Globalization: Are You In or Are You Out?

UN Security Council condemns North Korea missile launch

This is a follow up to my previous post on North Korea’s missile launch.

The UN Security Council had an urgent meeting following North Korea’s missile launch. The result from that meeting is the UN Security Council “condemns” North Korea and “urged its members to ‘redouble efforts’ to enforce sanctions.” In other words, no new action or sanctions are going to be taken against North Korea. The UN has imposed sanctions against North Korea since 2006. Last December, the council resolved to cut North Korea’s coal and metals exports, which will cost the country about $800 million a year.

It seems that the UN Security Council is at a loss on how to handle North Korea, seeing that they just repeat their stern warnings and put up sanctions against a country that doesn’t have much to offer or much trading partners other than China. Will that leave us with military action? Military action will only aggravate North Korea and put the neighboring countries and the United States in danger.

4 thoughts on “UN Security Council condemns North Korea missile launch”

  1. I think the UN security council is in “weak” or “powerless” in the North Korea issue because of China. China is a permanent member in the UN security council as well as keeps a “special intimate” relationship with the North Korea. This special relationship provides a invisible protection for the North Korea and indulges “this evil power” like a spoiled child. Condemnations or even sanctions are less influential as long as Chinese government sees the North Korea evil power having strategic value and continues to protect it. Some pessimistic scholars in China think Beijing government actually has already lost control of this spoiled child so that the North Korea can exert nuclear tests several times, which is harmful to the environment of north east territory of China. Anyway, Korea peninsula could be seen as another “Balkan peninsula”, close to the war.

    1. I think it’s interesting that you mentioned that Beijing thinks of North Korea as a spoiled child. I think alot of this might go back to history when China had significant influence on the Korean Peninsula as Korea (as a whole was a tributary to China). Also, technically the Korean War never ended. It is still in a cease-fire stance, so the Korean peninsula is always in a state of war.

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