UN Demand for End to North Korean Missile Tests Rejected

The United Nations Security Council voted 15-0 in favor of a resolution calling for an end to North Korea’s missile tests over the week-end. The resolution bans all transfer of missile technology and weapons of mass destruction to or from Pyongyang. Within 45 minutes, North Korea had rejected the whole idea. Since any reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter was removed, there is no possibility of UN-sanctioned force right now, so on with the diplomacy.

The rout of the neo-cons was complete when Ambassador John Bolton spoke to the Security Council. When the North Koreans launched a ballistic missile in 1998, the UN issued a press statement, which His Excellency described over the week-end as a “weak and feckless response.” He then pointed out that if North Korea doesn’t abide by newly approved Resolution 1695, then the US and other member states could . . . “return to the Council for further action.” “Weak” and “feckless” have just reached record levels, and Mr. Bolton should be awarded French citizenship for his behavior.

The resolution calls on North Korea to do something that it is not, legally, required to do. Sadly, there is not a single treaty commitment the Pyongyang government has made that prohibits these launches. The September 2005 deal, which it is violating, covered nuclear weapons not ballistic missiles. In this regard, the North Koreans are perfectly within their rights top continue annoying every neighbor they have by playing Werner von Braun.

And annoying their neighbors is precisely why China puts up with North Korea. It acts as a surrogate for keeping the South Koreans and Japanese (plus their American security guarantors) in a permanent state of anxiety. This serves the purpose of the communist regime in Beijing, which has a degree of deniability when North Korea does something unpleasant that benefits China.

Resolution 1695 shows precisely who’s calling the shots. Japan wanted a very tough resolution, as did the US. China said it would veto any resolution that would invoke Chapter 7. The Japanese and Americans gave in, wanting a resolution of any kind rather than standing their ground, and so Chinese policy is endorsed by the UN Security Council. That China chose not to abstain shows that the policy adopted is one the ChiComs fully accept.

So now, the game shifts back to the six-party talks that have done so little. This is, however, what happens when a rouge state has sufficient firepower to deter attack. That is why Iran wants the Bomb, to be as safe as North Korea from the unilateralism of the Busheviks that is making such a pig’s breakfast of Iraq. Thank heaven for the crisis in Lebanon, or the world might have noticed a major US defeat in Korea and in the UN.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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