JoongAng Daily, South Korea
If North Tests The Bomb, South Will Need its Own ...

EDITORIAL

October 8, 2006
South Korea - JoongAng Ilbo - Original Article (English)    

North Korea's recent announcement of plans for a nuclear test has shaken the Korean Peninsula to its foundations. Although Pyongyang announced last year that it possessed nuclear weapons, possession is one thing and conducting a nuclear test is quite another.

Just the announcement of a planned test is likely to create a domino effect of nuclear weapons expansion in Northeast Asia, and increase international pressure against North Korea beyond anything that has yet been seen.

The United States has taken a hard line since the North's recent announcement, and the U.N., the European Union, Japan, China and Russia have sent a succession of grave warnings to North Korea.

North Korea's diplomacy of nuclear brinkmanship looks like it might literally push it and the world beyond the brink and into the abyss. Why is North Korea hurtling toward the brink?

Interpretations vary. North Korean authorities say that the test is a means of protecting itself from U.S. plans to topple the regime. Others see it as a desperate attempt to protect a system which is so reclusive and isolated that it doesn't know how to coexist with the international community.

But what's more important than the North's intentions is that its actions will worsen the crisis on the Korean Peninsula and will inevitably bring us more pain and hardship.

In order to protect itself from North Korean aggression, if Pyongyang proceeds with a nuclear test, South Korea will have no choice but to consider possessing nuclear weapons of its own. And it will be the same for both Japan and Taiwan, who would very likely follow suit.

Rather than pushing us to pursue peaceful coexistence within the region, the North's action would certainly lead Northeast Asian toward military confrontation. Pyongyang's possession of nuclear weapons would make it impossible for Northeast Asia to have and keep the peace.

South Korea would have to take on a greater national security burden, which has already been an almost impossibly heavy for us. What's more, Korean's national wish for peaceful reunification would become more difficult to realize. Already separated into South and North for over a half century, this is a difficult situation for Koreans to endure.

The North's recent announcement makes it clear that it will go ahead with its test unless the United States gives in and holds direct talks with Pyongyang. The statement also strongly implies that not much time is left before such a test.

It is now obvious what we must do. We must concentrate all our efforts on stopping the North from carrying out a nuclear test.

It was most timely that Seoul issued a warning toward North Korea, saying, "We gravely warn North Korea that it alone must take responsibility for all of the results."

The South Korean government should now begin taking tangible measures to ensure that its warning is regarded as more than merely empty words, for example by halting assistance to the North, including the cutoff of a cement shipment requested after the recent floods scheduled for departure today [Oct. 4].

In fact, if Pyongyang carries out a test, the government should re-examine its entire North Korea policy. With increased pressure against the North from the rest of the international community, will it be possible or even reasonable to continue the Sunshine Policy ?

Will the government push on with recently proposed changes in the South Korea-U.S. alliance, including the transfer of wartime operational control of the South's military? How should it respond to the inevitable national security crisis? While living next to the nuclear-armed North, what measures should it take to sustain economic growth? Should it return to the fiercely confrontational stance of the past?

The government should thoroughly re-examine its North Korea policy, its national security policy, its foreign affairs policy and its economic policy.

North Korea seeks to justify its position by arguing that it has chosen a nuclear test for its survival. But North Korean leaders must know that this erroneous decision threatens the survival of not only North Korea but of all Korean people, and shakes the foundations of development for our nation. Indeed, Pyongyang's brinkmanship risks destroying the futures of all Koreans.

While working with the international community - and by any means necessary - the South Korean government must stop the North Korean nuclear test from occurring.

If North Korea actually conducts a nuclear test - or simply in light of the fact that they have announced one - the debate over whether to embrace or oppose it has been rendered moot. Such a debate is tantamount to buckling under to the North's military-first policy.