The international community reacted with anger and hysteria as a result of American media hype about North Korea's recent satellite launch, which the West viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test. In fact, this was not the first rocket test ever conducted by Pyongyang. North Korea's atomic and missile capabilities have been a constant source of concern for the West because the US views any nuclear advancement by Pyongyang as a threat to the security and peace of the Korean Peninsula and East Asia. Washington also feels that it disrupts the balance of power in the region and imposes a threat to the United States as the long-range missile is capable of reaching parts of Alaska and Hawaii. That is why the United States and its allies in the Far East had to act. They decided to put pressure on North Korea to force it to halt all nuclear tests and to comply with UN Security Council resolutions 1695 and 1718 which were issued after Pyongyang attempted to launch the long-range Taepodong-2 ballistic missile in July, 2006 and to conduct a nuclear test in October of the same year. In response to this pressure, North Korea threatened to hit major targets in Japan and South Korea if attempts were made to intercept the missile launch. In an official statement, Pyongyang said that if Japan interfered with the missile's peaceful mission, the North Korean army would attack Japan's anti-missile artillery and strategic facilities. The United States, Japan, and South Korea all sought to have the Security Council approve a new resolution that would impose sanctions on North Korea if and when it launched a missile. Pyongyang announced that taking the matter to the Security Council would be the final nail in the coffin of global talks and efforts, led by six countries, to dismantle its nuclear program. Despite the fact that the entire world including France and Britain consider North Korea's missile test a flagrant breach of the Security Council's resolutions, it is difficult at this time for the Security Council to issue any new resolutions against North Korea. This is because China and Russia have close relations with Pyongyang and they have both agreed that North Korea should be able to conduct its missile test for the purpose of developing its space program. North Korea launched its missile and no one intercepted it. According to Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese daily, images of the missile launch analyzed by experts at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency showed a cloud of orange flames and black smoke, which indicated that hydrazine fuel was used. This type of fuel is usually used by China and Russia, which implies that either of these countries may have cooperated with North Korea in its missile program. If North Korea had used American or Japanese liquid oxide, a white cloud of smoke would have appeared. What transpired on the Korean Peninsula can be seen as political maneuvers by the United States, China and Russia. It is also a test for President Barack Obama in his second term to see how the US will handle these sensitive confrontations in the Far East, a region in which a number of very strong economies are protected by powerful military forces. US strategic interests in the region are threatened. The West refuses to accept North Korea as a nuclear power with communist ideologies and policies. That is why sanctions have been imposed on this country by countries which have given themselves permission to interfere in its domestic affairs. Let me suggest a simple, logical solution which will solve the matter for both Koreas. A referendum on the unity of the Korean Peninsula should be held in North Korea and South Korea. Such a referendum would undoubtedly endorse a call for unity just like that of West and East Germany. This unity would end the nuclear problem and the new united country would be able to focus on improving the lives of the impoverished population in nuclear North Korea and ending the US presence in South Korea. But there is one condition: US forces should leave South Korea before the referendum is held. Would the United States accept such a solution? I doubt it. — Hassan Tahsin is an Egyptian writer and political analyst. He can be reached at [email protected]
