on Iraq), seriously exaggerating the danger that Pyongyang is making uranium-based nuclear weapons.”

After this, moreover, Bush classified North Korea as a member of the “Axis of Evil.”

This probably didn’t help.

What North Korea is really after is to defy being told “no.” They are tired of competing in a nuclear world without nuclear technology. They want international respect.

Most importantly, Pyongyang wants to come to the negotiation table with the others, knowing it can launch a multistage rocket capable of traveling thousands of miles. While its actions certainly deserve the international condemnation they have received, opening negotiations with North Korea is necessary.

Steven Bosworth, President Barack Obama’s special envoy on North Korea, is prepared to resume talks.

“We must deal with North Korea as we find it, not as we would like it to be,” Bosworth told The New York Times. “What is required is patience and perseverance.”

And deal with them we must. Hopefully this administration can provide at least minimal respect throughout negotiations.