Suspending Belief?
"A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test ground is now scheduled between May 23 and 25 [depending on weather conditions]."
"[The North will continue to] promote close contacts and dialogue with the neighbouring countries and the international society so as to safeguard peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and over the globe."
North Korean Foreign Ministry statement
"In view of the research finding that the North Korea nuclear test site at Mantapsan has collapsed, it is necessary to continue to monitor any leakage of radioactive materials that may have been caused by the collapse."
Tian Dongdong, Yao Jiawen and Wen Lianxing, University of Science and Technology of China
"[Two studies supported a consensus among scientists that] the site was wrecked [beyond repair]."
"Their findings are in agreement to our observations.""Different teams using different data have come up with similar conclusions. The only difference was in some technical details. This is the best guess that can be made by the world outside."
Zhao Lianfeng, researcher, Institute of Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
Following North Korea's giddy celebrations after the test explosions of nuclear devices at its nuclear test site, there occurred a series of earthquakes. Clearly, the mountain did not appreciate being used as a nuclear test site, and it saw fit to rebel. In so doing, it rendered the test site itself useless for further such nuclear tests, and in the process now poses a threat to the peninsula thanks to the destabilization of the mountain's integrity in geologic failure.
This is a cataclysmic geological event brought on by an incredibly lunatic choice of using the mountain as a test site, a brilliant idea adopted no doubt from the Islamic Republic of Iran's decision to build a highly secret nuclear facility inside a mountain base near the holy city of Qom. Built there, no doubt, to ensure the installation would not only not be detected, but would be invulnerable to bunker-busting bombs were it to be targeted.
The world is now on notice that Kim Jong Un is cheerfully prepared to surrender his vital interest in achieving nuclear confidence in a secreted arsenal to be paired with the long-range ballistic missiles his scientists have been perfecting. Prepared, in other words, to sacrifice the time, expertise, labour and treasury poured into this state project to protect the North from the purported danger posed to its existence by its enemies; the South, Japan and the United States.
Suddenly, all is sweetness and light and the North no longer has need of the coveted weapons and the comfort of assurances it has given Kim and his generals. The Peoples Republic is dramatically, drastically short of cash, of food, of medicine, of electronic toys. So the tried-and-true method of submission and the benefits that accrue through access to funding enabling the Kim regime to tend to civil infrastructure and food production is anticipated as a reward.
Time will tell, as it always does of course, but announcing the North's sudden turn to denuclearization of the peninsula as a requirement to pave the path to peace, and in the process of meekly surrendering all its sacred goals in nuclear achievement to the greater interests of regional peace, mark a dramatic turn-about for an astutely clever and very talented thespian who seems to enjoy the drama his presence and his volatile, temperamental declarations cause in those receiving them.
The entertainment quotient for this man in playing his interlocutors and would-be partners in negotiating peaceful resolutions to a troubled relationship must be enormous.
Labels: China, Crisis Management, North Korea, Nuclear Technology, South Korea, United States
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, May 15, 2018
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