Swimming against the flow is not an uneasy job and anti-Americanism has cost very dearly the globalizing, including Islamic, world. Russia, China, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and North Korea, among many, opposed US unilateralism but weak nations, like Afghanistan, Iraq have paid heavy price for that while Russia and China being UNSC-5 veto members USA could not do much to destroy them. North Korea continues to oppose Washington on nuclear issue.

Under US and UNSC pressure, North Korea has often pledged to get rid of its nuclear program, but has dragged its heals in disarmament talks for the past 15 years despite being offered “sweeteners” to lift its economy out of desperate poverty. Bush's top Asia adviser had said North Korea may try some act of brinkmanship to increase its leverage after US president Barack Obama takes office, but he proved wrong. North Korea has sent mixed signals in the past few weeks about how it will conduct its nuclear dealings.

In 1998, North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan and then claimed to have put a satellite into orbit. Pyongyang is only calling it a satellite launch "to minimize friction with the USA and international criticism. North Korea claimed on 24 February it is preparing to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to an impending launch that neighbors and the U.S. suspect will be a provocative test of a long-range missile. The statement from the North's space technology agency comes amid growing international concern that the communist nation is gearing up to fire a version of its most advanced missile — capable of reaching the U.S. in coming days, in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution. Asserting that it has the right to "space development" — words the regime has used in the past to disguise a missile test, North Korea challenged USA. Seoul is annoyed with report. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said North Korea should present clear evidence that it is planning to launch a satellite. Like on Palestine, last-ditch efforts by the Bush administration to win North Korea's agreement on a system to verify its nuclear history and disarmament progress ended in stalemate at the end of 2008. Ms. Clinton told the Senate panel that approved her nomination as top diplomat this week that she would be reviewing the diplomatic record with North Korea. 

  I- Nuclear-enabled Missiles

The two Korean states are still technically at war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953. The two countries' navies fought bloody skirmishes in the area of the de facto border in 2002 and 1999. "All the agreed points concerning the issue of putting an end to the political and military confrontation between the North and the South will be nullified," the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said. It said that the situation on the Korean peninsula had reached a point where there was "neither way to neither improve relations nor hope to bring them on track".

Pyongyang recently has stepped up its hostile rhetoric against South Korea, saying it is "fully ready" for war. The two Koreas technically remain at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. South Korea, Japan and the United States have warned Pyongyang not to fire a missile. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged the North to stop its "provocative actions," saying a missile test would "be very unhelpful." USA has notified that Bosworth, who was US ambassador to South Korea from 1997 to 2000, will act as the American envoy to the six-party talks, which also involve Japan, China and Russia. On April 08, N Korean media warns President Lee his tough stance could have "catastrophic consequences”. On July 08, Pyongyang rejects President Lee's offer of direct talks but on Oct 08, Military officials from both sides hold first direct talks since President Lee took office. On Nov 08, N Korea said it would close land borders, suspend tourism trips and the joint train service because of "relentless confrontation" from Seoul and on Dec 08, N Korea enforced stricter border controls and expels hundreds of South Koreans from the joint industrial zone. Seoul expressed regret at the move, while the US called it "unhelpful". Relations have deteriorated since South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak took a harder line approach to the North. On agreement the North said it was to scrap covers the maritime border in the Yellow Sea. South Korea would consider any launch a "threat" because the technologies are similar. When it tested the Taepodong-1 missile in 1998, North Korea claimed to have put a satellite in orbit. In July 2006 it test-fired the three-stage long-range Taepodong-2, but the missile failed shortly after launch.

The first at general level between the US-led UN’s Command in South Korea and the North Korea since 2002, both have opened military talks aimed at easing border tensions. The UN Command described the new military talks as a "positive" move, and said the North had requested the meeting "to discuss tension reduction." The UN command has officially remained in place to help defend the South, since the 1950-53 Korean War in which a US-led UN force fought for South Korea against North Korea, which had support from China. It is led by US Gen Walter Sharp. The US stations 28,500 troops in South Korea to back up the South's 680,000-strong military against the North's 1.1 million troops. Pyongyang has made it clear "The preparations for launching experimental communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 by means of delivery rocket Unha-2 are now making brisk headway" at a launch site in Hwadae in the northeast.

On Feb 29, North Korea sent a statement to South Korea’s military accusing US forces of "behaving arrogantly" and threatening "resolute counter-action". The statement alleged that US forces trespassed across the border line inside the demilitarized zone, which divides North and South Koreas. South Korea denied those claims. On Dec 07 Lee Myung-bak won South Korean presidential election and vowed tougher line on the North rekindling mutual tensions and on arch 08, the North expelled S Koreans from joint industrial park after Seoul says it will link its aid more closely to the nuclear disarmament issue. Communist North Korea has said it is scrapping all military and political agreements signed with the South, accusing Seoul of hostile intent. South Korea's government had pushed relations "to the brink of a war", the North's cross-border relations body said on state media. Analysts have warned for weeks that the North Korea may fire a missile to send a signal to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who took office a year ago with a hard-line policy on North Korea, and to President Barack Obama.

II- Recent Tensions

The North several times warned US troops to stop "provocations" on the border. A 4km-wide (2.5 mile) buffer strip known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) divides the peninsula. South Korean and North Korean military officials have held talks several times in recent years at Panmunjom inside the DMZ, most recently in October 2008, with no result. The North protested against joint US-South Korean military drills, due to be held from next week, as well as US military activities. Fears of a border clash have grown in recent months after the North scrapped all peace accords with the South and warned of war.

North Korea has stepped up rhetorical attacks on the administration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who has promised to stop the free flow of aid to the North unless it moves to end its nuclear weapons program. Earlier, North Korea criticized the appointment of a new South Korean unification minister, describing the choice of Hyun In-taek as evidence that the South wanted to intensify confrontation between the two Korean states. Pyongyang is trying to build up tensions with the South in order to give itself more negotiating power with the new US administration.

Hwadae is the launch site for North Korea’s longest-range missile, the Taepodong-2, with the potential to reach Alaska. Reports suggest the missile being readied for launch could be an advanced version of the Taepodong-2 with even greater range: the U.S. west coast. However, it appears the North has not yet placed a rocket on the launch pad. After mounting the satellite or missile, it would take five to seven days to fuel the rocket. The country test-launched a Taepodong-2 missile in 2006, but it plunged into the ocean shortly after liftoff. North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity under a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted after the North's first-ever nuclear test in 2006. The isolated North was hit with U.N. sanctions after its October 2006 nuclear test. North Korea's already weak economy will be dragged down even further the longer the nuclear talks are stalled because Washington has called for a suspension of most aid to North Korea for not abiding by the disarmament deal, which experts said could lead it back to the bargaining table.

The peninsula remains divided by a heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, with thousands of troops stationed on both sides of the border. Relations improved in the past decade, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il meeting with then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in a historic summit in 2000. But tensions have been high since Lee took office in Seoul nearly a year ago pledging to get tough with Pyongyang. He began rolling back his predecessors' "sunshine policy" of unconditional aid to the North. The North responded by cutting off talks, suspending key joint projects and stepping up criticism of Lee whom it calls a "traitor". the North said the crimes the Lee group has committed against the nation and reunification by bedeviling overnight the inter-Korean relations that had favorably developed amidst the support and encouragement of all the Koreans and ruthlessly scrapping the inter-Korean agreements cannot be condoned.

III - Another US Warning

Amid reports suggesting the North may be about to test-fire a long-range missile, Hillary Clinton, on her first ever foreign mission abroad as US secretary of state, warned North Korea relations with the US will not improve until it engages in dialogue with South Korea and ends its nuclear ambitions. Mrs. Clinton was speaking in the South Korean capital, Seoul, during her first overseas trip as the top US diplomat. Clinton said Pyongyang should follow through on its commitment to get rid of its nuclear program, adding that it was important to get six-party talks on the issue back on track.  

Referring to speculation Pyongyang was preparing to test-fire a long-range missile, Mrs. Clinton said the US viewed any such tests as provocative. "We don't comment on intelligence matters but it is clear that under the UNSC Resolution 1718, North Korea is required to suspend all activities related to its ballistic program.  The secretary of state who arrived in Beijing later on 20 Feb as the final stop of her inaugural Asian tour, including stops in Indonesia and Japan, said USA pursues a ‘different relationship' with South Korea as its prosperity and democracy stood in stark contrast to "the tyranny and poverty across the border to the North", Mrs. Clinton said during a press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan. “North Korea is not going to get a different relationship with the United States while insulting and refusing dialogue with the Republic of Korea," she said. She praised South Korea for what she described as its calm resolve in the face of provocations from the North.

Clinton’s visit to South Korea came amid speculation over the health of North Korean leader Kim-Jong-il, after reports he had a stroke last year. Kim is not known to have named his successor and Western diplomats fear any leadership crisis could further raise tensions on the peninsula. Hours before Mrs. Clinton arrived in Seoul, North Korea issued the latest in a series of warnings to its southern neighbor, stating that its troops were "fully ready" for war. North Korea also said it would not give up its nuclear ambitions as long as a U.S. nuclear threat persists, staking out the communist state's position days before Barack Obama takes office as president. Pyongyang said it would be wrong if the USA thinks that we are giving up nuclear program in exchange for normalizing diplomatic ties with them. "We have prospered for decades with no ties with the United States and what we want is bolstering our nuclear deterrent power to protect our country, not normalizing the relationships... There'll be no change in our status as a nuclear state as long as U.S. nuclear threat remains." Clinton called the six-party process a vehicle for us to exert pressure on North Korea in a way that is more likely to alter their behavior.

A word: Who will regret?

North Korean sabre-rattling over the past few weeks is seen in USA and Europe as an attempt to grab the attention of the Obama administration and improve its bargaining position when the talks eventually resume. But the matter looks more complicated than they presume. When North Korea tears up agreements with its Southern counterpart it sends out a stern, harsh message to Washington’s neocons-inspired strategists. North Korean long-range missile launch has been viewed in Washington as a rebuff to US hegemonic ambitions. It is not just South Korea that it warns, but also the USA for its unilateralism and military monopoly. The message from Pyongyang is loud and clear: North Korea warns the USA against bullying less powerful nations while supporting those that side with USA in whatever it does and does not. North Korea has in clear terms rejected US bully to abandon Pyongyang's legitimate Nuclearism.   

President Obama and his secretary of state, Sen. Hillary Clinton have indicated they would continue, and probably enhance, the George W. Bush administration's effort to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons in six-nation talks involving regional powers. Hillary Clinton, as her predecessor did, warned the North should refrain from violating this resolution and also from any and all provocative actions that could harm the six party talks and aggravate tensions in the region. Mrs. Clinton's words were a stern warning to Pyongyang, making clear that while the new administration may be ready to explore new strategies, there will be no softening of tone. This is not going to help resolve the standoff.

One hopes the current financial meltdown would help USA reset its policies and priorities from invasions, resource-squandering plus looting and state terrorism plus ghastly genocides to global welfare, prosperity and stable peace. It is high time US-led so-called “democracies” gave up unilateral policies and misadventures and evolve polices that promote peace and prosperity for the entire world. North Korea appeared to have extended an olive branch to Obama by saying in a New Year's message it was willing to work with countries that were friendly. As a global power, USA has a very big role to play in world affairs, but it employs wrong ploys to bully weak powers, that would undermine its own authority in due course. Slogans like Democracy, new Mideast, regime change etc. should be shelved for good. Hillary said the US was seeking a new kind of dialogue with the Muslim world, but US forces are busy killing the Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. A complete pull out of US-led terror forces from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran along with positive policy towards its “enemies” or the so-called “rogue states” would go a long way in cementing the ties across civilizations and regions and continents, but also usher in a era of international relations that the world needs very badly now.