“Living hell, it was.” This was the first phrase that the North Korean defector used when I asked him about his home country. “I don’t know what happened to my
family. They were probably tortured, put
in jail, or maybe even killed. I can
only hope that they somehow got out too.”
Being one of the most well known rogue nations, North Korea has
consistently violated its own citizens’ rights and threatened world peace for
the last few decades. It has tortured,
starved, and killed its own citizens, all the while developing nuclear weapons
and long-range missile technology.
I personally believe that sanctions
serve their purpose best. Whenever a
bully does something bad, the teacher fixes the situation by punishing the
bully, so that the bully has a practical harm in his way that can motivate him
to stop the bad actions. As a punishment,
sanctions can be extremely effective, since although they are not military
actions and therefore will not provoke another war, the economic harms are
feared by the leaders of North Korea.
But it is true that pure economic
sanctions, such as the stop of all trade to North Korea can be detrimental
towards the citizens of the nation. When
the trade is stopped, the leaders try to minimize the effect of the sanction by
ripping off the citizens with increased taxes.
In such a hierarchical society, the citizens simply have to starve while
the leaders are barely affected by the worldwide economic sanctions.
When I went to do voluntary work in
Hanawon, the South Korean national center for the rehabilitation of North
Korean defectors, the defectors told me that life in North Korea for regular
citizens was unimaginably terrifying.
They had to pay whatever tax that was required of them, and less income
came their way, even further degrading their life. Having three meals regularly each day was
pure luxury, and they were thankful simply for not starving every day. But the scariest of all was the propaganda
North Korea maintained upon its citizens.
“We learned that the U.S was a terrorist nation. They were trying to take over the whole
world, but we the North Koreans were trying to stop them.” This was said with so much sincerity and
tears that I found it astonishing that the North Korean regime could keep such
insane social control. Upon hearing the words,
I thought that the international community must find a way for North Korea’s
punishment without is citizen being so harmed.
Then I learned about the steps taken by the U.S to achieve the same
goal.
The only and best way to restrict
North Korea’s irresponsible actions, while also maintaining security, is to try
to freeze the personal leader’s accounts.
This proved to be best when the U.S froze Kim Jeong-Il’s personal bank
account in Switzerland. At the time, Kim
Jeong-Il immediately returned to the six-party talks for the discussion of
their weapons of mass destruction. Also,
the economic sanctions on banks that support the North Korean nuclear program,
such as Tanchon Commercial Bank and
Leader (Hong Kong) International Trading Limited, was implemented
recently, on January 24th, 2013 as a response to the rogue nation’s
nuclear testing. These ways of
sanctioning will have a minimal impact on the majority of the citizens, and
will simply harm the leaders of North Korea financially.
Another reason why economic
sanctions should be proposed most in the status quo is because of the change in China’s attitude towards the issue of North Korea. Until just recently, China maintained its
position that it would ultimately support the rogue nation in any situations or
circumstances. Although they were
severely criticized, the Chinese refused to step back from its closest ally,
vetoing most of the resolutions and all of the sanctions targeted at North
Korea. But recently, after the North
Korean nuclear test, China has changed its mind. The only reason why North Korea was able to
somehow survive through the numerous, variable sanctions of the international
society was because of the superpower China standing behind its back with
support. Whenever such economic
sanctions were implemented, China maintained its trade, providing a lifeline
for North Korea. With China in support
of the sanction, now North Korea will be much more severely affected, and the
economic sanctions will have a much larger effect.
Rogue nations are called rogue
nations for a clear reason: they simply do not follow the rules agreed upon by
the world, go against human rights, and make threats against world peace. There is a need to deal with the situation
with North Korea, and using economic sanctions is the best possible way to
handle the rogue nation since it can be directed towards the leaders of North
Korea, and be effective due to the change of Chinese attitude.
Works
Cited
"Global Policy Forum." Sanctions Against North Korea.
Global Policy Forum, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2013.
"North Korea." - Sanctions Wiki.
Sanctions Wiki, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2013.
"North Korea Sanctions- Nuclear Reaction." The Economist. The Economist
Newspaper, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2013
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