Article November 6, 2006 Issue

SEEKING PEACE AND STABILITY IN NORTH KOREA

CHANNING WALKER

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

"IT WILL CONTRIBUTE to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it," declared the official news agency of North Korea. The assertion referred to the nuclear bomb that they claimed to have successfully produced and tested.

I read the quote over a few times and try to imagine anyone buying the notion that this contributes to peace and stability. Each time I conclude the same thing: A gap about the size of the Pacific Ocean yawns between the statement and reality.

This nation of 23 million is so impoverished that, while it diverted desperately needed resources to develop nuclear technology, two million of its citizens starved to death in the 1990s. This nation calls itself "prosperous" in its official news agency pronouncements. I begin to suspect gaps between statements and facts.

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