A Sputnik-esque Situation
by Jenny Maas

As of right now, North Korea is fueling a missile planned to launch between April 4th and 8th and we the United States can't say with 100% certainty whether it is a threat or not.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, along with everyone "at a senior level in the [U.S.] government," as well as Japanese and South Korean officials, all believe that this upcoming North Korean missile launch, supposedly intended to push a satellite into orbit, is actually a "cover for testing technology for a long-range missile that could carry a nuclear warhead." In response to this situation, Gates said the U.S. government would not take any "military action" and would instead continue to pursue "diplomatic action to press North Korea not to proceed," according to a recent article in The New York Times.

However, Gates said if a missile appeared to be heading towards Hawaii, then the U.S. government "might consider" military action.

The whole situation is very unsettling to me, for one, because it all seems very Sputnik-esque. They say it's just a satellite, we think we know better, and soon we will be running nuclear warhead drills in our schools again. No, I don't think that actually will or should happen, but I know what fear can do to people. Fear makes you ignorant. It makes you say and do things you wouldn't normally do. If the situation we are in now escalates, it could breed mass hysteria, which is not in the public interest. But whereas I am more afraid of what will happen if we don't intervene, it appears the U.S. and many other countries' governments are more concerned with what will happen if we do.

And as much as it frustrates me to accept why the U.S. is not planning on physically intervening anytime soon, I can see where they are coming from.

The U.S. does not want to anger North Korea and spark an attack that wouldn't have happened otherwise. If, in reality, that missile isn't a threat, us going in to "deal" with it could cause the next missile to be a real one. The U.S. would prefer to wait it out and, if worst comes to worst, use the technology the U.S. possesses to eliminate the missile when it is flying towards U.S. territory. I believe the U.S. is not only choosing their actions carefully in this situation, but their words as well; like when Gates said they "might consider" using military action if a missile was flying towards Hawaii. There is no way he has any intention of allowing harm to come to U.S. citizens, but he, again, is choosing his words carefully so as not to state the U.S. has plans of physically interfering.

In his article "To Beat A Dictator, Ignore Him," B.R. Myers, an Op-Ed contributor to The New York Times, commended Gates' for his decision.

"Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has been wise to reject the idea of shooting down the Taepodong-2 missile. It is safer to allow Pyongyang another hollow victory than to humiliate it before the world... But next time (the U.S.) goes into talks with North Korea, (the U.S.) must do so with an awareness of the domestic political realities that force the North Koreans to do the things they do," Myers said.

On this I have to agree with Myer. Understanding why North Korea is doing this is extremely difficult, but is a useful tool in figuring out how to deal with them and anticipate their actions in the future. Myers explained that recently, since Lee Myung-bak became president of South Korea and added "conditions to aid for the North and sharply criticized its nuclear program," North Koreans have learned that Kim Jong-Il, "their Dear Leader," is "not as feared and respected as they have been led to believe."

So, in a sense, this missile launching could have nothing to do with the outside world. Kim Jong-Il could be using it to gain respect from his citizens. Or as Myer says, "The now-familiar cycle of North Korean provocation, American warnings, North Korean follow-through and American calls for more peace talks - calls that are always mocked as an abject surrender - must turn every few years if the 'military first' regime is to justify its existence and give heroic meaning to the people's hardship."

But regardless of Kim Jong-Il's reasons for the launch, the act could be a "potential violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning ballistic activity by North Korea." For this reason President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak have asked for "a unified response by the international community in the event that North Korea launches a long-range missile." Obama recently stated to journalists that the U.S. would also "seek punishment" from the U.N. In response.

If Kim Jong-Il launches the missile, for whatever reason, cause for alarm will remain. One would prefer that the U.S. get more involved before that happens. But if it going to be a bigger threat in the long run I guess I can bide my time. I trust the U.S. government, as crazy as that sounds, to protect me. I am putting my safety in your hands Gates. Don't let me down.