North Korea has ramped up production at weapons sites in an effort to retaliate for sanctions imposed by the UN. As a result of the sanctions and the six party talks about disarmament, North Korea has vowed to ramp up production and has threatened to engage in more nuclear tests in the coming months. Somehow this nation has gotten the impression that a group of the worlds superpowers will simply buckle if they hold out long enough.
The first atomic test conducted by North Korea was in 2006. Recently there has been substantial activity in the same region with groups of military vehicles spotted regularly. Intelligence from South Korea has found that North Korea is also building a long range missile launch site on the west coast. A prominent South Korean newspaper quoted a governmental official stating, “It’s hard to forecast the timing for an underground nuclear test but the North is believed to be ready to do so at short notice.” This new site which is being built was originally scheduled to be finished within the next 7 months. However it now looks like it will be completed in 4-5 months.
It seems as though our sanctions have done nothing but enrage North Korea. Does that mean that we should simply give in and let North Korea win? Somehow we need to make a gentle compromise with North Korea so that they can feel as though they have gained respect and achieved victory while at the same time coercing North Korea to relinquish their weapons. Any ideas on how this can be done?
