Driving Korea to the brink of war
“But the North-South rapprochement, which for a while showed real promise of effecting detente (if not reunification of the peninsula), was stopped dead in its tracks by the ascension of the hardliners in Washington. The ‘sunshine policy’ of Kim Dae-jung was overshadowed by the heavy hand of Washington, and the economic meltdown of the North Korean economy proceeded apace, with all hopes of a ‘soft landing’ by Pyongyang dashed on the rocks of American intransigence.
The final straw was the infamous ‘axis of evil’ speech, in which Bush put Kim Jong Il in the same category as Saddam Hussein and essentially telegraphed to the North Koreans that their turn to be ‘liberated’ would come soon after Iraq’s. In this context, the sudden admission by the North Koreans that their nuclear program is going full-speed ahead is far from inexplicable. In deciding to come out of the nuclear closet, what did they have to lose?”
In this column, Justin Raimondo of antiwar.com examines the ways that the actions of the Bush administration have contributed to the current crisis on the Korean peninsula. It’s an excellent read for those who may be wondering why North Korea has decided to resume it’s nuclear program.
Read the whole column here.
