Vasiliy Mikheyev on a "Crucial Moment" with Respect to North Korea

Drunken Clown Kim Jong-un
Patrick Chappatte
February 13, 2013

New York Times

An interesting article, "If They Fire? The Nuclear Threat Emanating From North Korea Is Coming To Be Real," (Moskovskiye Novosti in Russian, 02/18/13 (translated and released 02/20/13)), has appeared in the Korea Open Source Digest, Volume VI, Issue 35, Thursday, February 21, 2013, a rather long article by Vasiliy Mikheyev, a Korea specialist and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, also the deputy director of the Russian Academy of Sciences World Economy and International Relations Institute, so he appears to be a knowledgeable fellow, a man worth listening to when he suggests that we have entered a crucial moment with respect to North Korea. He offers a comparison:

The problem of Pyongyang is reminiscent of the problem of a hooligan terrorizing a crowd of the intelligentsia. They try to admonish, persuade, and educate him and to resolve the problem "only diplomatically" and so forth. But all this is until the time when the hooligan inflicts real bodily harm on one of the crowd. (page 5-17)

At that timely moment, I infer, the crowd would take collective action to beat the hooligan senseless and thereby knock sense into him. What does Mikheyev suggest? Let's see:

In regard to the DPRK the "time," it would seem, has come - this is a crucial moment in the development of the DPRK's nuclear program.

The present situation is a challenge to the principal world responsible nuclear powers (Russia, the United States, China) with common interests: preventing Pyongyang becoming the possessor of nuclear weapons. The concurrence of interests permits us to pose the issue of taking advantage of the situation for a breakthrough in the development of tripartite political and military cooperation of Russia, the United States, and China. (page 5-17)

Mikheyev even considers pinpoint missile strikes by the US and implies that Russia and China might agree to such strikes. Make of this what you will. Time will tell if he is right . . .