NEGATIVE/ROGUES/NORTH KOREA

THE MORE YOU TRY TO CONTAIN NORTH KOREA, THE WORSE THINGS GET, EVENTUALLY ENDING IN WAR

Georgy Kunadze, Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of World Economy and International Relations, The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), December 2, 1999, SECTION: Pg. 6 HEADLINE: Russia's hands tied over N. Korea // acs-ln-12-28-99

Occasionally the Russian government, pushed by left-wingers at home and its newly acquired anti-American zeal, may be tempted to develop with North Korea something more substantial than lukewarm exchange.

This temptation may become especially strong if the United States and its allies try to take a "second way," as envisaged by U.S. special envoy to North Korea William Perry, aimed at containing the North.

Hopefully in this eventuality the Russian government would recognize the illusory nature of this temptation, at about the same time as Perry discovers that there is no such thing as containment as far as policy towards North Korea is concerned.

Quite simply, a piecemeal containment would have no effect whatsoever, while a full-scale containment would lead to war with a country that is somewhat less sensible than, say, Yugoslavia.