Politics and Media Blog Project
Politics and Media Blog Project
North Korea
As of Tuesday morning, North Korea announced that they would stop nuclear weapons testing and close down some of their nuclear power plants.
They agreed with China to dismantle their main nuclear reactor, for millions dollars of aid to the country along with near 1 million tons of oil. This is a major step in Asian-Pacific relations because North Korea has acted as a nuclear threat in the region for some years now.
While Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill was on hand at the meetings as a representative for the US, his voice was rarely heard during negotiations because the talks were primarily between China and North Korea.
In my opinion, this is a type of power play by North Korea to gain the necessary monetary aid and support from outside countries to hopefully push themselves into a more techonologically advanced era. The former communist N Korea is taking the appropriate steps towards modern industrialization by making agreements like this to further boost its economy without taking on unwanted allies.
Personally I dont think that North Korea is closing down any of their testing programs, and even though the media might report the agreement as being a step towards disarmament, the North American news sources only have access to the information that North Korea wants them to have
North Korea
As of Tuesday morning, North Korea announced that they would stop nuclear weapons testing and close down some of their nuclear power plants.
They agreed with China to dismantle their main nuclear reactor, for millions dollars of aid to the country along with near 1 million tons of oil. This is a major step in Asian-Pacific relations because North Korea has acted as a nuclear threat in the region for some years now.
While Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill was on hand at the meetings as a representative for the US, his voice was rarely heard during negotiations because the talks were primarily between China and North Korea.
In my opinion, this is a type of power play by North Korea to gain the necessary monetary aid and support from outside countries to hopefully push themselves into a more techonologically advanced era. The former communist N Korea is taking the appropriate steps towards modern industrialization by making agreements like this to further boost its economy without taking on unwanted allies.
Personally I dont think that North Korea is closing down any of their testing programs, and even though the media might report the agreement as being a step towards disarmament, the North American news sources only have access to the information that North Korea wants them to have
posted by the opinionator at 3:25 PM
4 Comments:
America only invades countries that don't have nuclear weapons. Im sure they will have some hidden "just in case."
I think we have to recognize that IF North Korea does take steps towards disarmament it will give the regime political clout internationally. It will be far more difficult for the US to justify any offensive action towards North Korea when the state appears to be cooperating, particular to nations like China.
Second, I believe that Americans, and more generally Westerners, should keep out of the situation as much as possible. We have proven ourselves unreliable in dealing with non-democracies... so why not let China have a try? We must (and here I speak more of the American administration, but also to a more general Westenr approach) learn that we do not necessarily have all the answers and cannot take the lead in every dangerous situation.
That being said, I must also argue that the notion of enforcing disarmament in North Korea, or other could-be-nuclear-states is, while important, somewhat ludicrous. The reality is that the nuclear powers, who agreed to disarm themselves, have failed to do so. For this reason, I personally don't beleive anyone in the 'nuclear club' has a right to point fingers. Should they simply do as we say, not as we do?
With regard to the media, what I find interesting is that there seems to be relatively little hype. Certainly there has been coverage, but not the fearful headlines one might expect around the very serious issue of whether the lead member of the 'axis of evil' will disarm.
I also have found from what I have read that very little in terms of back story and historical context has been presented, particularly with regard to other nuclear states.
"Western freedom fighters" nice....did not hear that one before. I think that's gold.
Your cynicism (strange coming from me) is I think manufactured by the media. It is unlikely that NK can truly build a bomb which would be too much of a threat to "us" in the west...and they couldn't dare use or sell it or risk being wiped out by the conbined forces of the world.
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