North Korea has demonstrated its determination to up the ante in its confrontation with the United States and the world community by deciding to push ahead with a long-range missile test later this month.
The North has notified international maritime and telecommunications agencies of its plan to launch an “earth observation satellite” between Feb. 8 and 25 pursuant to its space development program.
Yet the satellite launch is widely seen as a cover for another long-range missile test, as it involves the use of banned ballistic missile technology.
Officials in Seoul and Washington denounced the rogue state for staging another provocation following what it claimed to be a hydrogen bomb test on Jan. 6.
The rocket launch plan comes amid talks among member states of the U.N. Security Council on imposing new sanctions on the Pyongyang regime for its fourth nuclear bomb test.
It displays the North’s determination to upgrade its nuclear and missile technologies to a level where they can pose a real threat to the United States.
But the regime should heed the warning recently issued by Global Times, a Chinese newspaper that speaks for the Beijing government. Noting that the North’s nuclear and hydrogen bombs would only push the isolated state into a more dangerous situation, the paper said the regime should not overestimate its nuclear capabilities.
Pyongyang might think, it went on, that South Korea, the United States and Japan would have no choice but to accept reality when its nuclear warheads and long-range missiles reached the level of posing a potent threat.
“But when the North thinks that victory is close and near at hand, it is in real danger,” the paper said. It is because the United States, which can change the rules of the game anytime it wants, may use force against the North if it thinks that maintaining the status quo is dangerous.
The paper warned that China would not be able to protect the North through the U.N. Security Council if it continued to push itself toward the “extremity of danger” by stepping up provocations.
Saying that nuclear bombs would only lead the North down a thorny path, the paper advised it to reassess the merits of nuclear weapons and explore a new path toward national security.
We could not agree more. But the Beijing government should realize that verbal warnings will not make the North change its course.
Beijing has hurriedly dispatched Wu Dawei, its top nuclear envoy, to North Korea, probably to discourage it from going ahead with its planned missile launch. Whether the envoy can stop the launch plan or not remains to be seen.
But China can force the North to stop the missile provocation if it wants to. If it endorses Washington’s push for comprehensive and tough sanctions, the North would probably be forced to think twice. It is time for Beijing to use its leverage on the unruly regime to stop its nuclear and missile gamble.
