Webb: North Korea vs. the world

Former President Jimmy Carter says he’s willing to go to North Korea. Why would we, and by we I mean the world, risk another round of appeasement and failure from the left. 

The North Koreans lied to the world and the Clinton administration in 1994 after he gave them billions of dollars which they used to fund a clear path to enhanced nuclear capability.

They admitted their lie in 2001 and combined with forced honesty from the IAEA, complicit behavior by China, a co-development program with Iran and many other criminal examples of bad behavior we now have a rogue state that is a global problem.

{mosads}The focus on the intercontinental  ballistic missiles (ICBM ) program and the miniaturization of nuclear weapons gets the headline but ignores other possibilities. 

Nuclear proliferation of enriched material of any level is a potential shopping spree for radical Islamist regimes with global intentions and oil soaked money. Iran’s hegemonic Middle East aspirations and other actors including some in communist China may see this as an opportunity to advance their goals. 

Proliferation is also possible to despotic regimes. The nuclear bargaining chip is a powerful one, especially when dealing with governments based in appeasement or political apathy as we have seen in relation to other issues such as Venezuela. 

Enriched nuclear material, not necessarily a nuclear weapon is also a way to acquire other weaponry which can be targeted at South Korea, Japan and neighboring countries in the Asia Pacific region. The more North Korea develops its ICBM program and their capability to deliver non-nuclear warheads with greater accuracy the greater the danger. 

Why will China keep North Korea, the simmering pot, simmering?

As America’s economy recovers and revives financial independence although gradually, China begins to lose leverage against the West and needs to expand its adventurism in Asia and even into South and Central America. Don’t think in terms of election cycles, think rather in decades.

China needs North Korea to keep the world occupied and will only pretend to work with the West as long as they feel North Korea will not point weapons at them.

Make no mistake, China understands that a nuclear fallout does not respect the national borders but communist governments, as history demonstrates, are often willing to sacrifice some of its people for the greater good. Remember communism has been responsible for some 94 million deaths in the 20th century. What’s a few million more? A tragic contrast is that 28 million died under fascist regimes in the same period.

We have to increase leverage on China by every means necessary in spite of this to force them into an untenable position. Strong leadership led by America that not only recognizes the potential risks, but accepts that there could be loss of life as a part of the picture is required. 

The final and unacceptable position is a nuclear-armed North Korea with a lineup of bad actors waiting to buy. In this scenario the greater long-term danger outweighs the near-term loss of life in a non-nuclear conflict.

Webb is host of “The David Webb Show” on SiriusXM Patriot ’25, a Fox News contributor and a frequent television commentator. His column appears twice a month in The Hill.