North Korea is a test case of attrition, strategic-diplomatic contestation and warfare. Kim Jong il has left behind a legacy of dictatorial legerdemain for his son Kim Jong-Un to be able to rule the roost and throw repeated jibes at the larger purveyors of the international system.
The North Korean scare scenario can be traced to the Korean War gory scenes — as depicted by M*A*S*H, a American a crazy television series which minces no visuals in depicting the futility of war and the blatantly grisly reflections of war with all the human entrails being out of the tummy. The Korean scenario is a creepy one in the context of the wide-eyed awe that one feels for the verbiage being exchanged between the US and North Korea. Is the Asian Space reaching a novae Armageddon or the regular exchange of vitriol between Washington and Pyongyong is a mere exercise in showy brinkmanshipIJ The answer defeats the author as the proven whims, idiosyncrasies of the North Korean variant tend to deflate the much travelled peace boat of the avid scholars and practitioners of international relations, foreign policy and diplomacy.
The larger world is talking about global action, politics, and economic-commercial ramifications to be soon teleported to the Asian continent, including to nations such as South Korea, Japan, China and India. In the light of the Oriental match, the North Korean stagy ministrations serve as an avid challenge to the peace-scape and trade conglomeration of the Asiatic space. Recently, Kim Jong Un let loose a missile over the Japanese island of Hokkaido, which petrified the nation and its people. The test case can be the American western frontier, too, which makes the Americans wary of the geopolitical intent and the policy behind the diplomatic bombast which Pyongyong unleashes upon the US and the larger world with uncanny precision. The Communist dictator considers the North Korean policy of “dare-to-provoke” as a geo-strategic ploy to attain parity with the US. The Korean dictator relates the missile testing, which has earned the ire of the international system, as an act in strategy to balance out the pervading might and dominance of the US. The North Korean striving at self deprecation can also be perceived as an act of attaining a novae perched upon the larger international system, where in the tide needs to be turned to end the larger North Korean isolation and diplomatic sequestration which has followed the North Korean land since the rice sanctions by the Americans in the nineties.
North-Korea withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003, which had wide-ranging ramifications for the world over. A news piece which was written on January 10, 2003, in The Guardian, echoes the never ending touch of crisis diplomacy and public diplomacy. The piece conveys, “North Korea warned the United States against taking retaliatory military action, saying it would finally lead to the third world war. However, the regime routinely issues such inflammatory comments. Then US President George Bush reacted by talking with then Chinese President Jiang Zemin, seeking a solution to the row over US concerns that North Korea is looking to build nuclear weapons.”
Thus, the North Korean narrative is not a new quagmire as the North Korean predilection is of the order of the old days and is a repletion for a couple of decades. Martin Wight was correct in concluding in his seminal paper titled, “Why is there no International Relations TheoryIJ” that quintessential international relations as a discipline is marked by repletion and recurrences of circumstances, scenarios, personages and manoeuvres to outdo the rivals in a zero sum game of international politics. The Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang had later informed the global leadership that North Korea does not intend to build nuclear arsenal, as is being interpreted, but it will utilise the nuclear energy potential in order to build up its electricity and power potential as a civil utility. But, soon this politically correct “communication” transformed into a warped and distorted mode of communication as war threats and invasion threats were being commonly bandied about by the current North Korean regime with the vigour of a young dictator.
The Pyongyang’s repudiation of the NPT, the long and arduous road to nuclear negotiations, is well-known. The sanctions have been slapped on North Korea since 2006 and 2009, when the United Nations Security Council signed two resolutions under the Chapter VII provisions.
In 1980’s North Korea initiated the construction of two nuclear reactors, one being a 50 MW and another 200 MW catching the world’s attention. It began the construction of a reprocessing facility which its establishment termed as, a “Radio-Chemical laboratory.” The North Korean Nuclear Complex was initiated with the aid and succor of the Soviet Union.
The six-party talk which started in August 2003 to tide over the North Korean Nuclear profligacy remains the larger foundation and the premise upon which the tenets of nuclear and crisis diplomacy are premised upon vis-a-vis US, the West and the North Koreans.
In 2008, the United States removed North Korea from the “ list of state sponsors of terrorism” when North Korea declared to close and dismantle its facilities.
Pyongyong also received the relief of procuring back its blockaded funds from the Banco Delta Asia. Still, the testing of a new communication satellite, along with the incompleteness of the information provided by Pyongyong, triggered the diplomatic conflict. In a strain similar to what Bushisms and Reagan’s declarations are, Kim Jong Un, not as a Democrat but a forceful dictator, declared in May 2017 that North Korea too is part of a purge of evil forces and the dark side of the international system.
He stated, “North Korea can tip new-type intercontinental ballistic rockets with more powerful nuclear warheads and keep any cesspool of evils in the earth, including the US mainland, within our striking range.” The remarks attracted worldwide attention and the dictator was criticised. The dictator is further known to have said, “If the American imperialists provoke us a bit, we will not hesitate to slap them with a pre-emptive nuclear strike. The United States must choose! It’s up to you whether the nation called the United States exists on this planet or not,” Thus, the North Korean diatribe has all the makings of a stagy genre of diplomatic analysis.
All in all, the Chinese can be roped in order to balance the exchanges if a military confrontation has to remain in the realm of probability. Maybe football diplomacy can be new mantra for conflict resolution with North Korea.
(The writer teaches International Relations at Indian Institute of Public Administration, Delhi)