North Korea’s outrage
October 10, 2006 | By Nathaniel Ward
The world should not allow Kim Jong Il's provocations to give him the upper hand.
Two days ago, North Korea’s communist government apparently conducted an underground nuclear test. Details remain sketchy.
President Bush said even the claim of a test “constitutes a threat to international peace and security. The United States condemns this provocative act.” Many countries, including North Korea’s communist allies in China, joined the United States in condemning the test.
“If a nuclear test did occur, that test is both provocative and intolerable,” writes Mike Needham, director of Heritage’s Asian Studies Center. “In response to the test, the U.S. and its allies must extend a comprehensive offensive and defensive deterrent policy to the Korean peninsula.”
Needham proposes three steps to contain this new threat:
- Do not allow North Korea’s aggression to gain it any leverage in the region or the world.
- Prepare to defend America and its allies from attack by making clear the consequences of using nuclear weapons and further developing a missile defense shield.
- Initiate a program of “active regime intolerance” to impose new sanctions and further isolate the rogue dictator and his government.
The consequences of the test
“The gravest threat” from North Korea’s nuclear test, Needham explains, “is that Kim Jong-Il will overestimate the leverage he has gained and behave recklessly as a result. In fact, he has gained very little new leverage on the rest of the world. Rather, he has further isolated himself by aggressively ignoring an international consensus that a North Korean nuclear test is intolerable.”
Even an isolated North Korea could spark trouble. Heritage national security expert Peter Brookes warns that the test could destabilize the entire region. A nuclear-armed North Korea, he argues in The New York Post, could encourage both Japan and South Korea to develop nuclear weapons of their own or expand their conventional arsenals.
“Such a significant arms buildup would affect the security policy of other Northeast Asia powers,” Brookes continues. “China, Taiwan and/or Russia might respond in kind—resulting in a dangerous conventional (or nuclear) arms race.”
A stronger alliance with Japan
The recent trouble in northeast Asia has raised another, more welcome possibility: that Japan might become a closer American ally. As Heritage President Ed Feulner explained last week in The Chicago Sun-Times, Japan’s new Prime Minister has already said he wants to strengthen military cooperation with the United States and build up his country’s own forces.
“Japan may well need that capability,” Feulner writes. “It sits on the front lines of virtually any future showdown in Asia. Take North Korea's recent missile launches. If those missiles worked, they could potentially reach American shores. But Japan knows North Korea could attack it at any time. And while Japan knows it can count on U.S. support, having its own skilled military could help deter North Korean aggression.”
Forging a “special relationship” with Japan like that America now enjoys with Britain could be an essential step towards a safer world, Feulner concludes.
If Congress won’t act on health care, turn to the states
“U.S. health insurance markets are governed by a complex system of state and federal laws and regulations, many of which are outdated and counterproductive,” Heritage’s Bob Moffit writes. The director of the Center for Health Policy Studies points out that the tax code benefits those who purchase health care from their employer but penalizes those who seek to purchase another health care plan that might suit them better.
Congress has been reluctant to act on any reforms that might allow Americans the same choice in health insurance as they get with other forms of insurance. But there is a solution. “Statewide health insurance exchanges are a solution to this inefficient inconsistency,” Moffit explains, “giving individuals and families the opportunity to secure the health plans of their choice without losing tax benefits.”
Moffit argues that “state-level health insurance exchanges would increase health insurance coverage, significantly lower prices in the individual coverage market, give individuals and families access to more choice, allow coverage portability, and increase employers’ flexibility in offering health benefits.”
Heritage has been making the case for conservative health care reforms before government officials and elected leaders in several states. We’ve had some success, too. Earlier this year, Heritage worked closely with Gov. Mitt Romney to ensure that insurance market reform was included in Massachusetts’ healthcare overhaul.
In other news
- The government reported Friday that the economy created 810,000 jobs between March 2005 and March 2006—jobs the government had previously overlooked. As The Wall Street Journal notes, most media outlets ignored this very good economic news, focusing instead on the lower monthly figures. And, the paper continues, this job growth is another positive outcome of the 2003 tax cuts on investment and hard work.
- $22 million in taxpayer dollars intended for disaster relief is instead being wasted on puppet shows and games for children.
- A private railroad company successfully lobbied Congress for $75 million in federal grants to use artillery on a national park to prevent avalanches. The railroad, which once protected its tracks at private expense, now wants to prevent avalanche damage on the taxpayer dime.
- Mexico’s foreign minister said his country was considering complaining to the United Nations about America’s border fence initiative. The country’s president-elect, Felipe Calderon, said that he believes the issue is bilateral and not one for the UN, however.
- Media mogul Ted Turner said recently that he opposes displaying the American flag on news broadcasts and complained that coverage of the Iraq war was too pro-American in its early days. He also said he was for a while unsure which side to support on the war on terror.
Coming up at Heritage
- On Friday, October 13 at 9:30 am, Heritage will host a panel discussion looking at how China’s neighbors view the communist country’s growing power.
- On Friday, October 13 at noon, Dr. Williamson Murray of Ohio State University and the Institute for Defense Analysis will discuss the importance of studying military history in this time of ever-changing military technology.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
