Sanctioning North Korea: Don't Hold Your Breath

The Washington Times reported June 1 that China and Russia are unlikely to go along with stronger United Nations sanctions against North Korea for Pyongyang's nuclear test last week. Honestly, folks, is anyone really surprised?

The only reason North Korea even exists today is because Kim Jong-Il's regime is propped up by Beijing. China is Mr. Kim's strongest ally, providing fuel for energy, food, economic aid, military equipment and protection from the evil United States and its allies at the United Nations. Yes, China issued an unusually strong condemnation of the nuclear test last week, but expectations of meaningful action as a follow-up were naïve and foolishly idealistic. Russia, historically a reliable friend of North Korea's communist dictatorship, at a minimum sees the latest "crisis" as yet another opportunity to frustrate its greatest rival, the United States. Russia's expression of serious "concern" over Pyongyang's nuclear test should have served as a clear warning that "concern" was about all that was going to come out of Moscow.

The sad reality is that the United Nations is more interested in consensus than in pursuing tough measures that might actually have an impact on North Korea's decision-making process. Member nations will gladly go along with a watered down resolution reaffirming previous resolutions and calling on North Korea to abide by the wishes of the international community. But that's about it. Mr. Kim must be shaking with fright.

The United Nations has essentially become irrelevant in dealing with global security issues. Time and time again it has demonstrated the impotence of its Security Council, which more often than not is paralyzed by the power of the veto reserved for permanent Council members. One has to look no further than the Security Council's responses to North Korea and Iran to understand why third world dictators refuse to take seriously the threat of action by the United Nations.

Intelligent people can honestly debate the seriousness of the threat, or lack thereof, posed by North Korea. China and Russia are correct in saying that the ability to explode a nuclear device does not equate to the ability to package that device in a warhead that can be accurately delivered to a target. But the United States and its allies are also correct in arguing that the greater danger lies in the potential for North Korea to sell its nuclear technology to some of the world's most unsavory actors.

Lost in all of this, though, is the increasingly obvious fact that the United Nations has lost its way. Founded in the aftermath of World War II to preserve the peace through dialogue and negotiation, the UN has become more interested in unanimity than in actually solving the serious and frequent crises that have characterized the global landscape since the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

We live in a dangerous world and idealistic notions of peace and harmony among nations, while noble and well-meaning, are increasingly undermining the tough global security action that sometimes must be taken. The sooner we all realize that, the better off we will be.