Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Beyond Paranoid

The North Koreans insist that they want a pledge from us not to attack them in order to abandon nuclear efforts. Well, our pledge and lots of goodies.

But how does that outline of a deal square with their absolute paranoia?

North Korea blamed the escalating tensions in the region on Washington, saying the U.S. was building up its forces, and defended its nuclear test as a matter of self-preservation.

An editorial in the North's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, called the United States "warmongers" and said Washington's recent announcement about sending fighter planes to Japan "lay bare the sinister and dangerous scenario of the U.S. to put the Asia-Pacific region under its military control."

At the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, An Myong Han, a diplomat from the North Korean mission, said his country "could not but take additional self-defense measures including nuclear tests and the test launch of long-range missiles in order to safeguard our national interest."


It should be obvious that the North Koreans are so paranoid that even a treaty signed by President Obama using a pen dipped in the blood of our warmongers would not be enough to soothe Pyongyang enough to halt any of their nuclear efforts.

Whatever we do about North Korea, it should start with the assumption that we cannot talk them out of their nukes.