It’s funny how when you take the time to meet up with someone and sit down to talk to them without all of the pretenses, they become much friendlier and more willing to compromise.
I don’t know what Bill Clinton said to Kim Il Sung and the other North Korean officers, but it’s not surprising to me that Clinton was able to bring the journalists home. I mean, there’s a reason why he remains one of the more popular presidents in U.S. history. He couldn’t have gotten that distinction without connecting with people on some instinctual or emotional level. It’s hard not to like, or at least respect the guy, even if you didn’t agree with his policies (and actions) during his presidency. His wife ought to take a few notes from him.
Despite her lack of tact, Hillary is right about one thing: North Korea simply wants attention. Like anyone who’s been ostracized for so long, it’s no surprise that North Korea is acting out the way it is with its missiles and its nuclear program. I get it. Communism is scary. And for all practical purposes, it fails miserably. World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War. They all helped to shape and confirm American (and the world) attitude towards Communism. And Kim Jong Il having a few screws loose upstairs doesn’t help matters much. It’s pretty hard to keep an open, honest dialogue with the likes of him.
I’m not making any excuses for North Korea’s behavior. However the incidents today (and others in the past) really does show another side of North Korea. In other words, there is more to Kim Jong Il than a ruthless determination for world domination. He could be using this incident as a bargaining chip to use in the future but how does that make him different from any other country in the world, especially the United States? We bargain all the time. We all do things in the hopes of getting something else in return.
How come Cuba and China and Vietnam seem to get off easier than North Korea? If I had to answer my own question, I would say that the former three countries eventually became more open-minded towards capitalism (or at least a more controlled form of it). They gave the United States a little more leeway and so they are rewarded with a little more tolerance. Which came first? Do the Communist states voluntarily open up? Did they open up because they found that total Communism is unsustainable or did UN members bully them into it? Or were the UN members truly open-minded at first? It’s hard to say.
I’m going off on a tangent.
It’s clear that the tension between North Korea and the rest of the world isn’t going away anytime soon. That’s understandable. North Korea is something of a rogue state (to UN members) and it’s easier for people to quickly label it as evil. I personally don’t think North Korea is evil. Like many people, I disagree with Communism and I hate what it’s doing to the North Korean population. I hate the tension it’s helping to create in the world.
Fundamentally, North Korea is no different than the U.S., the U.K., or even a tiny country like Liechtenstein. They all want survival and they all want to feel included in the global community in some way. Maybe they all go about it in different ways, some ways more obviously (as opposed to subtly) distasteful than others. It isn’t all North Korea’s fault because international relations do impact how countries react to one another.
Nobody is rushing to give North Korea a seat in the UN council even after today. For the time being it seems better off that way. Both North Korea and the rest of the world have a lot of work to do. I just hope that one day North Korea and the world can come to a mutual understanding so that eventually it does get included in the world community. I just feel that as long as certain countries are being excluded, there will continue to be heightened tension and the rest of us are all hypocrites.
Welcome home, Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
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