Talk to North Korea

The world would have to talk to North Korea at some point of time in the near future. Dialogue is important and engagement would be the best way forward, however distasteful it appears to have to deal with someone way too cranky like the third-generation dynastic dictator Kim Jong-un. Imagine the damage to the world if Pyongyang does ever become capable of designing a nuclear warhead to be carried by a ballistic missile with the capacity to reach at least Seoul in South Korea and an eccentric megalomaniac has his finger on that trigger. How does the world deal with someone so despotic that he can order executions of high-ranking bureaucrats with anti-aircraft guns and various other means known only to fictional sadism of the horror film type Mr Kim rules over a nation that has been left behind in the modern era, but with such a bloated opinion of itself and its ruler that fantasy seems to rule.

There has always been a huge gap between North Korea’s rhetoric and reality but that gap is closing these days if one went by the power of the fifth nuclear test since 2006 and the second in a year. The indications that Pyongyang now has a weaponised nuclear bomb should send a chill around the world where it counts only upon China as an ally. China is capable of reining Mr Kim in by so much as cutting his oil supplies but for its own strategic reasons would not countenance such a move. South Korea has already made its move to protect itself by agreeing to host an US anti-missile system. Where the US can help is to attempt to open an avenue for talks on responsible nuclear capabilities. Otherwise, we would have to fear the worst from a dictator who behaves like a spoilt child while his countrymen often struggle to find enough to eat.