How Dr. Kim Learned to Love the Bomb

When we wake up in the morning and glance at the news, we see that North Korea has conducted its fifth nuclear test and claims it can install nuclear warheads on its missiles. We are not worried that one day in the future, one of the bombs might explode in the middle of Tehran, Tabriz, or Ahvaz. Why? Because North Korea is far away and the issue of that country is not at all related to Iran and its government’s policies? Because Pyongyang is not an enemy of Tehran? Or perhaps it can be said that the relations between the two sides are not that bad? Because the missiles do not reach Iranian soil? Or they do not even pass over the skies of Iran? Or because this question is fundamentally illogical, impossible, and completely out of mind? Is this question that seems entirely illogical, impossible, and far-fetched, or the behaviors of the North Korean leader, at least as they are reflected in the media? If we know a leader of a country who 'apparently' prefers his people to die of hunger under extensive sanctions during one of the worst famines in contemporary history, rather than open the doors of his home, why should the detonation of a nuclear bomb by him (for any reason) in Tehran, Tabriz, or Ahvaz be far-fetched? But this hypothesis remains very far-fetched; but not for these reasons. Mr. Kim, the 'unparalleled leader,' made India and Pakistan nuclear in a military competition. It is said that Israel has nuclear bombs. The USA, China, Russia, Britain, and France have nuclear bombs, but the difference between all these countries and North Korea is that they are not 'North Korea.' Some of them have enemies, some are centers of fighting against extremist and fundamentalist groups, or have drawn lines against some other countries. Their leaders sometimes frown, sometimes threaten another country or government. However, the official name of none of them is 'Supreme Leader, Unparalleled Leader, Beloved Father of the People, Shining Sun of the Future, Everlasting Steel Conqueror, Sun of the 21st Century,' none of them were born on top of 'sacred mountains,' and the media has not reported the execution of someone for dozing off during their speeches. Almost as simply, regardless of analytical comparison, the fear stemming from North Korea's nuclear power is, for the general public living in the communication century with a caricatured yet frightening image of a country's leader, worse than the fear of Pakistan or Israel, the USA, or Russia or China. Or at least for now, it is still greater. And many questions arise in the shadow of this 'comic yet frightening' image of 'Dr. Kim' (I am not joking! A university in Malaysia awarded an honorary doctorate to the North Korean leader). The old soldier in Kim Il-sung Square. How serious is the danger in the East? The occurrence of overt and contemporary violence generally causes the past violence to be forgotten, even if the past violence had greater extent and intensity. The Korean War left around two and a half million dead and wounded among civilians in just three years. Seven decades after that war, the two countries still do not recognize each other, and no peace treaty has been formed between them. Even after seven decades, images from the war are still published, like mass shootings from behind at a group of civilians facing dug graves, which only represent a small part of the Korean War disaster. Japanese imperial army soldiers beheaded the nation with 'katana' in open fields during World War II and tied women from 'enemy' countries to beds so that soldiers could repeatedly rape them in line. At that time, Japan was the enemy of the USA, and China was its ally. South Korean soldiers committed acts of violence during the Vietnam War as part of a coalition led by the USA, which Seoul still has no interest in disclosing. At that time, neither Korea had 'democracy' nor did the Vietnam War lead to 'democracy.' The bodies of civilians killed in the attacks of August 1950 near Yongsan are still in South Korea. But is the fear of the occurrence of these violences still alive? If you talk to someone older from these countries, the answer is probably and immediately 'yes.' But if you chat with one of the younger ones, the subject changes. The governments of East Asia, except for North Korea, are not run by any of those younger ones. The governments in South Korea and Japan were dictatorships for decades after the war, whose safe haven was the enmity of North Korea led by one of their peers. After political changes in Tokyo and Seoul, still, for almost most of the years, the same people, with different names, continued to govern. For them, the enmity of North Korea is not just due to the existence of nuclear weapons, an isolated and dangerous leadership. North Korea means the continuation of current policies in the region. The continuation of 'fear,' the continuation of nationalism, the continuation of enmity, and the continuation of the militarization of these countries under the shadow of the hidden terror they have from North Korea, from themselves, from China, and from the future. Pyongyang is dangerous. And the primary reason for that is that this small country led by a person we do not know 'what kind of being this is?' is the engine of events occurring in an extraordinarily populous, large, and important region; a place that has become the center of Washington's foreign policy approach over the past eight years since Barack Obama's administration; and not because the USA is interested in Chinese medicine or likes the cartoon footballers or the Jumong series. How serious is the possibility of an attack on North Korea? Our distance from the possibility of a US attack on North Korea is the distance of a hair and the distance of a galaxy. The general belief is that no country will attack North Korea until North Korea attacks first. North Korea is still miles away from this possibility. It still does not have the necessary technology for a wide-ranging nuclear attack on other countries. And without all this, no one is interested in opening a closed box where millions of hungry, emaciated, and beaten people are, who would take boats and canoes from mountains and rivers to wealthy countries that are busy with their own affairs. But if the current leader of North Korea launches an attack, and this attack is so significant that the United States will not overlook it, then we should expect a full-scale war. And possibly extensive violence. Will Kim Jong-un do such a thing? The leader's boat is pushed. China and Pyongyang. Many analysts and journalists in Japan or South Korea believe that North Korea's survival depends on China. And there are many analysts in China who believe that all of Pyongyang's actions are to bring the negotiating countries back to the negotiating table. Extensive sanctions against Pyongyang could paralyze this country and lead to rebellion and internal violence. But there is almost no doubt that China has not allowed this. Of course, since Kim Jong-un came to power, the situation has become tumultuous. Every now and then, news of the execution of one of the former political figures by anti-aircraft fire reaches us; however, Kim's government continues. Since he came to power, the relationship between the USA and China under the leadership of Xi Jinping and Barack Obama's government has undergone significant changes that cannot be viewed with much optimism. Right in this four to five-year period, North Korea has conducted extensive missile tests, more than 30 ballistic tests, and three nuclear tests (out of a total of five) under Kim Jong-un's leadership, and as a result, the circle of sanctions against Korea has tightened more than before. Some say that Beijing does not always directly influence the decisions of the leadership in Pyongyang. But Kim Jong-un's government continues, and there is no evidence to suggest that China has a major problem with this leadership. And of course, Mr. Kim is only in his thirties, and there is no news that he 'might have a stroke' or suddenly 'might have a deadly cancer.' With all this, China probably does not want Kim Jong-un to get out of control; and this is something that almost everyone knows. So if young Kim launches a wide-ranging attack, we must first ask, 'Did Beijing know?' And of course, the answer to this question probably has no effect on subsequent events. 'How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.' In the film 'Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,' a distressed general decides to rid the world of another country with a nuclear bomb. The film is a black comedy that has no hopeful ending and was made in the midst of the crisis caused by the Vietnam War and Cold War rivalries. But fortunately, the 'black comedy' of Strangelove never came to pass, although the danger of nuclear weapons has not disappeared, nor have 'proxy wars.' Probably; North Korea will not collapse in the near future, at least there is no news of that now. Sanctions against Pyongyang, and consequently its people, will become stricter. The process of arming South Korea and Japan will continue. The borders of the two Koreas will become more militarized and closed. The competition between the USA and China will intensify. Washington will equip its allies in the region with ultra-advanced defensive weapons. Probably; China will retaliate. Security in the South China Sea will become more complicated. The people of North Korea will continue to sink into greater darkness. The North Korean government will continue its internal performance to the extent that this performance will move from headline news to second and third-tier news. And the frightening yet caricatured image of the North Korean leader will continue to exist somewhere between the news, rumors, other concerns, and crises closer to 'us.' Just as Dr. Strangelove is still alive somewhere in those corners.