Democracy is a foreign concept to Asia. Never, before WWII had a democratic authority manifested in any country on that great continent. A continent where concentrated meditation was part of the religion and a part of the soul of most peoples of Asia. Meditation is time consuming and not profitable.
But.
Then.
Praying five times a day is as well.
Survival of the human spirit as well as the human body took the appearance in Asia of barbaric by most Western countries.
During the European Renaissance an arrogance within Western Culture would find it's way to evolve and be justified as a prolonged bigotry. In the modern Neocon culture, 'big brains' is considered an asset to any person. That directly stems from the time when measuring craniums discovered through archeological digs in Africa defined intelligence. It's hideously defined and today in Anthropology and Archeology such measurements are used to define ONLY the difference between genus of species of 'homo' including the developement of Homo sapien.
As a political side note, the new Bush Press Secretary has a big head, both by physical attributes and ego. I find it amusing. It's a statement to the impoverished electorate of the Neocon Republican Party.
Back to business.
Democracy would become a 'choice' government by the prejudiced West, regardless the opportunity for it to be an effective government. Much of the prejudice, over time, would be based in fear. Fear that people looking differently both in features and skin color were as threatening as perhaps Hitler. After all, the oriental culture of Japan had manifested the Kamikaze, self-immolation. It was a cultural icon of the Japanese culture.
Self-immolation has always been considered an atrocity to the West and called by another name. Suicide. The entire concept of self-immolation is considered barbaric. In reality, it can be tragic. The manifested examples in even Western culture has resulted in mass suicides, including children as in the Jim Jones cult. Self-immolation is wrong as any society should be benevolent and not so violent that self sacrifice can become a dominant force within that culture ultimately destroying it. Where the 'West' sees barbarism other cultures see obligation.
This huge cultural divide would become a political tool for politicians easily converted to prejudice against countries established with communist governments. Eventually, Communism would be superimposed over the facsism of WW II and a driving force in Western foreign policy. The international policy would become a means of oppression to countries like North Korea.
Communism is not fascism. Not by a long shot. The one modern day montra against communism is as an 'evil' entity manifesting human rights abuses and bolstering the belief democracy works best for all peoples. The odd equation of that is incorrect.
Human rights abuses are caused by several reasons globally and usually resides in bigotry. The bigotry manifests frequently because of economic oppression. The economic oppression in the case of North Korea has been consistent and measurable since the USA influence in the south. It is used to punish the north for being communist. Being communist provides a government structure and a national defense regardless the wealth of the nation. By imposing impoverishment, the USA is not facilitating peace so much as enforcing conflict. To use impoverishment as a weapon is to cause a peoples to recognize a greater threat. If a country as powerful as the USA uses such tools it would then seek to destroy the very people that practice the communism.
Therefore.
North Korea has been cast into a corner with only a military solution as it's answer.
The eonomic reality as to North Korea's potential is even more tragic. Geographically, North Korea has a shorter growing season and far greater climate of hardship with little farming potential. As a consequence North Korea and China for that matter have exploited their natural resources facilitated by mining. The mining industry regardless the country is littered with human rights abuses. In a country with little technology, such as North Korea, there is far more human tragedy in that industry than exists in Western nations.
Realizing that only enforces the realization that impoverishment of North Korea is a survival mechanism and not a choice by the government. If a country has little ability to move outside it's status economically EXCEPT to relinquish control of it's government there is no chance for change but only surrender. I do believe the people of the north on the Korean Peninsula have grown very tired of surrender and loss of their culture.
The Korean Peninsula has been trashed by power. In it's survival Pre-Industrial Revolution Korea had a cultural identity that was not dissimilar to much of Asia. It had it's own borders. It had it's own sophisticated rewards including trade routes that ultimately would result in invasion by Japan. The Ancient Japanese culture was so violent it literally destroyed every other culture in it's path. It's not the fault of the Korean Peninsula today that it's inherent culture was destroyed Pre - WW II by another culture that would come to be the enemy of the West and in particular the USA. It is however, the fault, of the USA to use the Korean Peninsula to extend it's western borders across the Pacific and enforcing an artificial boundary at the 38th parallel.
Now that South Korea enjoys a society based in Capitalism and Democracy, the West seems to think 'the fall' of North Korea is a right of the south. Where does that come from?
North Korea needs to be brought out of it's impoverishment with a right to it's sovereignty. It needs to be opened no differently than China. Where it falls short of doing that itself due to it's imposed impoverishment, there is opportunity with the south for economic exchange and the opportunity of a new economy for North Korea to be technologically savvy and in competition globally with items such as computer components. The West has provided a huge market in China. It has enabled such advances as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. North Korea has none of that. The same principles at work in China could easily apply to North Korea. If The West continues to cause North Korea hardship then it is imposing human rights abuses and not the Korean government.
The words of hatred of Bush's Neocons has to stop. Democracy cannot be imposed, but, it can be nurtured. The division of the Korean Peninsula was wrong in the first place and done out of fear and not understanding. The Korean Peninsula has been raped due to historical circumstances. It is time the north and the south resolve their elements of fear of each other and unit in cultural commonality. The sovereignty of each country is not in question but only the 'livability' of life on the Korean Peninsula. It's time to unite Korea in spirit and economy if not by boundary.
