North Korea 10-11-2006

11, October 2006                   North Korea

Add the Bush administration’s policy of containment of North Korea’s nuclear testing to the litany of foreign policy debacles. As a nation that has actually exploded nuclear bombs (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and used chemical weapons (napalm in Vietnam, white phosphorus in Iraq) and (banned) cluster bombs, we are now wagging a finger of disapproval at North Korea’s intransigence. What hypocrisy! While we ramp up our arsenal of developing new nuclear weapons, we are threatening to impose crippling economic sanctions which will exacerbate the suffering of a nation already on the verge of starvation. It is high time we tone down the harsh ‘axis of evil rhetoric’ and engage North Korea in direct talks based on mutual respect. One can hardly blame North Korea’s desire to defend itself after the US preemptive attack on Iraq and its aggressive posture on Iran. It is time for the US to honor the 1968 Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty to eliminate all nuclear weapons.