Okay, so although it was the Bee Gees that wrote it and then sang it first in 1977, with many other artists recording it, including Ozzy Osbourne who put it on his 2005 Album "Prince of Darkness", why does "Staying Alive" have a connection with the North Korean Kim family?
Think about it.
If you were running a business, when you and members of your family were eventually found to have lied systematically to 25 million employees over a 50 year period, whilst depriving them of human rights, food, creating famine, and denying them many other basics that most of the rest of us take for granted, don't you think your employees would be pretty mad about it? Wouldn't you be very scared for your life?
Okay, perhaps this is a very superficial view, and there will be many learned scholars out there for whom the complexities of the two Koreas (North and South) provide them with their livelihood, and who will put me firmly back in my place, but my very simplistic view of events runs something like this.
Over a number of years, there have been incidents involving both North and South Korea who, let me remind you, are still officially at war. The most recent of those events has been the sinking of the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan, with considerable loss of life. A number of possible scenarios have emerged to "explain" the reason for the attack. One suggestion is that this is retaliation for the events of November 2009, where a couple of North Korean soldiers were killed - but even for the North Koreans the scale of this retaliation seems out of character. Or, it is suggested, maybe it was just another phase in North Korea's line of "Belligerent Economics", which goes along the lines of "we blow something up and you give us money and aid to stop us doing more damage". Again, a little over the top and out of character for a nation that has found less damaging ways of extracting the same result. Or, it was designed to distract the international community from getting back to the Six Party talks that have been going on and off for a few years.
But of all the theories, my favourite is the one that suggests this is all part of an internal power play to ensure that the "Dear Leader's" youngest son becomes the "Dear Successor". That the strike against South Korea was designed to indicate to an internal audience that the Kim family is in control, and that Kim Jong Un, the current leader's youngest son was in charge of the strike. It all seems to make sense.
If you think about it, which country is most likely to have the capability to assist North Korea in emerging into the 21st Century? For my money it would have to be South Korea - ethnically, linguistically, geographically - it would be the logical choice, and there is the matter of re-uniting the divided families that live on either side of the border. In many ways it is an Asian version of East/West Germany.
But let's say the borders opened up freely. The North Koreans would suddenly discover that, contrary to their beliefs - as a result of the information fed to them - their Southern counterparts were not actually slaves of the Americans. That they were able to put food into their mouths daily, that millions did not die as a result of famine and starvation, that they had homes and cars and were very successful. Wouldn't they start to look to see who had been feeding them all this rubbish about life over the border? And wouldn't the "Dear Leader" become the "Most Wanted Leader"? Him - and all his family.
In all the meetings and discussions that have been held on the subject, peace has been the objective, with an eventual opening up of the economy. But if this were to take place, where would it leave Kim and Family? Clearly, where they belong - in an open field with the spotlights trained on them and no support. Let's face it - he would have NO friends to protect him. Nothing. Nowhere is there an incentive for Kim Jong il to approach a peaceful solution to anything. For him personally - although he is reported to be very ill and may not be around for much longer - there is no upside. Peace with South Korea is not really on his priority list I suspect. Under any circumstances.
Thinking back, Iraq was invaded in the mistaken belief that it had weapons of mass destruction. It was the wrong thing to do - in the lack of any concrete evidence, but it did the world a favour by ridding it of a malicious and cruel dictator. North Korea does have weapons of mass destruction - but an invasion here (which would also help remove a malicious and cruel dictator) would not have the backing of China, which is a pity but that is their stance. Therefore the neatest option is out.
An impasse. No peace prospect ever in sight, while Kim protects his family. No invasion likely, unless the North Koreans do something so stupid that China becomes sufficiently angry with them. Little prospect of an overthrow, internally. Solution?
It would stick horribly in the throat, but let's say we actually wanted to defuse the political situation in the region. Remove the nuclear threat. Improve the living conditions and the prospects for North Korea. We would perhaps need to rely on the diplomatic and persuasive skills of China to bring this about - but if Kim could be persuaded that his 25 million subjects were about to find out the truth about the life of Kim, which would likely cause an uprising leading to his eventual capture - but that a safe haven could be found for the family in China to keep him from harm (a la Idi Amin, who went into exile in Saudi Arabia from Uganda).
This would be better than any invasion, or Six Party talks and the like.
If it is all too Alice in Wonderland, then I guess the status quo remains. A consistent diet of "Belligenomics", random killings and threats ... and all for what? In the meantime, if I were Mr. Kim I would be regularly thinking about the song "Staying Alive".
If offering exile to those murderous bastards would free the people of North Korea and end the threat of nuclear war in East Asia, then that's a bargain worth making.
In fact, as some of Mr. Kim's more decadent predilections are well known, I would support adding in a lifetime supply of old Bordeaux wine and young Russian whores if that's what it took to shift him and his loathsome gang off the throne.
Another possible solution, one less dependent on the Kims' acquiescence and one which could be implemented without delay, would be for South Korea and all other right-thinking nations to declare publicly that they will grant immediate right of abode to every single North Korean refugee who escapes the gulag. A global "touch base" policy, if you will.
With China's putative co-operation limited to simply allowing these poor suffering people to transit the Middle Kingdom on their way to freedom, this plan might lead to the peaceful implosion of the Kim regime, as it did in Eastern Europe.
Posted by: Peter | 04 July 2010 at 20:37