Jonathan Freedland on North Korea.
The report’s lead author, like those old journalistic colleagues of mine, clearly hopes that now that the evidence is laid out, action will follow. “Now the international community does know,” says retired Australian judge Michael Kirby. “There will be no excusing a failure of action because we didn’t know. It’s too long now. The suffering and the tears of the people of North Korea demand action.”
No. Sorry, but no. I don’t doubt the horrors, it is after all a vile communist dictatorship – much as that run by Joe Stalin with all the concomitant atrocities that go with it. It is also a sovereign state. The UN does not and should not have the power to invade or otherwise intervene in countries because it does not approve of what goes on inside its borders. By all means shun the regime, but anything else is wrong – no matter how high the morals that motivate it.
It makes today a good time to be a dictator, a butcher or the torturing head of a brutal regime. The world will let you carry on killing – even when it knows exactly what is happening.
It always was. Unless they make the mistake the Nazis made and start invading other countries – then those countries have the moral authority to do something because they are defending themselves. Until and unless the Norks decide to invade the South, there is nothing to be done. And even then, it would be a civil war and one best left to the South to sort.
The South could sort it with US help. As long as the Chinese don’t decide to help the Norks as you call them (which is funny but….they are rather Orcish though) to have a commie buffer zone maintained on their border. However, if the South reunited Korea there would be zero defectors running across the frozen river border.
If there was another Korean war, the South are better placed to win this time.
Unless the N use nukes?
Or does that bring the UN (& the Chinese) down on their heads?