Global Times，2017-04-13
Global Times published an editorial on Thursday, titled It is not dangerous for DPRK to abandon nuclear weapons and open up, as long as with China’s help, trying to seek a way out for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear issues.
Here is the full text of the article:
The crisis of the Korean Peninsula situations deepens, which gives rise to the likelihood of an abrupt change. The regime in Pyongyang is in the center of the storm and exposed to the biggest risk. It faces a grim challenge as to how to get rid of the current predicament.
The foremost objective of the DPRK’s development of nuclear weapons is to safeguard its security of political power. Pyongyang is eager to make the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) eventually admit its legitimacy for possession of nuclear weapons, accept its nuclear deterrence and fundamentally change attitudes towards it.
The DPRK hopes that the DPRK-US relationship features complete equality, that it will be regarded as a nuclear power in the world, and that the nuclear weapons can support its absolute independence, or even some waywardness.
The DPRK even envisages that some countries will “pay for” its nuclear deterrence to provide a number of opportunities for its economy development.
However, the two decades of reality has proved that this path won’t work, even if the DPRK holds on, launching several more nuclear tests and firing several more long- and medium-range missiles.
Washington D.C. won’t fear Pyongyang because of this. If the DPRK continues its outrageous nuclear missile tests, the likelihood of the US’ attacking the DPRK will surge. By that time, the survival of the Pyongyang regime may be a problem.
It has been inevitable for Pyongyang to stop its nuclear missile activities. The DPRK seeks to confront with the United Nations Security Council for a long time with its weak national strength, which is certainly an unattainable utopia.
Even if the United States does not launch military strikes on the DPRK, the long-term sanctions are not something that the DPRK can withstand. The DPRK might already become the most isolated country in the world and is almost “fully blockaded”. No modern countries can survive in this way.
The reconciliation between the DPRK and the outside world is predestined, and The DPRK should take the initiative to make the first step. Accepting a certain degree of influence of big countries on the DPRK will be part of the opening-up costs of the DPRK, and the regime of Pyongyang should have the capability to maintain national stability while the country is reintegrating itself into the international community.
Pyongyang might think that an atomic bomb and a transcontinental ballistic missile are the master key to securing its country and regime, but this idea is wrong. No country or regime is absolutely safe for ever, and security is always temporal. It needs to be regained constantly, instead of being solidified and occupied once for all.
The national political status quo makes the DPRK hard to make up its mind to abandon nuclear weapons and open up to the outside. Because if it opens up to the United States and the ROK, it will be subject to huge risks of political infiltration or even subversion.
However, this risk will persist even if the DPRK establishes close strategic relationships with the United States. The United States brought down the Saddam’s regime which had no nuclear weapons, and later the “Arab Spring” toppled the Mubarak regime and the Gaddafi regime. All these may have impressed Pyongyang.
However, it is more futureless if the DPRK continues its national seclusion. It is necessary for Pyongyang to organize large-scale strategic planning to avoid the risks of opening-up, and look for reliable political allies and umbrellas to achieve soft landing from its present dilemma.
China and the DPRK used to be signatories in blood. But strategic doubts insinuated into the mind of Pyongyang towards Beijing for various reasons, especially the great divergence about the nuclear issues later. A retrospect of the important significance of China-DPRK relationship for the DPRK may be the key for Pyongyang to get rid of the difficulty.
China is now the world’s second largest economic entity and has been more powerful than ever in its modern history. If China and the DPRK can rebuild firm strategic consensus, China has the power to provide security support for the DPRK and to provide support and help to prosper the nation’s economy.
The DPRK is close to China. The development of friendly and cooperative relations between China and the DPRK can also alleviate the ideological impact, which is inevitable, after the DPRK’s opening-up to the outside world.
China does not have a pro-establishment camp to subvert the regime of the DPRK, nor will it allow such activities in civil sectors. Therefore, China will become the “big rear area” of the DPRK to secure national political stability if the country opens up to the outside.
China abides by a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and takes a firm road of friendship between China and the DPRK, and it will not let Pyongyang lose its independence.
As long as Pyongyang’s understanding in independence is consistent with that in the international community, a bright future can be expected for the DPRK to rely on China for getting out of the nuclear dilemma and becoming a normal country.
China has a staunch position with regard to the denuclearization of the peninsula. Beijing will not tolerate Pyongyang’s continuation of nuclear missile activities, which has gained more and more consensus between China and the United States.
But the difference is that Beijing insists on a peaceful solution to this problem without threatening the survival of the Pyongyang regime, yet Washington D.C. may take the extreme means of using force.
It is advised that Pyongyang observe China’s advice of announcing the suspension of nuclear activities and gradually abandon nuclear weapons, and China will play a positive role in safeguarding the security of the DPRK’s state and regime after the abandonment. This is the best choice for Pyongyang.
The earlier Pyongyang makes this choice, the earlier it will be accessible to brilliant prospects. The Chinese government and the Chinese mainstream society are willing to respect the friendly DPRK and build a beautiful future for both sides along the Yalu River.