Appeal to troublemakers

The people of the DPRK greet the news of the successful testing of nuclear weapons with songs and dances. Finally, Pyongyang's main national project has become a source of real pride for the entire population. It became clear to the citizens of this country why they had been starving for the last decades.

Now the regime of Kim Jong Il will convince his compatriots that the difficult years will soon be behind them. After all, the alarmed world community will have no choice but to transfer the DPRK to increased nutrition.

Pyongyang rightly believes that its atomic bomb test will give North Korea an overwhelming advantage in negotiations with the five countries. Understanding, moreover, that the UN Security Council is unlikely to take serious measures against the country of the “Juche idea.”

"The world should congratulate us on the successful testing instead of passing meaningless resolutions," Park Gil-yoon, North Korea's envoy to the United Nations, said Monday.

Kim Jong Il and his team are right. Apart from condemnation and displaying the usual concern in such cases, New York will not be able to take any real measures against North Korea.

On Monday, Jean Marc de la Sabler, the French ambassador to the UN, said that the Security Council should discuss the possibility of applying the seventh chapter of the charter (of the organization) in relation to the DPRK.

Let me remind you that the seventh point involves not only the introduction of tough economic and diplomatic sanctions, including an arms embargo, but also the possibility of a military solution to the conflict. Such measures will most likely be opposed by China, South Korea and, possibly, Russia.

Beijing’s consent will mean recognition of the failure of its leading role in negotiations with Pyongyang, which was delegated to the “celestial kingdom” by Washington, Moscow, Seoul and Tokyo.

China is North Korea's main trading partner. Beijing accounts for 70% of all world exports to North Korea. The economic blockade of the Kim Jong Il regime may provoke a mass exodus of “happy” citizens to China. And Beijing absolutely does not need this. That is why the “celestial kingdom” has been opposing the introduction of tough sanctions against Pyongyang for many years.

South Korea has its own reasons for disagreeing with the adoption of Point 7, which include more than the obvious concern for the fate of its own people living on the other side of the border.

Seoul understands that tough measures against North Korea will drive Kim Jong Il's regime into a corner. In this case, it will not be difficult to predict a possible response from the North.

It seems to me that Russia will also oppose serious sanctions. And it’s not that Moscow is nostalgic for the summoning whistle of Kim Jong Il’s locomotive.

The Kremlin may be frightened not only by the economic component of the measures discussed at the UN, but also by the possibility of a military solution to the crisis situation. This “package” will create a precedent that Moscow does not need, on which its opponents will be able to rely in resolving the Iranian crisis.

This situation, as before, leaves the USA and Japan in splendid isolation. The nuclear test showed that the sanctions previously imposed by Washington and Tokyo against the DPRK had no effect on Pyongyang.

Most likely, the UN Security Council will limit itself to taking intermediate, soft measures against the regime of Kim Jong Il. The Security Council resolution, however, will include the possibility of considering the issue of introducing tough sanctions, but with numerous reservations. How this happened in the history of Iran.

I think that now the DPRK will gladly agree to negotiations with the five countries, which Pyongyang previously refused. The conversations will be long and, most likely, fruitless. The North Korean leadership has before its eyes the example of Tehran, which successfully plays on the contradictions of world leaders.

They must admit that they lost this round to both Tehran and Pyongyang. Even if Kim Jong Il’s regime did not test an atomic bomb, but celebrated the birthday of the leader’s beloved concubine with fireworks. The quarrelsome and “diplomatic” people of this world must stop pointing fingers at each other and finally make a single tough economic decision.

If this does not happen, then there is a high chance that Israel and Japan will independently address the threat to their security. Then there will be no songs, no dancing, no food. The dead don't dance and don't ask to eat.