The Obama Administration has decided to "impose further economic sanctions against North Korea", focusing on ending counterfeiting and other malicious economic practices utilized by the North Korean government to maintain power. The administration's focus on controlling North Korea appears to focus mainly on a financial plane due to disputes in Washington over "how harshly to confront the Kim government". However, this focus on damaging North Korea's economy depends on the cooperation of other countries, with China (its biggest ally) unlikely to aid in any way. Others have questioned the effectiveness of these measures as North Korea is already so isolated. Previously, the Bush Administration attempted to back off on sanctions against North Korea, "in an effort to lure North Korea back to negotiations over its nuclear program". This strategy proved futile and the Obama Administration has maintained that it will do nothing of the like throughout this term. I am sensing a central problem at the root of countries like North Korea and China: communism. Brilliant on paper, terrible in practice as proven time and time again. However, if either of these countries spontaneously turned democratic, the inital collapse of order in the country might be more detrimental and devastating than anticipated. For now, I think the United States should work on keeping on good terms with both China and North Korea while continuing to place pressure on the governments for reform.
Article Referenced:
Lander, Mark and Elisabeth Bumiller. "U. S. to Add Sanctions on N. Korea". NYTimes. New York Times. 21 July 2010. Web. 29 Aug 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment