It really is China’s fault, you know. Their bastard step child, North Korea, alias The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or whatever they like to call themselves, is nothing more than a vassal state of China that they promulgated back during the late forties, most likely as a bulwark against the western world and the US in particular.
For those of you who don’t know or don’t remember, both North and South Korea were by-products of the soon-to-be cold war that followed World War II. North Korea was part of the sphere of influence of the Soviets and that part of China that was quickly becoming communistic. South Korea, supposedly an independent country, was naturally under the sphere of influence of the west. The dividing line between the two Koreas was the 38th parallel.
In June of 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea for no reason other than it wanted to take it over, the official reason being that it would unify the country under one rule, that of North Korea, and all of the Koreans would be one happy family. The UN, but mostly the US, stepped in to protect the independence of South Korea, referred to as the Korean War the result of which, after three years of fighting, was an uneasy peace that has lasted to date.
A few years ago when North Korea made the announcement that it was about to set off its first nuclear weapon, China should have stepped in and done it for them pretty much in the same fashion that Israel did for Iraq and Syria. But they didn’t.
China likes to pontificate and play the role of the “big thinker”, which maybe they are. But without China, North Korea could not exist and it is now long overdue for China to pull the plug on them so as to teach them a little humility.
North Korea is definitely a menace as well as an immediate threat to its neighbors, namely South Korea and Japan. And it is certainly not short on chutzpah. But do they have the cojones to start and maintain a real shooting war with a major power without the explicit backing of China? I think not. To do so would be suicidal. But when an individual or a country begins to believe its own braggadocio, anything can happen.
According to the experts on TV, North Korea currently has a stockpile of some twenty or so nuclear weapons with missiles that can easily reach Japan or South Korea. The same experts say that they do not, at the present time, have an intercontinental missile nor the capability to put a nuclear weapon in such a missile. Will they ever? It’s only a matter of time.
So what do we do now? It’s time for all of the major powers, not just the US and I don’t mean the UN, to get together and tell China, in no uncertain terms, that is it high time for them to cease pontificating and to once and for all, get their bastard step child in line.