PyongBANG at it again

This past week, the Korean peninsula—and arguably, the world—shook to its core as the fragile Korean armistice was attacked by a North Korean bombshell. On Nov. 23, 2010, South Korea was practicing routine military drills near Yeonpyeong Island when one of its shells fell into North Korean waters. In response, North Korea fired 170 artillery shells and rockets on human settlements belonging to South Korea on Yeonpyeong Island.

South Korea quickly retaliated by attacking North Korean gun positions. The whole fiasco took less than five hours but killed four South Koreans and injured 19.

Immediately following the incident, world leaders condemned the violence and the strain on thin relations, begging the two countries to show restraint. Furthermore, some directly criticized North Korea for senselessly inciting fatal violence in response to a routine military drill.

The ripples from the attack are still being felt as the international community reacts.

As North Korea’s dear leader Kim Jong-il falls ill, the country must prove to its people that it can withstand international pressure and maintain law and order without its cult head.

In a way, when Mr. Kim dies, legitimacy of the Korean government will be lost. With a destructive revaluation of money, continuing famine woes and loss of popularity for Mr. Kim and his holy line, many in the upper crust of North Korean society fear that the North Korean government will.

Should the government hesitate to react to international issues, North Korea knows all too well how eager its oppressed citizens and the world are to see the authoritarian regime defeated. In response to these fears, expect North Korea to be much more eager to fight and use force.

In response, the world needs to act in concert to ensure the Korean peninsula does not erupt in conflict. With huge concentrations of populations, massive armies and nuclear capabilities, the loss of life should war ever break out would be enormous. While this is the first priority, the second priority is to see an end to the Orwellian regime. Both of these goals can be facilitated if sanctions are tightened and diplomacy with North Korea is orchestrated in unison.

First, the world needs to tighten sanctions on the rogue nation to discourage military aggression. Luxury and specialty goods need to stop flowing into the country, where they all go to higher party officials.

Cutting off these goods would weaken the authority and power of the controlling upper classes inside the country. Food and medical supplies, on the other hand, must flow into the country at a controlled pace. The main opponents to the leadership inside the country right now are the starving people. Should we decide to withhold all food arrangements, we will starve them.

If the people don’t have to worry about food, then they can better focus on resisting the government. This would be a good compromise between China and the United States, who manage their own sanctions separately; in concert they would be much more effective

Finally, North Korea must receive global condemnation for its actions; specifically, China needs to speak out against North Korea. China currently fears that a collapse of the North Korean government will cause a multitude of issues.

Domestically, China fears a collapse would result in mass migration of North Koreans into the nation. Internationally, China fears that a unified Korea will be another regional ally to the United States. So the United States needs to affirm that it has no future plans for permanent military bases should Korea be reunified.

Furthermore, the United States needs to tell China to start acting as a regional power or the United States will. With criticism in unison, the North Korean government will be given very little international leeway to provoke unwarranted attacks. Global pressure would most certainly stymie North Korean aggression.

Overall, the time to act for the sake of Korea is now. With the fragile transfer of power in a heavily militarized state in the balance, maintaining peace is the highest priority. In a heavy populated peninsula with nuclear weapons and million-man armies in play, war is most certainly not the answer at the moment.


E-mail: mdshowal@indiana.edu