The ludicrous North

The North Korean government has expressed its official position on the multinational forces’ implementation of a “no fly zone” in Libya called for by United Nations’ Resolution 1973. The statement, made by a spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, is a perfect example of the distorted world view it has, particularly in regards to the unfolding Libyan crisis.

First of all, the spokesman said the civil war in Libya is a result of United States’ instigation. In other words, the North believes that the U.S. intended an indiscriminate military intervention and it achieved it by concocting a deceptive resolution in the name of the Security Council.

The spokesman underscored that the U.S. attack is a grave infringement of Libya’s sovereignty and a crime against both humanity and the dignity of the Libyan people. He claimed that Washington wanted an invasion that it sugarcoated with promises of a security guarantee for the Libyan people. Then it attacked the country while it was off guard. With this logic, North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons through its touted “military first policy” has actually helped prevent a war on the Korean Peninsula, according to the spokesman.

We can only be dumbstruck by the way the North views what’s happening. Its distorted and ludicrous view of the world is, of course, not new. Nevertheless, we cannot but sigh at its warped mindset. The allied forces’ air attack was conducted as Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi was massacring his own people as they were clamoring for freedom and democracy. His jet fighters dropped bombs onto civilian rebels.

However, the North Korean leadership is still struggling to keep its own way of socialism intact. To protect its uniquely sacrosanct system, it will most likely never give up nuclear weapons. If a democratic movement arises in the North, the government will surely quell it by using unimaginably brutal means. In case the international community intervenes, it would not hesitate to employ its nuclear threat and possibly go through with those threats.

Nuclear weapons can sometimes work as a means to avert foreign interventions. The problem, however, is that the North has a willingness to use nuclear arms even at the expense of the lives of its citizens as long as it protects its interests, which is a continued hold on absolute power. Yet it is begging for food around the world and persistently demanding talks with its archenemy, America. If it doesn’t want to scrap its nuclear weapons, why is it trying to negotiate with the U.S. ?