North Korea's Old Tricks

180

May 9, 2013

Published in Rheinische Post
(Germany) on 3 May 2013
by Helmut Michelis (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Sandra Alexander. Edited by Mary Young.

The most recent news out of North Korea sounds familiar: The regime in Pyongyang has repeatedly extorted dialogue with the U.S. via the arbitrary arrest and severe punishment of a U.S. citizen. Ex-President Jimmy Carter’s readiness to travel to North Korea is therefore understandably controversial. Carter too knows for sure that he will be superficially treated to all-too-transparent propaganda. Yet behind that lies a positive development; this readiness to talk, formulated in the North Korean manner, is certainly better than the preceding dark threats of deploying nuclear weapons.

“It's better to bend than break” — that is the right approach now for defusing the conflict on the Korean Peninsula, especially as Carter has experience dealing with the difficult family of dictators. It still looks, however, as if Kim Jong Un is merely copying his father and grandfather with his politics, wanting thus to further isolate North Korea. As such, hopes for Carter’s trip must not be too high.

Die jüngste Nachricht aus Nordkorea klingt vertraut: Bereits mehrfach hat das Regime in Pjöngjang mit der willkürlichen Festnahme und der harten Bestrafung eines US-Bürgers den Dialog mit den Vereinigten Staaten erpresst. Deshalb ist die Bereitschaft von Ex-Präsident Jimmy Carter, nach Nordkorea zu reisen, nachvollziehbar umstritten. Auch Carter weiß genau, dass er vordergründig einer allzu durchsichtigen Propaganda auf den Leim geht. Doch dahinter verbirgt sich eine positive Entwicklung. Denn diese auf nordkoreanische Art verklausulierte Form von Gesprächsbereitschaft ist allemal besser als die vorangegangenen finsteren Drohungen mit dem Einsatz von Atomwaffen.

Der Klügere gibt nach – das ist zur Entschärfung des Konflikts auf der koreanischen Halbinsel deshalb jetzt der richtige Ansatz, zumal Carter Erfahrung hat im Umgang mit der schwierigen Diktatorenfamilie. Noch sieht es aber so aus, als ob Kim Jong Un mit seiner Politik lediglich Vater und Großvater kopiert, sich also Nordkorea weiter isolieren will. Zu hoch dürfen die Erwartungen an Carters Reise daher nicht sein.

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