North Korea, nuclear war & the power of vision
As we write, there is already a verbal nuclear war in the air. Kim Jong-Un has met his match in Donald Trump. They are exchanging fire for fire and the world is on the edge, hoping and praying that it all ends as ‘ubiri onu’ (shakara). The ‘fire and fury’ promised by Trump if Kim Jong-Un continued to threaten the USA will affect the whole world, not just North Korea (NK), South Korea (SK) and Japan which are the target potential victims, and should North Korea respond, then the US West Coast and most of Canada may be affected, because its latest ballistic missile could travel around 9000 km. Can we trust the neutrality of Russia and China?
‘Hwasong-14’ tested by NK on July 28, 2017 is the furthest- reaching ballistic missile successfully tested and could easily hit Hawaii which is only 7500km from NK. After an unsuccessful missile test in April 29, another test ‘Hwasong 12’ was successfully carried out a month later in May which could travel up to 4000 km and could easily hit Guam, a US-territory in the Pacific region. But with the successful launch of Hwasong 14, the alarm began to ring desperately as it became clear that NK can launch ballistic missiles against the US and other nations. But the real danger is that these ballistic missiles can be made to carry nuclear war heads which can spell major disaster for the world, perhaps the first after the H-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
The frightening reality is that NK has become a nuclear power. Its nuclear development activities started in 1965 when it built the Yongbyon nuclear facility with the help of Soviet engineers and performed its latest nuclear test in September 2016. On April 2017, NK showed off its nuclear weapons in a military parade and said it had carried out five nuclear tests since 2006. It is reported that NK has a rich source of fissile material, both plutonium from its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and highly enriched uranium from other sites. In January, 2016, NK claimed to have detonated its first hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) which is said to be 50 to 100 times more powerful than those used in Hiroshima.
Against all odds and several UN sanctions including the most recent, a few weeks ago, NK has finally been recognized as a nuclear power. According to the report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), North Korea has become the 9th nation with nuclear power. The nine nations as at 2014 are said to possess approximately 16300 nuclear weapons as follows- Russia (8000); USA (7300); France (300); China (250); UK (225); Pakistan (100-120); India (90-110); Israel (80); North Korea ( 6-8,though recent estimates indicate 60 as at today).
Under the treaty on measures for the further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms (New START), Russia and the USA have reduced their inventories but still account for more than 93% of operational nuclear war heads.
The Korean Peninsula was divided after World War 11 in 1945. Five years later, NK invaded SK, starting the 3-year Korean War which ended in 1953 with an armistice (not peace treaty), which means that NK is still technically at war with SK. In the mid sixties, North Korea envisioned that it would become a nuclear power. They determined that such would grant them the following: Security against its enemies especially the West with America, South Korea and Japan being the key; economic development & prosperity; and importantly respect and prestige in the international arena. They achieved the first milestone in 1965 and by July 2006, they achieved their goal. But the world refused to acknowledge this feat but rather decided to demonise Pyongyang and foisted an array of sanctions to either stop further development or possibly destroy existing arsenal. The UN led by the USA pressurized ‘bom boy’s’ grandfather (Kim 11 Sung, 1948-1994) and his father (Kim Jong il 1994-2011) to abandon the vision through all forms of sanctions, demonization and intimidation. When NK withdrew from the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003, the UN had to mandate the six-party talks (South Korea, North Korea, USA, China, Japan and Russia) in April 2003 all in the effort to abort the vision of NK to become a nuclear power, which eventually broke down by 2009.
Then came ‘bomboy’(Kim Jong Un) and he determined to see to the attainment of the vision elaborated by his grandfather and pursued by his father by all means. He realized that it was not enough to have nuclear weapon, but they must have the means to move and deploy the weapons, hence he focused on the development of the ballistic missiles. From Hwasong1 to Hwasong 14, he achieved his vision to the chagrin and utter amazement of many and disillusionment of the US. Thus a country of only 25 million people regarded as the one the poorest in the world by Western measurements has become a nuclear power! It is sneezing and the world is quacking. What will happen when it coughs? Soon, the world will be compelled to give them a permanent seat on the Security Council to seat among the other big 8 that already have permanent seats. The power of vision!
So what is the vision of Nigeria? Non negotiable unity of a country of disgruntled nationalities at each other’s throat, like a plane on auto- pilot where some passengers are shouting to be let off and others are trying to push others out of the plane and the Captain is recuperating from an undisclosed illness, while the rest of us are praying and hoping for the best. No nation can achieve the respect of other nations if it cannot determine a great vision and pursue it with single-mindedness. That is the principle of self-determination and self actualization. My thinking is that we need to evolve a new nation, otherwise 50 years from now we may still be moving round in cycles, starting fires and putting them off and yet starting new ones! God forbid!
Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa OFR