조선《악마화》현상을 조명하다

- 국제정치평론가 칼러 스테아가 2016년 3월 15일  카나다인터네트신문 《글로벌 리써취》에 낸 글 -

《색갈혁명》 즉 유럽과 중동난파극의 대명사였던 《악마화》현상이 지금 북조선을 대상으로 표출되고있다.

력대 유엔안전보장리사회가 채택한 결의가운데서 가장 악명높고 도발적인것이 바로 2016년 3월 2일에 채택된 《결의》 제2270호이다. 이 《결의》는 조선민주주의인민공화국을 《악마화》함으로써 이 나라의 경제를 질식시키고 인민들에게 참을수 없는 고통을 들씌워 반발을 유도하며 제도를 교살하려는 극히 부당하고 잔인한 목적을 추구한다.

《제재결의》실행으로 북조선인민들의 생활에 들씌워질 고통을 고려해 볼 때 이 《결의안》의 위선과 이중기준은 잔인성의 극치이며 유엔안보리사회의 수치이다. 《결의》는 조선의 광물자원의 50%(금, 티탄, 바나디움, 희토류광물과 석탄)에 대한 수출과 판매를 금지(30조)시킴으로써 북조선경제를 황페화시키고 주민들에게는 극심한 기아를 가져다 줄것이다.

《결의》는 모든 유엔성원국들이 고등물리, 발전된 콤퓨터모의 및 련관기술, 우주항법공학, 핵공학과 기타 련관 학문과 관련하여 자국령토내 혹은 자국민들에 의한 북조선인들에 대한 특수한 교육과 양성을 금지(17조)한다. 이것은 조선이 인민생활과 잇닿은 지능과학분야 특히 의학분야에서 발전하지 못하도록 가로막고있다. 그도 그럴것이 현대 의학분야에서는 암치료와 기타 병리학적상태, 질병들의 치료에서 필수적인 신속한 진단과 판단을 위해 고도로 발전된 콤퓨터기술과 고등핵공학에 많이 의존하고있기때문이다.

《결의》 2270호는 명백히 자기의 사회제도를 고수하고있는것으로 하여 미국-나토세력의 저주의 대상으로 된 크지 않은 나라인 북조선에 대한 《악마화》의 연장이다.

리챠드 포크박사와 심리학자인 로버트 제이 리프톤이 편찬한 책 《전쟁범죄》에는 누군가를 공격하기 위한 준비사업의 첫번째단계가 바로 《악마화》라고 씌여있다.

공화국은 자본주의를 반대하는 세계의 얼마남지 않은 사회주의국가들중 하나이며 그로 인하여 《악마화》되고있다.

현재 공화국을 《악마화》하기 위해 미국과 서방은 《도발과 위협》,《체제불안정》 등을 확대변종시켜 여론을 내돌리고있다.

일단 《악마화》의 실체를 만들게 되면 공개적으로든 암암리에든 죽이는것은 쉬운 일이다. 지난해 88살의 그레그 전 주《한》 미국대사가 회고록 《력사의 파편들》출간에 맞추어 남조선을 방문했다. 그는 그때 미국정부는 저들을 좋아하지 않거나 리해하지 못할 외국을 《악마화》하는 특성을 갖고있다며 북조선과 윁남, 싸담 후쎄인 등이 모두 미국의 《악마화》로 전쟁을 겪거나 극한대립을 하고있다고 말한바있다.

조선의 명예를 훼손시키고 《악마화》하는데 리용되는 모략들과 허위선전방식들은 이미 1990년에 채택된 유엔안보리 결의 제678호의 사례를 보아도 가히 짐작할수 있다. 이 결의로 하여 이라크가 괴멸되고 싸담 후쎄인이 살해되였으며 가장 횡포한 테로주의가 범람하게 되였다. 또한 결의 제1973호는 정상국가였던 리비아를 붕괴시키고 비법적인 방법으로 가다피를 처형하였으며 이 나라를 세계적범위에서 급속히 확대되고있는 테로주의의 온상으로 전변시켰다.

북조선에 대한 《악마화》는 인권유린행위들에 대하여 파격적이고 비극적인 끔찍한 이야기거리들을 제공하는 대가로 돈벌이를 하는 도주자들의 거짓증언에 근거하고있다.

2014년 12월 22일 유엔안전보리는 로씨야와 중국의 반대에도 불구하고 인권유린실태에 대한 거짓보고서들에 근거하여 《조선민주주의인민공화국의 인권상황》이라는 안건을 날조해내고 이 문제를 국제형사재판소에 회부하도록 사촉하였다. 인권담당 유엔사무총장보 이완 씨모노위츠는 회의후에 가진 기자회견에서 조사위원회보고서(S/2014/276)의 기초로 되고있는 도주자들의 증언이 재판소에 회부될수 있는 명백한 증거자료로서의 가치를 가지지 못하고있다고 실토하였다.

후날 《뉴욕 타임스》와 《가디언》이 밝힌 자료들에 의하면 조사위원회보고서의 기초로 된 도주자들의 증언들이 거짓이라는것이 판명되였는바 그들은 가장 극적이고 충격적인 이야기들을 만들어내는 대가로 시간당 500$까지의 돈을 지불받았다고 한다.

도주자 신동혁이 풍부한 상상력으로 2012년에 쓴 책인 《14호 수용소에서의 탈출》은 27개의 언어로 번역출판되였다. 그는 이전 유엔인권최고대표 나바네뎀 필라이를 만났으며 그의 날조된 증언들은 조사위원회사업의 기초로 되였다. 하지만 그후 신동혁은 자기의 증언에서 핵심적인 내용들을 철회하였으며 자기의 과장된 증언을 그대로 받아들인 《조사관》들의 믿음을 배신한데 대하여 사죄하였다.

《가디언》은 다음과 같이 밝혔다. 《신동혁 한명만이 아니다. 또 다른 <탈북자>인 리순옥은 2004년에 미하원에 나서서 <북조선 정치범수용소에서의 그리스도교신자들에 대한 고문상황과 그들을 뜨거운 쇠물을 부어죽인 사실> 등에 대해 증언하였지만 그의 증언은 서울에 있는 <탈북자협회> 회장인 장인숙의 반발을 불러 일으켰다. 즉 리순옥은 정치범이 아니였다는것이다. <탈북자>들과의 기자회견보수로서 그들이 돈을 받는것은 수년동안 관례로 되여왔다.

남조선통일부의 한 관리는 돈의 액수는 정보의 정확성에 따라 달라진다고 말하였다. 조사자와 <탈북자>와의 관계에 따라 지불금액이 어떻게 변할수 있으며 이것이 증언내용에 어떤 영향을 주는가? 이러한 행위는 〈수요가 높은 자료〉들을 요구하기 마련이다. 보다 충격적이거나 감성적인것일수록 더 많은 돈을 받는다.》

공화국에 대한 고립과 락인, 허위선전, 명예훼손과 《악마화》는 오늘날 류행되고있는 돈벌이산업으로 되고있으며 종국적으로 이러한 현상이 무엇을 노리고있는가 하는데 대해서는 의심할 여지가 없다.

3월 2일 유엔안보리사회가 공화국의 경제를 《붕괴》시키기 위한 야만적인 《결의》를 채택한지 5일후 미군과 남조선은 공화국정부를 없애버리기 위한 《참수작전》을 포함한 2개월동안의 사상최대규모의 《키 리졸브》, 《독수리》군사연습을 시작하였다.

국가의 생존을 위협하는 군사훈련은 무력공격으로부터의 《자체방위권리》를 규제한 유엔헌장 제51조를 리행할것이라는 공화국의 주장을 정당화해주었다.

로씨야와 중국이 어째서 안전보장리사회 《결의》 2270호에 거부권을 행사하지 않았는가에 대해 많은 사람들이 의문을 표시하는것도 일리가 있다.

국제무대에서 조선을 《악마화》한 미국은 다음단계의 목표를 더욱 구체화하였으며 본격적으로 남조선에 《싸드》를 배치하기 위한 준비에 착수하였다.

레간시기 미국은 이전 쏘련을 군비경쟁에 끌어들여 그들로 하여금 군사분야에 막대한 투자를 하게 함으로써 사회주의건설계획들을 파탄시키고 쏘련인민들속에서 좌절감과 환멸감을 초래하며 궁극적으로 쏘베트국가를 전복시킬 목적에서 《별세계전쟁》을 제창하였다.

현재 미국은 《싸드》를 리용하여 중국이 최우선시하고있는 경제분야에 대한 투자를 류사한 방식으로 와해시키려고 꾀하고있다.

다시말하여 노벨상수상자인 경제학자 죠세프 스티글리쯔가 확언한것처럼 미국은 5억명의 주민들을 빈궁에서 구제하여 자기의 경제제도의 특출한 성과를 과시한 중국인들을 군비경쟁의 마수에 걸어 생활수준을 계속 높일수 없게 하고 군비경쟁시기의 쏘련인들처럼 그들을 사회적좌절감과 환멸감에 빠뜨려 종국적으로 중국의 사회구조와 생활력을 약화시키려 하고있다.

1992년에 나는 유엔주재 쏘련의 마지막대사였으며 유엔주재 로씨야 초대대사였던 율리 워론쪼브와 장시간에 걸쳐 담화를 나누었다. 그는 이렇게 말하였다.

《우리는 자신들을 보호할수 있는 무기를 충분히 가지고있었다. 그러나 우리는 미국의 계책에 속아 군사분야에 더 많은 투자를 하게 되였는데 이것은 괜한짓이였다. 딸레랑(프랑스 나뽈레옹시기의 유명한 외교관)의 말을 빈다면 〈우리는 범죄보다 더 큰 죄악을 저질렀다. 그것이 바로 실수이다.〉》

미국이 유도하는 군비경쟁에서 중국은 자기가 이룩한 많은것을 잃을것이며 그로 하여 밀려드는 류혈참상의 해일은 유엔안전보장리사회가 남겨놓은 유산으로 될것이다.

《유엔결의》 제2270호는 조선반도주변나라들의 전략적안전리익에 해를 주고 반도문제의 정치적해결책을 찾으려는 노력을 심히 저애하고있는것으로 하여 천만부당하다.

[출처: 메아리]

 

The Crucifixion of North Korea, The Demonization

of the DPRK: UN Security Council Resolution 2270       By Carla Stea

Global Research, 3/15/2016

“The UN which was created to prevent the scourge of war, has become an instrument of war”. Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General, Re: United Nations Security Council Resolution 678:

One of the most infamous and provocative resolutions adopted in the history of the United Nations Security Council is Resolution 2270, adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter on March 2, 2016. The unconscionable cruelty of this resolution literally taunts and baits the DPRK to react, as the resoslution strangles the economy of the DPRK, inevitably causing intolerable suffering to the people of that bullied nation.

The demonization of North Korea is based on the grossest of double standards, and fraudulent testimony by defectors from the DPRK who were paid large sums of money to provide sensational and gruesome descriptions of human rights abuses in the DPRK, testimony both lurid and lucrative, and which was later proven to be false, and withdrawn by these same defectors who had so blatantly lied. This has been documented by The New York Times and the The Guardian of Britain.

It is impossible to ignore the possibility that Resolution 2270 is intended to facilitate a sinister agenda, which could very likely culminate in largescale warfare in East Asia, pulverizing North Korea, inevitably leading to massive bloodshed in both North and South Korea, and forcing the People’s Republic of China to increase military spending to the detriment of its social programs and its success in raising hundreds of millions of its citizens out of poverty.

The hypocrisy and double standards of this resolution are brazen to the point of barbarity, considering the enormity of suffering it inflicts upon the lives of North Koreans as a consequence of this action, which shames the United Nations Security Council.

By prohibiting ( No. “30” of the resolution) the DPRK’s export and sale of 50% of the minerals ( gold, titanium, vanadium, rare earth minerals, probably coal), upon the export of which the survival of the country’s economy depends, this resolution devastates North Korea’s economy, and condemns the citizens of the DPRK to rampant starvation.

No. “17” of the resolution

“Decides that all Member States shall prevent specialized teaching or training of DPRK nationals within their territories or by their nationals…of advanced physics, advanced computer simulation and related computer sciences, geospatial navigation, nuclear engineering and related disciplines.”

Resolution 2270 thereby condemns the DPRK to intellectual impoverishment, and a primitive level in science, and, especially medicine (so much of which now depends on advanced, sophisticated computer technology and advanced nuclear engineering for swift diagnosis and options indispensable for treatment of cancers and other pathological medical conditions and illnesses, etc.

This resolution is a consequence of the ongoing demonization of North Korea, a tiny, country which proudly defends a social and economic system which is anathema to the capitalist “west” and US-NATO powers, unlike obedient South Korea, which is regarded by the USA as merely a military base, to the humiliation of the South Koreans, many of whom cautiously confide their anger at being a mere colony hostage to the West.

The contrivances and slanders used to degrade and torment the DPRK follow the now predictable pattern that we saw with the UN Security Council adoption of Resolution 678 in 1990, which led to the annihilation of Iraq and murder of Saddam Hussein, and the spread of the most vicious terrorism; the adoption of Resolution 1973 which obliterated Libya as a functioning state, lawlessly committed the extrajudicial murder of Khaddafi, and transformed Libya into an incubator of exponentially increasing terrorism, worldwide. And now, on December 22, 2014, in violation of its mandate, and following reports of human rights abuses which have been exposed as fraudulent, the Security Council, against the opposition by Russia and China, put the “Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK” on its agenda, urging the Security Council to refer this concocted matter to the International Criminal Court, despite the fact that at a press stakeout after that meeting, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic admitted that the testimony of defectors which was used as the basis for the Report of the Commission of Inquiry (S/2014/276) would not meet the standard of proof required for consideration as evidence admissible in court.

At that December, 2014 meeting the Permanent Representative of the United States, who ferrets out the most lurid and practically pornographic details, stated at that Council meeting: “A former guard testified that the baby of a political prisoner had been cooked and fed to animals.” The US permanent Representative ignored the fact that the US Senate Torture Report had been recently released (after fierce attempts to conceal its findings) confirming (in grossly redacted form) that often innocent prisoners of the US Army had been subjected to horrifying tortures, several prisoners had been waterboarded more than 180 times, along with other atrocities.

And her conveniently, or irresponsibly selective memory ignores the fact that the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, in Chile, installed and supported by the US government, had a standard practice of forcing live rats up the vaginas of female political prisoners, after submerging their heads in vats of excrement, and in an op ed piece by Anthony Lewis of the NY Times, he reported documentation of the Chilean government forcing hungry live rats up the bleeding naked legs and torso of political prisoner Sergio Buschman, enabling the rats to eat whatever they found most edible. When it comes to pornographic torture of political prisoners, the inventiveness of the US military and its client states is probably unsurpassed. Veronica di Negri, one of the Chilean women who suffered the sexual torture using rats, had a teenage son who participated in a peaceful demonstration to restore democracy in Chile; the Chilean military poured gasoline over her son, Rodrigo Rojas di Negri, set him on fire and he died in agony. All this is documented in The Washington Post in an article by David Remnick.

This is only the prelude. Reports in the NY Times and the British Guardian document that not only are many of the DPRK defectors’ reports proven to be fraudulent, those very defectors, upon whose fraudulent testimony the UN Commission of Inquiry is based, (testimony which was later retracted by the defectors themselves), had initially been paid large sums of money – upwards of $500 per hour for the most sensational, shocking inventions.

Shin Dong-hyuk, whose fanciful 2012 book “Escape from Camp 14” translated into 27 languages, met with Navi Pillay, the former UN Human Rights Chief, and his fabrications formed the basis for the UN Commission of inquiry. Shin subsequently retracted central parts of his account, and apologized for betraying the trust of the gullible “investigators” who eagerly sought and seized upon his lurid details. According to the Guardian:

“Shin is not alone. Another North Korean defector, Lee Soon-ok offered testimony to the US House of Representatives in 2004 describing torture and the killing of Christians in hot iron liquid in a North Korean political prison. But Lee’s testimony was challenged by Chang In-suk, then head of the North Korean defector’s association in Seoul, who knew first hand that Lee had never been a political prisoner. Many former DPRK citizens agreed Lee’s accounts were unlikely to be true….Cash payments in return for interviews with North Korean refugees have been standard practice in the field for years….A government official from the South Korean ministry of unification said the range of fees could vary wildly, depending on the quality of the information….How does the payment change the relation between a researcher and an interviewee, and what effect will it have on the story itself? This practice drives the demand for “salable stories,” the more shocking or emotional, the higher the fee.”

So much for the double standards which dictate Security Council action. There is now more than reasonable doubt about the validity of the Commission of Inquiry report upon which the UN Security Council is basing its effort to refer the DPRK to the International Criminal Court. Isolation, stigmatization, slander, defamation and demonization of DPRK is so fashionable and lucrative an industry today that there can be little doubt about the agenda driving this. “Crimes of War,” edited by Dr. Richard Falk and psychologist Robert Jay Lifton documents stage one in preparing an attack upon a people: dehumanization, and this stage has already been accomplished among those conforming with the program. Once dehumanized, it is easy to massacre and exterminate a people, overtly or covertly. DPRK is one of the few remaining socialist countries in the world, proud and defiant of the will of the capitalist behemoth, and for this it is being crucified.

On September 27, 2014, Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong of the DPRK stated at the UN General Assembly:

“The situation on the Korean Peninsula had reached the touch-and-go brink of war last year. It was started with the United States-South Korea joint military exercises aimed at “occupying” the capital city, Pyongyang of the DPRK. In January this year, the government of the DPRK made a proposal to stop military hostile acts against each other on the Korean peninsula, but these provocative joint military exercises against the DPRK were forcibly conducted in March-April and in August as well. The government of the DPRK officially referred to the Security Council the issue of suspending such war exercises which seriously endanger peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the region as a whole. However the Security Council turned its back… At present, the government of the DPRK set forth the economic construction and improvement of people’s living standard as its major task. Accordingly, peaceful environment is a vital necessity for us to lead the just picked-up upward trend of the national economy to a sustainable development.”

According to Al Jazeera last week:

“If the current sanctions are enforced systematically, North Korea would suffer a major blow. Its economy, which began to recover in recent years, is likely to shrink again, and its living standards will certainly go down. According to Foster Klug on CNS news, “Analysts say one part of North Korea’s traditional anger over drills is that they force the impoverished country to respond with its own costly war games.”

On March 2, the UN Security Council inflicted this brutal resolution on the DPRK, crippling the country’s economy. Five days later, the US and South Korea began the two month military operation “Key Resolve,” and ”Foal Eagle,” which include the “beheading operation” that plans to remove the DPRK government, colorfully describing the fate of the North Korean President in a manner identical to the practice of ISIS: beheading. According to China Daily, “The exercises this year are reported to be carried out on the largest scale, mobilizing the highest tech weapons.”

After witnessing the fate of Libya’s country and leader after Khadaffi abandoned his nuclear program, under no realistic circumstances could the DPRK abandon its nuclear program. Further, the question must be asked: who has the right to demand this? There are nine nuclear powers today, and only the US has ever used nuclear weapons, as a demonstration exercise on civilian human guinea pigs, to intimidate the USSR.

At the March 2, 2016 Security Council meeting, once again, gross hypocrisy and double standards were revealed by the Permanent Representative of the US, who sanctimoniously and disingenuously began:

“In looking at the DPRK, it can at times feel as though one is seeing two entirely different realities. One is the DPRK that is expending tremendous resources in pursuing advanced technology to build an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying out a nuclear strike a continent away. The other is the DPRK in which according to a joint assessment conducted by the World Food Program and the North Korean government, 25 per cent of children under the age of five suffer from stunted growth as a result of chronic malnutrition.”

One can only question the US Permanent Representative’s awareness of reality in the country she represents: last weekend the US government celebrated the launching of the attack submarine named “Washington,” the cost of building which was huge, and the US yearly spends more than 612 billion dollars for the military, which it deploys in 150 countries around the world, while only 9 weeks before, the Financial Times reported, December 11, 2015, that twenty percent of US citizens live below the poverty line, and homelessness is a national scandal. The US Permanent Representative’s description of North Korea appears to be a paranoid projection of the economic priorities of the country she currently represents.

While 17,000 US troops and 300,000 South Korean troops threaten the DPRK’s survival with yearly military drills rehearsing “occupying Pyongyang” and “Beheading operation,” which would justify the DPRK’s invoking Article 51 of the UN Charter guaranteeing the “inherent right of self defense” against armed attack, the US-South Korean military has widened its threat and its target, and is now engaged in preparations to deploy THAAD missiles (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) in South Korea. In an interview with Reuters in Munich, Germany, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated:

“China is gravely concerned about the US’s such probable move. The coverage of the THAAD missile defense system, especially the monitoring scope of its X-Band radar, goes far beyond the defense need of the Korean Peninsula. It will reach deep into the hinterland of Asia, which will not only directly damage China’s strategic security interests, but also do harm to the security interests of other countries in this region. There are two old Chinese sayings, one of which goes: ‘Xiang Zuang performed the sword dance as a cover for his attempt on Liu Bang’s life,’ and the other one goes: ‘Sima Zhao’s trick is obvious to everyone on the street-the villainous design is apparent.’ We firmly oppose any country to utilize the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula to jeopardize China’s legitimate rights and interests.”

On January 27, 2016 The New York Times reported that “China has accused Washington of using the North Korean nuclear tests as an excuse to deploy the THAAD missile system in South Korea.” According to Wang Junsheng, a research fellow on Northeast Asia at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: “It is simply the US technically trying to deter China and Russia with these missiles, and strategically alienating South Korea from China.” Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated:

“It doesn’t require experts. Ordinary people know that the deployment of the THAAD system is not just to defend South Korea, but a wider agenda and may even serve the possibility of targeting China.”

Indeed, Japan’s “apology” to South Korea over the “comfort women” issue was made under pressure from the United States, which seeks to cement a coalition of Japan, South Korea and other Asian “allies” to confront and encircle China. In February 2014 the annual exercise between Japan and the US in Camp Pendleton California, called “Iron Fist,” was the largest operation ever, and included drones and air support used to cover troops bombing and invading an island prior to its capture. Russia is encircled by NATO bases in the West, and THAAD missiles in South Korea would complete the encirclement of Russia with the THAAD missile system on the East.

There is the ominous possibility that the recklessly punitive Resolution 2270 could entirely collapse the DPRK, driving a flood of refugees into China fleeing the oncoming hordes of the United States and South Korea. This would inflame the entire area, and one cannot expect China to remain passive with hostile troops on its border. Slightly more than two years ago, the Yale Journal of International Affairs published an extraordinary article by the great sociologist and former adviser to President Jimmy Carter, Dr. Amitai Etzioni. Dr. Etzioni’s article is entitled: “Who Authorized Preparations for War with China?” Last year Dr. Etzioni discussed with me, personally, his alarm over these stealthy preparations.

As usual every effort will be made to provide a cosmetic veneer of legitimacy for such an act of aggression, as step by step the infrastructure is being contrived for a terrifying outcome which will very likely become inevitable. The destruction of Korea will be merely “collateral damage” in any deadly confrontation between two global super powers. And the United Nations Security Council has been distorted and manipulated to facilitate, once again, the scourge of war. This is irresponsible to an extreme.

The purpose of Reagan’s “Star Wars” was to lure the USSR into an arms race requiring vast investment in the military, to the detriment of the social programs of socialism, resulting in the Soviet people’s frustration and disillusionment, which contributed to the collapse of the Soviet state. The capitalist powers could then gloat that “socialism failed.” The purpose of THAAD is to lure China into a similar distortion of its economic investment priorities, so that after having lifted a half billion people out of poverty, evidence of the extraordinary success of their economic system (as confirmed by Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz), they will become trapped in an arms race which will cripple their ability to continue raising the living standards of their people, leading to social frustration and disillusionment similar to that suffered by the Soviet peoples during their arms race, and ultimately weakening the structure, and possibly the viability of the Chinese state.

In 1992 I had a long, personal conversation with Ambassador Yuliy Vorontsev, the last Soviet Ambassador to the UN, and the first Russian Ambassador to the UN, regarding this very arms race. Ambassador Vorontsev stated:

“We had enough weapons to defend ourselves. But we were provoked to invest more in the military, and we should not have risen to the bait. To quote Tallyrand: ‘We committed something worse than a crime; we committed a blunder.’”

With the destruction of the DPRK, China would become extremely vulnerable, and with the placement of THAAD in South Korea, an arms race would be provoked. This would be profitable for the “one percent” in the capitalist powers, who profit from the military-industrial arms buildup, and profit enormously from war. But it would destroy all that China has accomplished, and its model for a saner, more humanitarian world. And the ensuing tsunami of bloodshed would be the legacy of the United Nations Security Council. One can only question why Russia and China did not veto SC Resolution2270, especially as Russia stated during that meeting:

“Russia is very seriously worried about the negative trends and the way the situation in North-East Asia has been developing. We are concerned about attempts to use the actions of Pyongyang as a justification for military build-up in the region including of offensive weapons and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system. The resolution we have adopted today should not be used to choke off the North Korean economy. In that regard we are concerned about the hasty introduction, even before today’s resolution was adopted, of unilateral sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which could have very negative humanitarian consequences for the many millions of inhabitants of the country, especially those who are most vulnerable.”

China stated:

“China opposes the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system on the Korean peninsula because such an action harms the strategic security interests of China and other countries of the region, goes against the goal of maintaining peace, security and stability of the peninsula and will seriously undermine the efforts of the international community to find a political solution to the question of the Korean peninsula.”

It is the passionate dream of many of the Korean people, both North and South, to reunify. The passage of UNSC Resolution 2270 makes this dream now a fantasy, and a form of magical thinking in a context where, absent dramatic change in the global economic architecture, war and bloodshed are most likely.

Under the best of circumstances this long cherished Korean hope for reunification will be excruciatingly difficult to accomplish. However, the current situation seems to be the worst of circumstances. Transformation of the economic structure and priorities of the capitalist West would provide the most favorable context in which this more than half-century longing of the Korean peoples for reunification may finally become a reality.