Kim Jong Il and the North Korean people have quite a bit to gain from cooperation with Bush's demands.  Although such promises have been made numerous times before, the North is now finding itself cut off from traditional allies as China aligns itself with American interests .  Although Russia might make a good strategic partner, Moscow lacks the financial and military resources to sustain North Korea.  With Russia irrelevant and China in a tacit alliance with America, North Korea's only choice is to continue following China's lead or to side with Islamic nationalists.

Kim Jong could try to play the waiting game a little longer, but it looks like his hopes have faded for actually utilizing nuclear power to energize his nation's electrical grid.  Agricultural and structural problems abound, but there is no international trade to feed the people or build infrastructure.  Fundamentally, his goal is to acquire as much global influence and wealth as he can for himself and his nation - and at this point in time, no nation can do that without the help of Beijing and Washington.

Likewise, Bush and the Pentagon would like to be done worrying about North Korea and able to focus all attention toward the Middle East and South America.  While South Korea and Taiwan are important strategic allies, they are integrated into the East Asian economic sphere with Japan and China.  Since the U.S. expansionist agenda is primarily tied to trade, North Korea does not offer a point of expansion because the surrounding regions are already economically cooperative.  So long as North Korea's military power is limited to conventional forces and they operate in the framework of existing international trade law, all of America's primary strategic objectives will be met.

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.