North Korea officially has the bomb. Yesterday North Korea conducted a nuclear weapons test, and the explosion set off a quake measuring above a 4.0 on the rictor scale. Many people are frightened at what this may mean. It is important for those of us whom care about the situation (which should pertain to all of us as it is our generation which will have to confront the issues of a nuclear Korea as well as a world facing continuous nuclear proliferation), to pay close attention to the code which is embedded in what we see in the media and the direction in which negotiations take in the near future.

First of all, we must establish precisely without bias what our goal as the United States is. Are we a nation which seeks to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons, or are we a nation that wishes to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons among our enemies? If our main goal is to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction worldwide, then maybe we should look inward, recognize that we are the number one producer of nuclear arms and come out and say “in our mission to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons, we will be the first nation to take action, recognizing how incredibly dangerous these weapons are, and we will stop the production of nuclear weapons.” If however we wish to maintain this arsenal, it is imperative to understand why other nations would want them too.

It is important to remove the notion in which certain political actors within the United States and elsewhere have tried to embed in your brain, the notion that North Korean leadership is a) evil and b) crazy. Here is a clue, anytime your government or aspiring governmental leaders call another nation or leader evil that means they don’t want you to like them. It also means that they may pursue policies which are particularly controversial when approaching this country or leader and the best way to coerce you into agreeing with these policies is to convince you that somehow this competitor, which really is all North Korea is a competitor in the international arena, is evil. If you buy into the argument that the leader(s) in North Korea are crazy, you are kidding yourself. Assumptions that must be made to conclude that the Korean leaders are crazy:

1. Only a madman would develop a nuclear weapon against the will of the international community
a) Assuming that the international community actually has some sort of common will against North Korea (another clue, don’t listen to anything the Chinese tell you).
2. Nuclear weapons destabilize regions
3. Nuclear weapons are not a means for legitimacy

Under these assumptions it is quite easy to conclude that North Korea is just this crazy rogue state, and yes it seems crazy to us that a man like Kim Jung Il would starve his people and defy the great powers, but let’s examine the assumptions. First of all it is important to note that China has a vested interest not necessarily in containing North Korea but for unleashing them, in at least the sense that North Korean threats hold off the United States. While there are many levels on which this test does affect China, it is important to see that this is no hindrance to China or Russia for that matter, its challenge is directed specifically at the United States and Japan. Secondly, now that North Korea has a nuclear weapon, who is going to attack them? No one is going to attack them. The U.S. sure as hell won’t attack them. What would you hawks out there suggest, cross the DMZ and traverse the hundreds of thousands of mines left there separating the peninsula, attack by air dodging the highly advanced anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic system in place, in turn provoking millions of tons of explosives and weaponry to be literally dumped on South Korea and Japan igniting a World War? These options are inane. If nuclear weapons have shown us anything, it is that they prevent war, refer to the Cold War 1945-1989, an arms race yes, destabilization, no actually it was quite the opposite. The last assumption is that the only way to gain legitimacy in the current international system is to have some sort of liberalization of society or be considered a consolidated democracy. It is apparent now that North Korea has bypassed that little bump in the road and forced the United States to abandon the notion of six party talks on reform and the other shenanigans the U.S. has tried to pull on North Korea. This is North Korea’s way of saying, we’re grown up now it is time for you to recognize us, we’ll negotiate with the big man on the block (the global hegemonic power in which the United States is perceived), but it is going to be one on one, as equals.

It seems as if North Korea has instead of taken steps backward, taken steps forward, at least in the sense of its ability to make demands on the international system. You will hear the United States talking tough, and watch as we flex our economic and military muscles in the face of an unflinching North Korean leadership. The people there will continue to suffer under tough sanctions and forced labor but the bitter truth is that they have graduated in at least one aspect of legitimacy. They did it without the West, they did it under immense pressure, and they did it without democracy and without capitalism, how dare they.

Ah to be an ardent patriot… he sometimes has to burn your eyes with what you are really looking at, only then can we make accurate judgments and just maybe make a better decision.