Why the North Korean Regime Is Not Long for This World

At first glance you probably wouldn’t think that there is anything unusual going on in North Korea. Granted, compared to every other nation on Earth North Korea is a pretty unusual place, but their antics are fairly routine. Most of the time you won’t hear much about the country, but about once or twice a year they’ll start kicking and screaming like a toddler with nuclear weapons. They’ll threaten their neighbors and overseas enemies (that’s us) with destruction and beg for foreign aid, and maybe make a few high-profile executions before going dark again.

However, this round of provocations and demands is different. The Hermit Kingdom may have finally crossed the line, and not with its traditional enemies like South Korea or the United States. They’re finally starting to piss off what few friends they have left. Last month their antics managed to get Russia to threaten them with an invasion, but that pales in comparison to what they just said to their “friends” in China.

The United Nations’ recently implemented sanctions against North Korea are already driving a wedge between longtime allies North Korea and China, a document from the Workers’ Party of North Korea reveals. In the document, the Workers’ Party condemns Beijing for partaking in the sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea’s nuclear program and urges its people to confront China with a “nuclear storm” for its alleged “betrayal of socialism,” Daily NK reports.

“We must no longer go easy on the Chinese and instead deal with them equally in order to change their attitude of taking us lightly,” the document reportedly reads, declaring China an “enemy state.” Up until this point, the two nations had kept close ties since signing the Sino-North Korean Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance in 1961.

I’m kind of surprised that this hasn’t been all over the news. It’s a big deal to say the least. To put it in perspective, China is North Korea’s strongest (and only real) ally. The Kim regime owes its existence to China after the PLA saved their bacon during the Korean War. They’ve been strong trading partners and strategic allies ever since. China has stuck by North Korea, even as the country grew more backward and insane as time went on.

China needs North Korea as a buffer between themselves and the US backed South Korea. However, they don’t need the North nearly as bad as the North needs them. If China doesn’t take kindly to these threats, and decides to cut off trade and aid to Pyongyang, that country is going to completely collapse. In all likelihood Kim’s underlings will oust him after that.

And as for those aforementioned sanctions, they’re about to put the people of North Korea through absolute hell.

Now, less than one month after the United Nations Security Council voted in favour of new sanctions against North Korea for its recent nuclear and missile tests, Pyongyang has announced a nationwide campaign to save food.

“The road to revolution is long and arduous”, an editorial in the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper stated on Monday. “We may have to go on an arduous march, during which we will have to chew the roots of plants once again”.

The Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, reported that every citizen of Pyongyang is being ordered to provide 1kg (2.2lb) of rice to the state’s warehouses every month, while farmers are being forced to “donate” additional supplies from their own meagre crops to the military.

The last time they called on their citizens to prepare for an “arduous march” was in the early 90’s when a famine killed 3.5 million people. North Korea is shunning and insulting its only real friend at time when almost every level of their society is going to be hurting and yearning for reform. More importantly, every member of their elite class is going to be seeing this as an opportunity to take the throne, because they know that China is capable of wiping their country off the map. They’re the ones who are really in charge of that country, and they hold North Korea’s destiny in their hands.

China is just itching to find a replacement for Kim, and there will be no shortage of takers for that offer. If you ask me, I don’t think Kim Jong-un is going to be in power for much longer. China needs a buffer state, not a basket case on its border, and they’re more than capable of tearing Kim off his throne, kicking and screaming.