UNSC Resolution 1718 Provides U.S.
Imperialism
the License to Provoke and Attack DPRK at Anytime
UN
Security Council (UNSC) resolution No. 1718 does not stipulate any
explicit permission to the U.S. and its cohorts to launch an immediate
military attack on the DPRK but lays down the basis and opens the way for
further sanctions and even aggressive military action.
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
Posted by Bulatlat
UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution No.
1718 condemning the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and
imposing sanctions on it for carrying out an underground nuclear bomb test
does not stipulate any explicit permission to the US and its cohorts to
launch an immediate military attack on the DPRK but lays down the basis
and opens the way for further sanctions and even aggressive military
action.
The sanctions against the DPRK include
freezing its economic and financial assets and transactions abroad,
impeding its economic, trade, scientific, technical and other foreign
relations, travel ban on DPRK personnel and other people considered
helpful in any way to the DPRK nuclear and ballistic programs, the
interdiction of DPRK means of international transport and the inspection
of all cargo going to and from DPRK under the pretext of preventing the
movement of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
The declared objective of the sanctions is
to punish the DPRK and pressure it to return to the six-party talks. The
sanctions are to be lifted only after the DPRK returns to the nuclear
nonproliferation treaty (NPT) and gives up its nuclear and ballistic
missile programs completely, verifiably and irreversibly. As they are,
the sanctions are already extremely severe but can be expanded and
intensified in order to attain the objective of the US and its cohorts.
The resolution completely disregards the
fact that the US has reneged on agreements that it has made with the DPRK
in previous negotiations, that the DPRK and the Korean people have the
right to assert and defend their national independence against the hostile
policy of the US and that they have the sovereign right to withdraw from
the NPT and develop their means of self-defense. In this regard, the UN
Security Council is acting in a vicious manner against the DPRK. In
contrast, Israel, India and Pakistan have not been subjected to
condemnation and sanctions like the DPRK just because the US regards them
as manageable allies.
Even as the resolution falls short of
explicitly allowing aggressive military action against the DPRK, the
biggest gain for the US is that it can use the condemnatory and punitive
premise of the resolution as a license for further sanctions with or
without any UNSC resolution and even for unilateral or multilateral
military action against the DPRK in the name of the UN and international
community.
It is amply demonstrated in the case of
the US aggression against Iraq that resolutions condemning Iraq and
imposing sanctions short of explicitly approving the military invasion of
Iraq became ultimately the license for the US and its “coalition of the
willing” to invade and occupy Iraq in 2003.
Another big gain of the US lies in its
success at pressing China and Russia to take a position of condemning the
DPRK and thus in poisoning the relations of the three countries. As a
result, the DPRK is reasonably more than ever wary of the six-party talks
or even bilateral talks with the US within the framework of the six-party
talks as an anti-DPRK trap. It is clear that the US is trying to bind
Russia and China inextricably to the US aggressive policy against the DPRK
and to the longstanding US nuclear monopoly in the Korean peninsula.
The US has publicly gloated over the votes
of China and Russia for UNSC resolution 1718 in riposte specifically to
China’s expression of reservation about the boarding of DPRK vessels and
inspection of cargo to and from DPRK. It would seem that China has an
afterthought about the provocative and dangerous prospects of US
interdicting the vessels that belong not only to DPRK but also to other
countries known for or suspected of carrying prohibited goods to and from
the DPRK. Any degree of Chinese acquiescence to US hegemony and US
gunboat diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region poses threats to China itself
and other countries.
As it is, the UNSC resolution is aimed at
undermining and destabilizing the DPRK, sabotaging its economy and making
life difficult for the Korean people, despite the hypocritical claims of
concern for the Korean people by the signatories of the resolution. The
sanctions stipulated by the resolution are brutal enough and have far
reaching adverse consequences to the DPRK. Worse, the obstructions to and
slowing down of DPRK’s trade with other countries, including the
disruptions of vital food and fuel supplies would inflict harsh punishment
on the Korean people.
The US and its cohorts expect the DPRK to
capitulate to their dictates as a result of the current UNSC resolution.
They want the DPRK and the Korean people to give up their national
independence and their right to defend it, to degrade their self-defense
capabilities and to let the US have a monopoly of nuclear weapons and
other weapons of mass destruction in the Korean peninsula and in the
vicinity of DPRK.
The US and its cohorts expect the DPRK to
capitulate under the pressure of a tighter US military blockade and
provocations in and out of DPRK territory, severe economic and financial
difficulties, disruptions in its foreign trade or else suffer social
degradation and regime change or possibly cruise missile attacks and other
cowardly acts or even a full scale invasion.
But the DPRK is quite different from
recent victims of US aggression, like Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
It has nuclear weapons. These are so few in comparison to the huge nuclear
power of the US. But they have a high deterrent value and can be useful
for pressing the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and advancing
towards the cause of seeking the complete prohibition and thorough
destruction of nuclear weapons in the entire world.
The DPRK is vulnerable to US military
attacks of any kind. But so are the US military forces to DPRK
counterattack, especially in South Korea and Japan. It is the US and its
cohorts that are irresponsible and are playing with brinkmanship by trying
to coerce the DPRK to return to the six-party talks to be encircled,
bullied and humiliated. The US must heed the calls for restraint and meet
the just and reasonable demands of the Korean people and the DPRK.
It is understandable
that the Korean people and the DPRK resolutely and vigorously assert their
national sovereignty and independence, stand up to US imperialism and its
cohorts, resist the longrunning and current unjust impositions of
imperialist powers, totally reject UNSC resolution 1718 and express
determination and readiness for both dialogue and confrontation. All
people who fight for national independence, democracy, justice and peace
are in solidarity with the Korean people and the DRPK as they strive under
the principle of self-reliance to cope with and prevail over any
adversity. Posted by Bulatlat
Oct. 16, 2006
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