Just a flick on the knuckles

After so much hedging and protracted debates, the 15-member United Nations Security Council (UNSC) voted unanimously to sanction North Korea. "UN punishes North Korea on nuke missile tests", so ran the AFP news report. Tersely reacting to the resolution, Pres. George W. Bush praised it as "swift and tough" action.

Earlier warning that UNSC sanctions could be a "declaration of war", North Korea's UN ambassador upstaged the voting by staging a walk-out, calling the resolution as "gangster-like" that NK "totally rejects the unjustifiable resolution".

The predicate "punishes" or "sanctions" may, however, be a misnomer because the essence of the UNSC resolution - no thanks to Russia, and China especially, who are Pyongyang's Red "comrades" - is nothing but watered-down repeat of warnings that have been disregarded by Kim Jong Il repeatedly in the contemporary past with insulting impunity.

Besides, parsing the news report gives a misleading info, as if the simple active verbs "punishes" or "sanctions" were an ongoing act, or in the process of being done. Actually at this stage, the penal element, if any, is still to be done, being expressed in pending infinitive.

If anything else, the much-ballyhooed UNSC sanction is a reprise of the demands by USA, Japan, South Korea, et al. for NK to dismantle its nuclear weapons, scuttle its nuke program and abandon all weapons of mass destruction (WMD); to ban the travel of NK officials working on such WMD program; to ban export of missiles and other war armament/materiel; to impose cargo inspection to prevent illegal trafficking to and from NK. And, of course, calling on North Korea to resume the 6-nation bargaining table to resolve matters peaceably and diplomatically.

Of these demands - definitely not yet punitive - the tricky one is the inspection of shipments to and from North Korea, an internecine act of "interdiction" in international law. "Interdiction" is in effect cessation of trade relations; the country being interdicted becomes a "pariah", enforceable by a blockade of its ports and no far different from an "embargo".

However, with either Russia or China, as two of the five-veto wielding members of the UNSC, ready to exercise its veto power, the interdiction footnote appears buoyant, as if weakly whispered in afterthought. In short, it's a trial balloon to elicit the reaction of Kim Jong Il.

To whip up implementation of the UNSC resolution tail-end on interdiction, Pres. Bush posthaste ordered State Secretary Condoleezza Rice to Japan and South Korea. But then, the latter has shown her cowardly streak and, worse, has promised to continue giving economic aid to her bullying northern neighbor despite everything.

As expected, North Korea didn't waste time resenting the UNSC resolution as a "declaration of war" to which it can "strike back at any nation that tries to breach our sovereignty". Singling out the USA, "we will watch US movements and take corresponding action"... Its sweeping dare is clear: "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea wants peace but is not afraid of war. It wants dialogue but is always ready for confrontation".

With certainty that Russia and China will not abandon North Korea when worse comes to worst on this tenuous score, the short and long of it is that spoiled brat Kim Jong Il will not be cowed by the UNSC resolution demands. Corollarily, the efficacy of the resolution hinges on whether or not both Russia and China would give up their veto "keys" to any UNSC extreme punitive action to put Kim Jong Il to his place. Chances are that both Moscow and Beijing will hang on, despite their being miffed or piqued by Pyongyang's continued saber-rattling.

And so, despite the many "mortal sins' against mankind, the latest of which was his underground nuke missile testing against world protestations, the recent so-called UNSC sanctions are nothing more than just a light flick on Kim's hard knuckles.

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