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The UN Security Council on Saturday unanimously adopted a resolution sanctioning North Korea over its nuclear test. The resolution decides that all member states ¡°shall freeze funds, financial assets and economic resources supporting [North Korea¡¯s] nuclear-related, ballistic missile-related or other weapons of mass destruction-related programs, ban entry or residing of people related to these programs and their families, and take necessary cooperative steps including the inspection of freight from or to North Korea." The resolution puts a committee to be composed of Security Council member countries in charge of monitoring whether all member states comply with the resolution and reporting the results to the UNSC every 90 days.
The resolution sets out the standards of the international community in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis. Pyongyang itself threw away the chance of regime security guarantees and economic aid offered in six-party talks in September and invited an international blockade instead.
The only choice left for Pyongyang now is to abandon its nuclear capability and returning to the spirit of the agreement. The UN resolution, too, urges North Korea to return to the six-nation talks unconditionally. The international community, in perfect unison, should make the North realize that it cannot survive by holding nuclear arms. Only then will Pyongyang return to the talks.
But as soon as the Security Council resolution was adopted, the administration and ruling Uri Party were saying package tours to Mt. Kumgang and work at the Kaesong Industrial Complex should carry on, as must humanitarian aid. Nor does the government intend to take part in the inspection of North Korean vessels. Even in an emergency like this, where a nuclear-armed hostile country sits only a few dozen kilometers from Seoul, the government and ruling party keep on with their dilly-dallying.
The North's nuclear test stripped 48 million South Koreans and 600,000 troops naked at once. Even if we were capable of independent defense at a cost of hundreds or thousands of trillions of won (US1$=W955), the country wouldn't be able to deter a nuclear-armed North Korea. If the North repeats provocations in the West Sea, the South Korean president and military leadership would have to worry about the North's nuclear weapons before countering them.
What¡¯s more, what member states should or shouldn't do under the UN resolution cannot be interpreted at will by each member state but is determined by a committee under the Security Council. Even when the country wishes to reflect the ¡°special situation¡± of ours in enforcing the UN resolution, it would be wise and beneficial to adjust them quietly and diplomatically within the framework of international cooperation. The government and ruling party must behave like adults.
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