The Agreement with North Korea

Some people are happy and some people are upset about the recent deal struck by the Abe government and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. That is perfectly understandable because there are both good and bad aspects to it. For those unfamiliar, the fundamental points of the agreement between Japan and North Korea is that the North Korean government has agreed to allow an investigation into the status of the many Japanese nationals kidnapped and held in North Korea for many years. In exchange for this, Japan will lift at least some of its sanctions against North Korea which will greatly benefit the North Korean economy. Foreigners may not be aware of the many Japanese people missing, kidnapped over the years by North Korea, but it is a big issue in Japan and a very long-standing one with many families suffering for decades with no knowledge at all of the status or whereabouts of their loved ones. Any movement forward on that front, anything which takes us even one step closer to finding these people and bringing them home to their families is a good thing.

That being said, obviously, there are also drawbacks to this agreement. North Korea is simply allowing the issue to be looked into. The DPRK has not acknowledged any wrong-doing or admitted that these people were kidnapped and taken to North Korea. In effect, they are being rewarded by the Japanese government for doing just the bare minimum of what any decent country should do simply because it is right. They are being given benefits simply for being slightly less evil than usual. But just slightly. It also cannot be overlooked that the lifting of sanctions on North Korea will be a major benefit to them and thus will be, in a way, helping a regime that is one of the most oppressive, dangerous and fundamentally evil in the world. That is not a good thing and Japan may end up paying a heavy price for it in the long-run. Some have also speculated that this may be the beginning of a warming in Japanese-North Korean relations that will isolate South Korea which is persistently hostile to Japan and perhaps draw the DPRK away from China. I can only hope no one is thinking that. Remember that North Korea has vowed to attack Japan first if they ever come under attack by South Korea or any other power. Remember also that the PRC is and always will be their biggest partner because the Chinese Communist Party (especially the PLA) is the only thing keeping North Korea alive.

Anything that brings some relief to the families of the kidnapping victims I applaud but I have great worries about what this means in terms of benefits to North Korea and I hope that no one is under any illusions as to what an insanely wicked regime it is to its very core.