With Sticks and Carrots, Kim Jong-un Manipulates the World

  With Sticks and Carrots, Kim Jong-un Manipulates the World

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

January 9, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

The two Koreas on the 9^th reopened the high-level dialogue which had been suspended for more than two years. North Korea agreed to dispatch a team of athletes to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics; the tense situation resembling an impending storm showed inklings of thawing. It is still far from dissolving the North Korea nuclear crisis and achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula; however, it is still after all a welcome change. North Korea is a poor and totalitarian state with no national strength to speak of. But it moves with ease among the big three, i.e., China, the US and Japan, grasping the strategic initiative; we cannot but show our respect.

The three generations of Kims in North Korea have always been successful in the defense of their regime; internally, the regime rules with an ironclad terror plus brainwashing, externally, it has taken the initiative in strategy, reaping the maximum benefits for itself. Earlier, it took advantage of the six-party talks for flip-flopping and delays, successfully seeking economic assistance and time to develop nuclear arms. Kim Jong-il met with South Korea's President Kim Dae-jung once and got US$500 million in economic aid and the Kaesong industrial zone. In retrospect, the pressure exerted by the United States, South Korea's goodwill and international sanctions have in fact never changed one iota of North Korea.

Kim Jong-un, with the stick of nuclear arms in one hand, and the carrot of reconciliation in the other, has made northeast Asia dance under its baton. No matter how North Korea is despised, it is still a difficult issue that cannot be delayed, nor is it avoidable for Asia Pacific, the US, or the international community. Related countries must change their old strategy and co-manage a North Korea with nuclear weapons in order to avoid the loss of control of nuclear arms.

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