The activist from the ANSWER Coalition believes the North Koreannuclear program is purely defensive, and following US sanctions onthe country, compares the American policies on the peninsula withthose in Iraq and Libya – not the road to peace, but to aninvasion.
RT: Prior to the sanctions being announced, NorthKorea threatened to use a pre-emptive nuclear strike against theUS. How likely is that to happen?
Brian Becker: No, it’s not likely to happen. NorthKoreans realize that the US, with 3,000 operational and 7,000nuclear weapons overall, would, as Colin Powell said in 1995 whenhe was threatening North Korea, turn their country into a charcoalbriquette. In other words, the overwhelming power of the Americannuclear machine is great indeed. But I think we have to step backand see what’s really going on because the North Koreans realizethat the United States’ strategy with the right-wing government inSouth Korea in pressuring China, North Korea’s traditional ally, togo along with the program because I think China fears, after theAsia pivot, that there’s growing danger of an actual war in thePacific to isolate North Korea.
But what has North Korea done? North Korea has carried out anuclear test, the third. But they’re responding to the major,massive US military exercises that are conducted in a way to stagea mock invasion and bombing of their country – the country that wasindeed invaded. Twenty years ago – in fact, exactly 20 years ago –the US strategic command said, “We’re reorienting US hydrogen bombsaway from the Soviet Union” - this was after the demise of the USSR– and are now targeting North Korea. And that’s when the DPRKwithdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and began building withearnestness its own nuclear capacity.
RT: And is this nuclear capacity though a threat tothe region as well as other parts of the world? The anti-missilesystem in Eastern Europe is being described as defensive actionagainst North Korea – is it really a threat?
BB: Well it’s not a threat in the sense I spoke about amoment ago, the US has such a preponderance of force. But the NorthKoreans, interestingly in February, just a month ago, said thelesson of the Libyan and the Iraq invasion that happened 10 yearsago when the US either invaded or bombed governments that weretargeted, that both of those governments had agreed to disarm, hadabandoned any weapons of mass destruction, and the North Koreaninterpretation of that is, if you disarm, the US will say, “Thankyou, let’s have peace”, but the US will say, “Thank you, now we canprepare more aggressively for an invasion or a bombingcampaign.”
North Korea is determined not to let that happen, and that’s howthey view the development of their nuclear arsenal – it’s strictlydefensive, it’s not a threat.
RT: The US has threatened even tougher measures ifthese newest sanctions fail to stop Pyongyang from more nucleartests. What else can they do short of military action?
BB: I think the economic sanctions are having a very bigimpact. The US is now basically depriving North Korea of access tointernational banking. They’re doing it to Korea, and they hope ifthey can break China, they will do it to Korea what they did toIraq as a precursor to regime change. Again, I think what needs tohappen is that the US needs to stop threatening North Korea. Itneeds to sign a peace treaty, which it refuses to do, and actuallyend the Korean War, rather than just armistice, which was on July26, 1953, 60 years ago. They need to lift the sanctions, and theyneed to normalize relations. That almost happened in the last eightdays of the Clinton administration, it was the beginning of a thaw,the US could go by that road, but it seems that the Obamaadministration is acting a lot like George W. Bush.
RT: As you say, the dialogue is the only way forward.But there’s been a lot of rhetoric and military action to get Iranover its perceived nuclear threat. We’re not actually seeing thesame sort of rhetoric over North Korea, are we?
BB: I actually think that the Korean Peninsula is so hot,so tense, it’s the most heavily-militarized part of the world. Eventhough none of the countries, none of the parties want a full-scalewar, any small incident in the Korean Peninsula could lead to bothsides stepping on the escalation ladder. That’s how wars start,even when there’s no intention for war. The need now is to reducetensions, and the … for that is not on North Korea which is notthreatening the US, it’s the US that should stop carrying out wargames simulating the invasion and bombing of North Korea and liftsanctions.
RT: China has actually cooperated with the US, and theUN over this latest round of sanctions. That’s an interesting move,is it not?
BB: I think it’s a clear result of China pursuing anappeasement foreign policy with the US after the Obamaadministration announced the pivot of Asia. It’s gonna be in thePacific waters. The US is militarizing its presence in the Pacific,China is very worried that the Korean Peninsula could become aspark causing a larger conflagration right on its own boundaries.So they’re upset with North Korea, but North Korea isn’t listeningto China, they’re not thinking mainly about China, they’rethinking, “How do we avoid being collapsed, either by economicsanctions, or military pressure, or combination of both?” Iactually think that the Korean Peninsula is so hot, so tense, it’sthe most heavily-militarized part of the world. Even though none ofthe countries, none of the parties want a full-scale war, any smallincident in the Korean Peninsula could lead to both sides steppingon the escalation ladder. That’s how wars start, even when there’sno intention for war. The need now is to reduce tensions, and theonus for that is not on North Korea which is not threatening theUS, it’s the US that should stop carrying out war games simulatingthe invasion and bombing of North Korea and lift sanctions.
