Monday, January 05, 2004
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE DPRK:
The Associated Press (Soo-Jong Lee, "N. KOREA URGES PEACEFUL NUKE RESOLUTION," Seoul, 12/31/03) reported that the DPRK issued a New Year's message reiterating a willingness to resolve a nuclear standoff, but warning that would react with strength to what it called a US hard-line policy. The message was issued in the form of a joint editorial by the country's three major newspapers representing its communist party, military and youth militia force. "Consistent is our principled stand to seek a negotiated peaceful solution to the nuclear issue between (the DPRK) and the US," said the editorial carried on the country's foreign news outlet, KCNA.This all sounds well and good, but here's the rub:
"But we will always react with the toughest policy to the US hard-line policy of totally denying and threatening the dignified idea and system of our style," it said.Does "system of our own style" mean anything more than a DPRK ruled by the Kim Dynasty? To some, it probably does--Chuch'e, anti-Japanese sentiment, concerns about the seductive and corrupting fruits of capitalism--but would Kim Jong Il willingly step down if it meant safeguarding these other elements of "our own style" for the foreseeable future? Not a chance!
