North Korea: the shadow of the son

North Korea claimed that South Korea was responsible for the recent artillery duel -- an "inhumane crime" in the words of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak -- resulting in at least four South Korean deaths and an unknown number of North Korean deaths. North Korea claimed that South Korea's initial firing of artillery into the water near North Korea was sufficient justification for their retaliation. There is one large flaw in this reasoning, as they could have fired into the water near Yeonpyeong island; this would have been a proportionate response.

The Telegraph UK reported that a notice at the Yeonpyeong island ferry terminal warns one to call a hotline number if enemy frogmen are seen.

The South Korean military is quite upset about these deaths and the 46 sailors killed when North Korea sank the Cheonan. However, their retaliatory options are rather limited, given the fact that Seoul is within artillery range of North Korea; artillery fired on Seoul could result in millions of civilian deaths.

Lieutenant General Yoo Nak Joon, commander of the South Korean Marine Corps, meanwhile, called on his troops to "put our feelings of rage and animosity in our bones and take our revenge on North Korea."

Revenge is often a dish best served cold.

One of the saddest videos you will ever see can be found on the Telegraph UK's article, Inside North Korea - exclusive footage. The video starts by showing a young North Korean woman who appears to be starving. Her face and body are painfully thin, she is completely listless, and her spirit is broken. The reporter asked the woman a few questions:

REPORTER: Is this the grass you feed the rabbits with?

NORTH KOREAN WOMAN: I sell it.

REPORTER: How old are you?

NORTH KOREAN WOMAN: 23 years old.

REPORTER: Do you sleep outside?

NORTH KOREAN WOMAN: Yes.

REPORTER: What do you eat?

NORTH KOREAN WOMAN: [Long pause] Nothing.

REPORTER: Where are your parents?

NORTH KOREAN WOMAN: My father is dead.

REPORTER: And your mother?

NORTH KOREAN WOMAN: She is dead as well.

The article suggested that things are getting much worse now and that ordinary North Koreans are becoming desperate. Perhaps. Or maybe life has been this way for decades for ordinary North Koreans and we are only now seeing it for the first time. One gets the impression that the poor woman will not live much longer. The video must have been shot during the nicer months given the fact that there is no visible snow, so she may already be dead.

Setting up military tents, and supplying rice and a rice cooker, would enable people like this woman to survive, and would cost very little.

BBC News' article, Satellites uncover North Korea, showed satellite photos of areas rarely seen by the West. The ostrich farm is amusing, the Taedongang brewery wets the appetite, and the Juche Tower and Kim Il-sung statue remind us of edifices seen in other totalitarian countries. The truly interesting photos are of the Kim's private compound north of Pyongyang, so large as to put Donald Trump to shame. Kim Jong-un, the son of Kim Jong-il and heir apparent, also has a house there. The pool even has a water slide.

The Kims and the North Korean military leaders will not be deterred by firing more artillery shells. North Korea recently demonstrated that it is pursuing further nuclear weapons. Its missile program is to the point of being able to launch nuclear warheads at Japan and beyond.

The Telegraph UK suggested that power struggles between the Kims and the military could spark a full scale war on the Korean Peninsula. The solution for that is to make the Kims and the military share the pain equally.

"The generals saw Kim Jong-un as a puppy who wasn't even lavatory trained, not a credible leader. There was lots of fuming," said Kongdan Oh Hassig, a North Korea expert.

Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, was interviewed in a short video on BookTV; a longer video with her is shown on the Asia Society website. In the BookTV video, she mentioned that she had tried to visit North Korea for years. She opined that the reason she was allowed to do so in 2005 was that North Korea was desperate for hard currency. If they are desperate for her small amount of hard currency, then it follows that the country is near collapse and could be pushed over the edge via an economic blockade.

Demick commented in the Asia Society video regarding DVDs smuggled into North Korea. "The information that shows another world, those DVDs are devastating," she said. As soon as North Koreans realize that they are worse off than much of the world, "it's finished, when they realize they have something to envy." She noted that North Koreans calculated their status in society based on the number of appliances they owned; one woman who lived a comfortable life was proud that she owned eight of them.

Demick noted that if a person defected or otherwise insulted the Kim system, three generations of his relatives would be sent to labor camps. This tends to repress any thoughts of insurrection or defection.

Demick noted that North Koreans are 5" shorter than South Koreans of the same age due to the lasting effects of starvation.

Some people have opined that North Korea will become like China and turn quasi-open. However, the moderator of Demick's Asia Society video, John Delury, noted how in China Mao had destroyed the family structure, whereas in North Korea Demick noted how family ties are so strong that family members do not inform on each other, unlike what happened in Soviet Russia and East Germany.

Demick wrote in the Los Angeles Times that China has been "stung by accusations that they have failed to rein in their ally North Korea." Here she is being naive; China is not stung, it is worried that North Korea may do something that may result in the USA living directly next door. South Korea rejected China's call to quickly convene multi-national talks to discuss North Korea. South Korea has come to the conclusion, as any rational country would, that China is not serious about restraining its mad dog.

It is doubtful whether Barack Obama has the courage to implement the following solution, but perhaps the next president will:

• Work with smugglers to import large numbers of DVDs and DVD players, with the USA picking up the tab. The DVDs need not be custom made, just ordinary movies, but should be chosen to show the superior appliances and lifestyle of Western life in South Korea, Japan, Europe, and the USA. We need to show as many North Koreans as possible that they do indeed have something to envy.
  
• Inform our South Korean allies that they must stop all military actions that can be construed as provocative, e.g. firing artillery shells into the water near North Korea. Announce this policy to the world.
• Make a speech at the United Nations regarding North Korea. Announce that the Kim regime must end. The Kims must leave North Korea along with the senior leadership, both military and civilian. They are free to go to any country they wish, but realistically speaking, their only option is China. Declare that the USA pledges to not invade North Korea unless it kills civilians in South Korea, Japan, or elsewhere; then all bets are off. Declare that it is not acceptable for China to take control of North Korea; the Korean Peninsula is for Koreans only.
• Announce to the world, and also tell Iran, Libya, et al, privately, that their weapons trade with North Korea will no longer be tolerated. To enforce this, it will be necessary to convince countries along the way to refuse permission for airplanes of these countries and North Korea to overfly their territory.
• Visit China and tell them that our upcoming actions have nothing to do with them. Ensure that they know that the USA has no territorial ambitions on the Korean Peninsula. Remind them that the peninsula is for Koreans, not Chinese.
• Inform the Kims and the military leaders -- via dropped leaflets, radio broadcasts directed into the country, Chinese diplomatic channels, via the South Koreans, and any other avenue we can think of -- that an attack by North Korea on civilians anywhere in the world will be regarded as a direct attack on the USA. We will retaliate by destroying their military command and control, missiles, and aircraft, killing all generals and admirals, and killing every member of the Kim family in the world; the Kim compound north of Pyongyang will be vaporized by a nuclear device. All bunkers and shelters that the military and the Kims use to hide will be eliminated by bunker busters and MOABs. Inform them that no more missiles will be allowed to be launched; we will destroy them on the platform, as well as the entire platform.Ensure that they know that the USA and South Korea will not strike first. Kim Jong-il may not worry about his life, as he is due to check-out soon, but he is clearly worried about his son and legacy.
• Retain the George Washington aircraft carrier group in the Yellow Sea west of the Korean Peninsula. Bring a second carrier group and have it remain on station in the Sea of Japan east of the Korean Peninsula. Make sure both carrier groups carry lots of cruise missiles, both conventional and nuclear, air-to-air missiles, and smart bombs. Invite a peacenik reporter on board each carrier so the world will know that the USA will not strike first.
• Fill the U.S. Air Force airfields in Japan and Guam with F-117 Nighthawk, F-22 Raptor, B-2 Spirit, and B-1 Lancer aircraft, along with a plethora of smart bombs and air-to-air missiles, and some tactical nukes. Invite Chinese reporters to live near the airfields -- but not so close they can spy on individual aircraft -- to prove that the USA will not strike first.
• Initiate a naval blockade of North Korea. No weapons are to be allowed in or out, including North Korean naval vessels. The only ships allowed into North Korea will be ones with basic food products, e.g. brown rice and vegetables, or basic medical supplies. No luxury food items, e.g. lobster and French wine, are to be allowed in. No ships are to be allowed to leave with anything except refugees and their possessions. Invite a peacenik reporter on board each ship to monitor the activity.
• Initiate an air blockade starting at the point of departure, i.e. work with all allies to prevent shipments of luxury goods, machinery, parts, and weapons from going in or out of North Korea. Specifically ask countries known for luxury products, e.g. France, Germany, and Switzerland, to not do business with North Korea.
• Ask all civilized countries to prohibit their citizens from doing business with North Korea; twist their arm behind their back.
• Put the screws to Switzerland, Luxembourg, and other locations of the billions of dollars deposited in banks by the Kims and military leaders, and require them to freeze all accounts until the Kims and other leaders leave the country, at which point the money will be returned to the new government of North Korea, devoid of Kims. Force foreign banks to freeze all large accounts of Koreans, until it can be proven that the person is from South Korea or a neutral country.
• Ask both China and Russia, the only countries bordering North Korea except for South Korea, to not trade with North Korea and to not allow North Korean officials to enter their country. Inbound shipments of basic food and medical products are always acceptable, however.
• Ask countries with a rice surplus to donate rice to North Korea.
• Ask both China and Russia to allow North Korean refugees to enter their country, where South Korea will transport them to the south. We must publicly ask China to not return refugees to North Korea, as it usually does. China will, of course, continue to do as it wishes, but we can embarrass them in the world press by announcing everything we discover.

China will protest mightily over the plan, but as I wrote in my North Korea is China's useful idiot series (read here, here, here, here, and here), its transparent and selfish motives must be ignored.

Kim Jong-il lives for his lobster, French wine, Mercedes-Benz automobiles, and other luxury goods. Without them, not to mention equipment for many areas of the North Korean economy, he will finally come to the conclusion that the world is tired of his antics. We can either deal with the threat now or wait until North Korea has missiles that can accurately hit Hawaii, Australia, and anywhere else in the Pacific Ocean with nuclear warheads. And those people who believe that missile defense can protect us and our friends are deluded. If we think the options are bad now, just wait; we are simply delaying the inevitable. The son, Kim Jong-un, is learning from the master that these antics reap benefits; if we teach him a different lesson, he will be more amenable to acting like a decent human being.