The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, known to us as North Korea, is neither democratic nor run for the people or by the people. I went there in 2003 and saw for myself the absolute poverty in which most people live. The vast majority of ordinary citizens are brain-washed, exploited and oppressed by a small ruling elite.
That was when Kim Jong-Il was leader, but he has been since replaced by his son Kim Jong-un, an altogether nastier piece of work. He has increased his grip of the regime by a series of carefully planned assassinations of any rival. The common people have no access to the outside world and every few years when their harvest fails, many of them starve to death.
On many street corners In Pyongyang, there are vast billboards containing explicit pictures of Koreans killing American and Japanese soldiers with a variety of bloodthirsty slogans. Their hatred of the Americans is visceral and dates back to the Korean War in the 1950’s when the Korean peninsula was split in two.
Even though there is very little money spent on the population, the regime has consistently spent a fortune on armaments and has been steadily developing nuclear capability and intercontinental missiles capable of transporting these weapons onto US territory. Because it is such a secretive regime, nobody knows for certain just how good their technology is, but they appear to be making progress in their dastardly quest.
It has long been my view that no American President could possibly allow the North Koreans to possess nuclear weaponstogether with the capability of landing one on US soil. Even the most sensible of Presidents would be letting down his people if he allowed that to happen. How much more likely is it that this President will have no compunction against striking first.
War is devastating and we should always strive for peace, straining every sinew to achieve peace. It is always the most vulnerable who suffer most in conflict. We should use every diplomatic means possible to avoid war.
The DPRK regime is not one with which negotiation is feasible. They do not live in the real world. But they are economically reliant upon China, their massive next-door neighbour. Only China has the ability to make Kim Jong-un back down.
How vulnerable we are that our future is in the hands of Chinese leadership, whose long term policy objectives areunknown, and Donald J Trump.
Pray.