North Korea's Forgotten Goal Remains: Invade and Conquer South Korea
What we are seeing – the North’s recent demonstration of nuclear might followed by a charm offensive aimed at South Koreans – is simply a tactical move within the same old strategy.
North Korea has claimed that its nuclear weapons are necessary for survival. Kim Jong-un clearly wants the world to believe he would use them to defend his rule. His minions point to Iraq to illustrate the perils of denuclearization. Saddam Hussein is dead. So are his sons.
But Iraq, as a country, still exists. North Korea with its artillery and other conventional weapons was successfully deterring attack long before it developed nukes. Simple fact: The country could be far better off without Kim or his nukes.
The key to understanding why nukes are necessary for the Kim regime’s survival is the fact that it persists in scheming to take over South Korea, instead of focusing on peaceful development on its side of the border. Probably it would take a new regime, headed by a Korean Deng Xiaoping, to change this long-standing strategy.
This first appeared in AsiaTimes here.
Image: Reuters.