Should Seoul Ready Itself for Korean War II?
By Deauwand Myers
The Koreas are a study in stark contrasts. Consider: one has vibrant religious freedom, the other no religion at all (or more aptly, a religion of one: Mr. Kim Jong-il). One is bathed in light at night, the other covered in perpetual darkness. One has a median income of $20,000. The other wallows in abject poverty. One enshrines the individual's rights in law. The other enshrines the state as law de rigueur.
North Korea is Korea's implacable enemy. They are recalcitrant, violent, and predictably treacherous. What to do, what to do?
The recent naval tragedy reminds us of what we should always and already know: North Korea is an evil of great depth and magnitude. Perhaps only Myanmar can be considered as cruel and unyieldingly brutal in the treatment of its people.
Years of relative calm, with intermittent bursts of North Korean bellicosity, should not lull Korea or the international community into believing the North is an isolated threat. Recent findings show the North has and plans to export its military weapons and know-how to whoever has enough petty cash lying around to make such an offer.
We saw it in Syria, and we saw it in sequestered shipments leaving the North. Sanctions on nations that do not care about its people are ineffective. Iraq, Iran, and Myanmar are recent examples. North Korea has allowed its people to starve to death in numbers that would make a fascist blush. No manner of cruelty and malice is too much for the North to engage in if the goal of regime survival is achieved.
The more I look upon this great and present danger, this large and looming evil, the more I feel my neo-con friends may have it right: we may need to reduce Pyongyang to dust and shadow. The loss of life on South Korea's side would be minimal, but no less tragic.
The question is: how long will Korea and the rest of the rational world be held hostage by this petty tyrant and his circle of thugs and sycophants? How many skirmishes and hostages and threats and missile tests will we endure before the North perfects its nuclear technology for placement on warheads: the next, last, and most dreaded step in its slow march to being a true nuclear power?
Korea has tried time and again to be reasonable with the North ― presented rice, joint business ventures, presidential visits, and six-party talks. Nothing has worked. And newsflash folks: nothing will work. The time, perhaps this time, has come for the better twin to kill its evil sibling and set the captives free. There can be only one Korea. Until the South stands tall and firm and delivers a final blow to the North, with America standing by, will it truly be a nation on its own terms.
Every time Kim and company sneezes, Asian markets go down. The Korean currency wavers in value. If there was no North, imagine the socioeconomic progress Korea could make. Imagine the sigh of relief heard from Seoul to Yeosu, when the red shadow of its enemy is displaced, finally and forever?
If this were any other country, and evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt, that the sinking of a nation's naval vessel was caused by another, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Why is it that the South must be exceedingly and eternally patient and forgiving of an undeserving North?
Korea's military far outmatches that of the North's in speed, power, and lethality. Further, the North knows only murder, fear, and violence; this is the language of its autocracy. We should finally speak to them in the tongue they respect and fully understand.
The writer holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory and is currently an English professor outside of Seoul. He has written novels and poetry can be reached at deauwand@hotmail.com.