Don Roach: North Korea’s Napoleon Complex
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
When we were kids in the playground, there usually was this one kid who would always say something along these lines, “Hey, I can spit farther than anyone on the playground and I’ll prove it.” This kid challenged every and anyone to a spit duel. Most kids just shrugged him off because they didn’t care who could project saliva through the air the farthest. Others competed with the kid and most times the kid won. It was his claim to fame, his medal of honor, and when I read statements from the North Korean government, it reminds me of this situation.
You see, it seems like every day the situation with North Korea escalates. Whether it’s North Korea stating that the non-aggression pact with South Korea is null and void or North Korea restarting its nuclear program, it seems like we’re moving closer and closer to war. It’s as if Kim Jong Un is in a spitting contest with the world and determined to prove he’s the best.
The unfortunate reality is that if Kim Jong Un decides it’s time to go to war to prove he’s the best our biggest fear won’t be getting spit on our shoes – no, we’ll be in an all-out war that would be unlike anything my generation has seen.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFor those of us in my generation and younger, the Gen Xer’s and Gen Ys, we have never had to fight for our freedom nor were we drafted to fight someone else’s war. I mean no disrespect to the first or second Gulf Wars and those who fought in those wars. Instead, in terms of a war that forced most young Americans to wonder if they would be drafted and sent to a foreign country to fight, die, or return home with battle scars, the situation in North Korea is the first of its kind in decades. With it’s 1.2 million strong army (amongst more in reserve) if the North Koreans actually make good on their spit championship threats, the United States would be forced to defend its allies in the region specifically, South Korea and Japan.
And that, my friends, would be catastrophic from a war standpoint and here’s why. For the sake of argument let’s assume that North Korea does not have missiles capable of reaching the lower 48 states. Yet, the US could not sit idly by while the North Koreans peppered South Korea and Japan with munitions. Where this gets to the level of catastrophe is knowing what China will do in all of this.
Kim Jong Un’s big talk is bolstered by the fact that China is one of North Korea’s greatest allies. The Chinese do have nuclear capability and certainly have no interest in having a US ally at their borders. So it makes sense for them to support North Korea. However, even they must understand that Kim Jong Un’s rhetoric is stoking a situation that simply does not need to be stoked. If readers of this blog in the future (say 30-40 years from now) read anything I’m saying here, I’d like it to be noted that it is my belief that at some point during the 21st century, China will make a military play to supplant the US as the dominant world power. I’m not saying how or when, but I just think it’s going to happen.
As I digress, even if that is true now is not the right moment for China to disrupt how the world functions today and would be in a pickle over what to do should North Korea’s Kim Jong Un decide that he must win the spit championship against his neighbor in the South. The more and more I have read up on the situation, the more I’m inclined to believe that Kim Jong Un will make good on his war talk and push things over the edge. As with Napoleon, who had an unhealthy thirst for power beyond reality, Kim Jong Un may suffer a similar fate. Even if he does, many American and allies’ lives will be lost in the process.
Stay tuned to this situation and be alert.
Don Roach is a young Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
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