BY JAMES MAO

In print | September 25, 2008

With the mystery surrounding Kim Jong Il’s illness shrouding North Korea in a murkier cloud of uncertainty than usual, one topic still remains prominent in the global arena: North Korea’s plans to restore its nuclear facilities. These announced plans are a drastic step back from the progress that was made when North Korea agreed to participate in a six-party disarmament talk between itself, South Korea, China, Japan, Russian, and the United States. Kim’s seemingly imminent demise, and the likely power struggle that would follow it, creates further unrest for a potentially volatile situation.

As far as impending apocalypses go, nuclear warfare is Exhibit A of how the world will meet its end at the hands of the humans who inhabit it. Even while astounding scientific discoveries in fields such as medicine continue to be made, appallingly dangerous scientific developments in the area of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) have become a primary concern in today’s fractured world. Concern over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions is certainly warranted.

The curse of human nature is that the inclination towards adventure and innovation often does culminate in less than optimal situations. Namely, the one the global community is mired in today. With eight nations definitely in possession of nuclear weapons and at least four others likely to have them, the threat of nuclear warfare is at an all-time high.

America and the United Nations have committed to eradicating this threat the best they can, as evidenced by their investigations of Iran’s nuclear capabilities this past year. South Korea recently decided to postpone a steel shipment to North Korea in response to the latter’s failure to comply with disarmament agreements. Calls have been made to completely ban the development and creation of WMDs.

In the volatile environment that is this Planet Earth, however, prohibiting nations from manufacturing new types of WMDs can hardly be considered the practical solution to thwarting the danger of nuclear war.

The greatest problem with such an action is determining how exactly it will be enforced. Assuming that the UN is capable of passing this resolution does not counteract the checkered history the world has had concerning the detection and removal of WMDs.

There is the troubling fact that the only entity that has shown consistent commitment to challenging the proliferation of nuclear weapons worldwide is, in fact, also the only entity ever to have used a nuclear weapon. And ever since the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945, buildup of similar weaponry has been allowed to run unchecked, as previously mentioned, in at least seven other nations.

Banning WMDs will only push those countries that have proven that they are truly determined to possess them to develop them in secrecy. It is similar to how the black market can flourish in China despite pirated goods technically being banned. Considering the present state of North Korea, the various other nations with a vested interest in the situation are definitely more grateful to at least be aware of the nuclear facilities situation. The United Nations would not prefer to work in ignorance of those kinds of vital facts, behind the façade of a WMD-less world.

Merely prohibiting the development of WMDs, in any case, is fundamentally the wrong approach to tempering the tensions that may bring about worldwide disaster. It would be a measure that simply identifies the weaponry itself as the scapegoat and not the true culprit for the discordance of the world: the egos that propel nations to delve into the arena of WMDs.

It is the religion-fueled squabbles over strips of land and the rivalry-propelled races for improved armaments that have plunged the world into the state it is in today. Prohibiting the development of WMDs removes the means, but not the motivation. Consider it a more depressing version of a trite saying—“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” And with a government like North Korea’s, which has proven itself willing to watch millions starve to death so long as the whims of its dictator are pursued, there is without a doubt the will to achieve whatever Kim Jong-Il has set out for them. Dead or alive.

James is a first-year. He can be reached at jmao4@swarthmore.edu.

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