Ruh-roh

For the 500th time in the past 5 years, North Korea is going back on agreements with South Korea. South Korea wants North Korea to finally cut its nuclear program; North Korea says the South is being hostile.

I generally have two minds about North Korea and nuclear weapons: first, that Kim Jong-il knows as long as his country has an operating nuclear program, other countries will be willing to negotiate and give aid on the condition that North Korea will finally stop the program. Which, of course, they will NOT do - instead, they'll get their aid, tear up the agreement and then 6 months later go back to the table and make another deal they don't intend to honor (lather, rinse, and repeat).

My other thought is that the guy really just is insane. To reductionistic? Probably. But even if you made an argument for strong rationality, you simply couldn't make any argument for empathy.

This is all of course just my opinions. I study educational psychology these days, not political science or sociopaths. One common theory, it seems, is that Kim Jong-il is trying to get the attention of one President Obama (and, again, up the DPRK's bargaining power). Should be interesting to see how this administration deals with North Korea, and whether it makes a difference. I don't think the last administration did a poor job with North Korea, either - at this point I just wonder what tact anybody could take that would actually produce favorable long-term results. Again, this is a question I am in no way knowledgeable enough to answer.

SoKo and Passion in Politics

Oooh, South Korean opposition-party politicians are PISSED...

It's still a wonder to me that President Lee Myung-bak got elected in the first place, given how sharply his approval ratings plummeted as soon as he took office. The initial negative response was due to his decision to sign a trade deal with the United States, allowing the U.S. to export beef products from older cows to South Korea. The public became terrified of a Mad Cow Disease epidemic, staged mass protests all over the country (including one in my small town, right outside of my taekwondo studio just as I was coming out of practice...had anyone asked, I planned to say I was Canadian).


Looks like we're still seeing the fall-out from LMB's massively unpopular decisions, as opposition-party members are doing everything in their power - even taking physical action - to prevent other trade-agreement bills (among other issues) from going through.

I have my own opinions, positive and negative, about both sides of Korea's current political brouhaha. But for now all I'll say is this: it may be shocking as an American to see such things happening in a democratic system, but it's also refreshing. Imagine if politicians in this country were as willing to put themselves on the line for an issue that's deeply important to them and the country - say, for example, the Iraq war or gay marriage bans?