DPR Korea: Sanctions will be an act of war

Washington has got it wrong again, this time being forced to climb down, admitting that it is prepared to talk with North Korea, after its decision to restrict the supply of diesel forced the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to restart the nuclear energy programme. Now Pyongyang declares that any restriction of trade will be considered as an act of war.

Washington is adopting a significantly different stance with Pyongyang from the aggressive and bullying position it is taking with Iraq. The military power of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is already formidable and yesterday, 100,000 people staged a mass demonstration in favour of the Communist regime as the leadership announced an increase in military spending.

Washington yet again has bitten off more than it can easily chew, firstly restricting the supply of diesel in mid-winter, when families need fuel for heating, an inhumane act to say the least, which forced Pyongyang to announce a restart of its nuclear energy programme after two members of the inspection team from the International Atomic Energy Agency were expelled from the plant at Yongbyon. This in turn led Washington to announce that trading sanctions will be imposed. However, the damage has already been done.

Pyongyang has made it clear that it has nothing to lose by squaring up to the United States of America, threatening Washington that to go ahead with its policy of provocation will provoke war. “Sanctions mean war and war knows no mercy. The US should adopt dialogue with the DPRK” stated a message from the official news agency.

President Bush has done nothing to establish good diplomatic relations with the DPRK. After branding the country part of an axis of evil, he then went on to say in public how much he despised the country’s leader, Kim Jong Il, after which the US Navy instructed Spanish vessels to intercept a shipment from North Korea to Yemen, which was an act of piracy. The shipment, totally within international law, was later allowed to proceed.

The Russian Federation and China have offered to mediate as the tension rises, tension which has been wholly and unequivocally caused by Washington’s brazen inability to conduct civilised international relations with sovereign states that have a different viewpoint or whose economies are locked away from the greedy and intrusive eyes of the international financial institutions which are the motor of the US economy while at the same time they guarantee the hegemony of the USA over weaker nations.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru