NORTH KOREA’S BEHAVIOR

NORTH KOREA IS THE WORLD'S PROBLEM CHILD

Joel Brinkley

San Francisco Chronicle, December 12, 2010

No other country presents so serious a problem for the world today, and no other problem seems as insoluble. Right now, North Korea's malign behavior could conceivably draw the United States into still another war.

As Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, said on Monday, "tensions" on the Korean peninsula could "spin out of control."

Almost everyone considers North Korea mercurial, unpredictable. But in fact, its behavior usually follows a pattern - if you consider its two greatest needs. It demands to be respected, and it covets copious aid.

Look at what happened in the weeks before North Korea opened fire on Yeonpyeong, the South Korean island. Earlier in November, the United Nations reported that North Korea desperately needed food aid. Half the nation's children are malnourished, some starving. North Korea's leaders obviously don't care much about that. But if the people are starving, then the "Great Leader" Kim Jong Il and his mandarins probably don't have everything they want, either.

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