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The UN voted 15 – 0 to adopt resolution 1718 against North Korea. The resolution has a lot of “deploring” and firmly condemns the nuclear test. It also seeks to stop the import and export of military items, technology, and luxury goods. This is all fine and dandy but the real issue is if the member states will enforce this resolution.

The ink isn’t even dry and the NY Times is reporting that:

A day after the Council unanimously passed the resolution, following nearly a week of intensive diplomatic negotiations, the South Korean government said it would still pursue economic projects with North Korea, including an industrial zone and tourist resort in the North. Those projects are not explicitly covered by the Security Council resolution, but they are an important source of hard currency for the North.

China, which shares a 870-mile porous border with North Korea and is perhaps its most critical economic gateway to the outside world, said Saturday that it had no intention of stopping and inspecting cross-border shipments, as called for, but not specifically required, in the resolution. The Chinese government said nothing on Sunday about how it intended to carry out the sanctions, and American officials said they would be focused on whether the normal trade flow across the border was slowed.

The relative silence on Sunday about how the resolution would be enforced, coupled with the vagaries of the resolution itself, raised concerns that the Security Council action would not have much of an impact for the foreseeable future.

It takes a week of arguing, negotiating, and finally a watering-down of the resolution to get approval and now nobody knows if it’s going to be enforced. Is there any wonder why people think the UN is an absolute waste of time?

The same questions and non-action were evident for 10 years with Saddam and Iraq. The resolutions were in place, yet none of the member states had the guts to enforce them. Deja-vu for the 100th time.

Meanwhile, the North Korean delegate threw a tantrum and said that North Korea “totally rejects the unjustifiable resolution” and vowed that if the United States increases “pressure upon the Democratic Peoples of the Republic of Korea persistently, the DPRK will continue to take physical countermeasures, considering it as a declaration of war.”

Hello? Of course it’s an act of war. It’s low-grade, non-violent war, but it’s war baby. Let’s hope that Bush has the balls to press this matter, including interdiction missions and blockades. If North Korea wants to go to full-scale war, the US can easily and effectively neutralize their threats.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 16th, 2006 at 9:00 am and is filed under North Korea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.