US-DPRK WOULD-BE BROMANCE

 

North Korea cannot be stopped, it is a little too late! Development of nuclear weapons and the subsequent claim of a nuclear state status have rattled the international system’s key players. The United States has been conspicuously taking a hard stance against such activities and further threatening Pyongyang with consequences. The Russians seem reserved but calling for negotiations out of the stalemate.

The United States is of great interests due to its allies in the Korean Peninsula; Japan and South Korea. The two are constantly seeking for the US help against an aggressing North Korea. Internationally, both states have greatly improved economically. They would seem benign powers to the United States, however on a different prism, their economic and technological prowess poses a threat to Washington’s dominance. The extend of dependency would be greatly reduced in the event that a military threat was never imminent. The current situation has hiked defence expenditure to the advantage of the Americans.

It would be abstract to think that any nation-state would practice altruism globally, further none of these units takes comfort at an impending challenge to supremacy. Japan has been making substantial requests basing on her contributions to the United Nations for inclusion to the permanent membership of the Security Council. The privileges attached to this club are enormous and could alter the current global polity incentives. Japan would get audience and chances to foster its interests.

Using the “enemy of your enemy...”analogy sounds blunt but North Korea’s challenge to possible rivals of the United States’ hegemony is an alternative. Making the United States a target would be Kim Jong Un’s last option, this I base on the ultimate principle of mutual assured destruction. Off-shore balance is a concept the Americans have subscribed to previously, an instance being the conflict between Iraq and Iran. This scenario cannot be an exception. The aggressor will only act to the benefit of the master of global defensive policing. Normal handshakes and elusive statements of “resetting the button” will resurface when the timing is ripe.

North Korea will take care of emerging regional centres of power, and ultimately being taken care of too, nevertheless neither of them will get space to initiate great powers conflict against the preponderance of Trump’s collection of states.