People's Democracy

North Korean Nuclear Test: Serious Concerns

THE nuclear test conducted by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) is an unfortunate act. It will create new tensions in the East Asian region. The global moratorium on nuclear tests which has not been violated since India and Pakistan conducted tests in 1998 has now been broken. The North Korean action has also set back the possibilities of resuming the six-nation talks with China as the key interlocutor to settle disputes and resolve the issues concerning the Korean Peninsula.

While deploring this destabilising act, it is important to understand the context and background which led North Korea to take this step. Ever since the US aggression in Korea in the 1950s, the United States has intimidated and threatened the DPRK. Apart from stationing 40,000 troops, the United States placed nuclear weapons in South Korea. USA conducts regular joint military exercises with South Korea. Periodically, the US generals have threatened hostile action.

The situation worsened after president Bush assumed office. Prior to that, in 1994, the US had negotiated an Agreed Framework Accord after the DPRK warned that it would quit “in self defence” the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Under the accord, the US agreed to replace the North Korean nuclear graphite reactors with light water reactors. The US was to supply fuel to meet the energy needs of the DPRK. Instead of working for the sincere implementation of these assurances the Bush administration unilaterally annulled the agreement in 2001. The US neo-conservatives in power condemned DPRK as part of the “axis of evil”. Bellicose threats began to be issued repeatedly by the Bush administration. Successive South Korean governments were worried about the aggressive stand taken by the US, and differing from the Bush administration, stressed the need for continuing the dialogue and peaceful resolution of the issues. The six nation talks comprising of China, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and the United States made repeated efforts for an agreement on the nuclear issue. 

The DPRK government has stated that it is arming itself with the nuclear deterrent to protect its national sovereignty and to possess a “powerful self-reliant defence capability”. The United States is singularly responsible for creating this deep sense of insecurity for North Korea which has directly experienced the savagery of the American war machine during the Korean war that led to the division of the Korean peninsula.

North Korea had announced its withdrawal from the NPT in January 2003. The opposition to the North Korean tests should not be on legal grounds but from the standpoint that it is another obstacle which complicates a move towards a nuclear weapon-free world.

The nuclear “haves” imposed an unequal order on the world for the last four decades. It is this flawed and iniquitous arrangement which has led to the collapse of “non-proliferation”. Further, US imperialism’s aggressiveness as is currently being seen in the continued military occupation of Iraq and its declaration of some countries including Iran and North Korea as constituting an “axis of evil” is forcing many countries to take a position that the only way to protect themselves from unilateral US aggression is by acquiring nuclear weapons. This is creating a situation where “non-proliferation” is simply becoming history. US imperialism is thus creating a world of more nuclear weapons and more nuclear powers. The only way to stop this growing menace is to move to a nuclear-weapon-free world. There is no other way.

The Indian government has condemned the test stating that it is against nuclear proliferation and the creation of another nuclear weapon state. In 1998, when India conducted the Pokhran tests, the worldwide condemnation was on the same grounds. The Indian stand has always been that the NPT is a discriminatory treaty and hence it refused to be a signatory. After declaring itself a nuclear weapon state, India’s stand that other countries should not acquire nuclear weapons does not carry much conviction. Likewise, if Israel can stockpile 200 plus nuclear weapons, how can India argue against Iran exercising its legitimate right as the signatory of the NPT to conduct uranium enrichment? Under these circumstances, it will make more sense if the Indian government boldly decides to initiate and press for a nuclear disarmament agenda and timetable and committing to rollback its own nuclear weaponisation as part of this process. 

Coming back to the North Korean test, the United States is once again behaving hypocritically like an international gendarme. More sanctions can be imposed by the UN Security Council, but it may not deter North Korea. The goal of a denuclearised Korean Peninsula will have to be pursued by other means. What is required are patient and sincere negotiations with the DPRK. The six-nation forum is the best possible avenue.

(October 15, 2006)