comission london
World Security Network reporting from Seoul, South Korea, April 11, 2009
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
"The gambler succeeds again"When on April 9th the Supreme People's Assembly solemnly reinstated leader Kim Jong-il of North Korea to his official post as Chairman of the National Defense Commission (the title of a president of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or North Korea, is reserved for his late father, the "eternal" president), the picture of the roaring rocket launch of Sunday airing around the clock on North Korean television was a perfect backdrop. Add the first film footage of Kim Jong-il after his presumed stroke last year visiting various places in North Korea, and it seems that the man has made another one of his trademark surprise comebacks. The gambler succeeds again. The world looks on at this tiny impoverished state and President Obama is faced with his first international crisis not in the Middle East - as many predicted - but in North Korea, which once again commands the attention of the world. Mission accomplished. Or is it?
Indeed, the picture is a little more complicated. By defying UN Security Council Resolution 1718, which bans all further nuclear tests or launch of a ballistic missile and bans all activities of its ballistic missile program, North Korea has again masterfully played its tactic of dividing the adversaries in the six-party talks and made them look like fools. It also set its own agenda against the pronounced will of the new Obama administration to tackle other pressing issues first. The alleged start of the trial communications satellite "Kwangmyongsong 2" was the perfect excuse for China's inactivity in the UN Security Council, though even if there had been a satellite test instead of a ballistic missile test it would still fall under Resolution 1718 due to the dual-use character of the missile/ satellite technology....more
