I believe in good.

I also believe in bad.

It’s like dealing with children, or adults who behave like children. You can offer a cookie if they agree to be good, or you can punish them for being bad. Sometimes, the cookie just doesn’t work.

Which is why I don’t believe in the Sunshine Policy. The Sunshine Policy only works when you’re dealing with “normal” people. Kim Jong Il is clearly not normal. He has his own rules, his own morals, his own concept of common sense. And he’s not stupid. South Korea was stupid, or maybe naive. They thought giving the North economic benefits would help cushion any shock there would be in the case of a unification. Kim used the money, however, to make nuclear bombs.

Why am I bringing this up? North Korea suddenly doesn’t feel like keeping the military agreements it had with South Korea. The two countries are still technically at war, though it’s nothing like what’s happening in Gaza. It’s just very unsettling because “agreements” made with North Korea really don’t mean anything to them. I can just hear Kim saying, “I promise to do such and such…..psyche!!”

If Kim really liked nuclear, he should have invested in nuclear energy, not bombs. Developing safe, clean nuclear energy technology could have helped the economy and ecology. But no, it had to be about destruction. I wonder if his son (whichever he chooses to be his successor) will be the same. Kim is 66. Unless he dies an untimely death, we may have 20 to 30 more years of him; if he’s like any typical Korean, he will probably have eaten a lot of “good” things for his health and virility. In the meantime, things may not change (or get worse) as the North Korean civilians starve to death.