North Korea, a third-generation dictatorship headed by Kim Jong Un, claims to have successfully detonated a fifth nuclear warhead last Friday; this one more powerful than those previous. The US Geological Survey reported a 5.3 magnitude earthquake before realizing a nuclear bomb had detonated underground near a North Korean nuclear test site.
The most powerful nuclear bomb set off in all of North Korea’s history, Friday’s detonation raises sharp concern. President Barack Obama quickly responded in condemnation: “To be clear, the United States does not, and never will, accept North Korea as a nuclear state…Today’s nuclear test, a flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council Resolutions, makes clear North Korea’s disregard for international norms and standards for behavior and demonstrates it has no interest in being a responsible member of the international community.”
According to CNN writer Katie Hunt, North Korea blatantly violated previous UN sanctions put in place to quell nuclear advancements. These sanctions included: prohibiting all nuclear tests and launches of ballistic missiles, prohibiting Pyongyang’s exportation of natural resources, prohibiting the supply of aviation fuel and small arms to North Korea and mandatory inspection of North Korean planes and ships transporting cargo. North Korea threw these sanctions to the wind last Friday.
In a statement, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said, “The only thing that [the] Kim Jong Un regime can gain from the nuclear tests is stronger sanctions from the international community and isolation. Such provocation will eventually hasten its path to self-destruction.” The only thing that will deter Kim Jong Un from using nuclear warfare is if he realizes he will cease to exist upon bringing his lowly threats to life. Luckily, the Kim Jong Un regime has not yet mastered combining nuclear and missile capabilities, although, South Korean officials worry they will sooner than previously expected.
Ironically, North Korea feels its basic rights are in violation. According to BBC news, in a statement announcing the underground test’s success, North Korea expressed anger at the “racket of threats and sanctions…kicked up by the US-led hostile forces” to deny a “sovereign state’s exercise of the right to self-defense.” Directly threatening the United States is not exercising self-defense.
Our two main presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, react in ways that foreshadow responses to potential national security threats. Hillary Clinton, in a statement last Wednesday, said “The United States and our partners, including the UN Security Council, need to immediately impose additional sanctions against North Korea. The Chinese government, which wields influence with the North Koreans, must be more assertive in deterring the North’s irresponsible actions…” Similarly, Donald Trump believes responsibility falls on China, but added the test “is yet one more example of Hillary Clinton’s catastrophic failures as secretary of state.”
