The Samson Option: Nuclear Strategy for North Korea

The Samson Option: Nuclear Strategy for North Korea
October 25, 2006

“Samson said, let me die with the Philistines…so the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life” (Judges 16:4-30)

1. The Perception Gap

For the month of October this year, there has been vociferous gaga among nations over the nuclear test of the North Korea that panjandrums of pundits, scholars, anchorpersons, and analysts of every colors pitched in their high opinion about what to do with the pariah state.
In other words, the Western mass media constantly tell us how Americans see the nuclear proliferation in the Far East region in their own perspective and the same outlet rarely tell us much about how others living in the region see it.
The gap between perceptions on the issue is so enormous that people are confused and misinformed of the situation that might develop into the nuclear brinkmanship and eventual nuclear conflagration in the Korean peninsular and vicinity.

For the better understanding of the situation, we have to wear two pairs of shoes from both sides on the equal footing, the US and the North Korea, not like the Western mainstream media that propagate and spin only the one-sided story from the US government, depicting the North Korea an unstable, irrational, and rogue regime ruled by crazy man, Kim Jong-il.
Now let’s begin putting ourselves into the Uncle Sam’s shoes…

The United States want the North Korea to stop immediately the nuclear programs, because the regime of Kim Jong-il is one of the axis of evil that threatens the world peace. In addition to economic sanction against the North Korea, Uncle Sam immediately exercised the piracy on high seas under the PSI (Proliferation Security Initiative) that violates the international law, and the US Defense Secretary strongly demanded his counterpart from the South Korean Government that the South should take part in the PSI operation against the North, that is, the US want their lackey regime joining to escalate in war footing against their Northern brother.
In sum, the US determine this time not to engage in peaceful negotiation but to bring about their ultimate objective of another “regime change” operation against the sovereign country as they exercised, for years, against many countries numerous times around the world, various Latin American countries, Yugoslavia, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, et al.

From North Korea’s perspective on the other hand, its nuclear program is a fundamental element in their national defense and security.
Therefore, there is little likelihood that Kim Jong-il would give up the weapon of last resort.
Just for a moment imagine what you would do if you were put in the North Korean shoes…for them, scrapping the nuclear program is like throwing out the life jacket from the typhoon-wrecked vessel in the middle of the ocean that would be one and only tool to save them from drowning in the sea of enemies, Japan, South Korea, USA et al.

Would you give up one and only bargaining chip before sitting down with the 800-pound gorilla with megatons of nuclear, hydrogen, and chemical bombs who has been historically harassing, sanctioning, shooting, bombing, killing, and “regime-changing” at will the poor and weaker nations around the world?
Thinking from more rational perspective, you’d be quite easy to comprehend why the North Korea decided to possess the nuclear bombs, if you turn your attention toward the Israeli decision to become the member of the Nuclear Club in early 60s when Israelis felt its survival was on the line. (The media rarely compare Israeli situation with North Korea’s because they for decades conspired to remain silent on Israeli’s nuclear arms.)

The Israeli Government in early 1960s adopted the Samson Option as their basic defense policy against the Arab enemies, realizing that nuclear weapons are one and only equalizer in order to survive in the situation encircled by Arab Muslim nations.
“Never Again!” reasoning that Holocaust occurred in part because Jews in Europe did not resist became a zeitgeist that Israel would never be passive in the face of its enemy attack even though they face total annihilation.

2.The Samson Option: 1st Edition

The Samson Option refers to Samson’s choice, the Biblical namesake in Judges 16:4-30, who brought down two main pillars of a great temple when he was cornered by the Philistines, killing both his enemy and himself.
The basic defense policy of Israel since its birth was to build the strongest military power in both conventional and thermo-nuclear arms, and it would not hesitate to flex her muscle when dealing with her neighbors, Arab countries.

According to Seymour Hersh, the author of “The Samson Option”, Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in the 60s pondered about the Dimona nuclear programs the practical ones because the Dimona project was costing upward of $500 million a year, more than 10 percent of the Israeli military budget.
He was initially worrying about the money not being spent elsewhere: “I don’t have the money for it. How many children will go without shoes? How many students will not go to university?”

But for Ben-Gurion’s eye, the Father of Israeli State, “the nuclear project was holy”, assuming sacred dimensions…and the American Jews, from the billionaires to the father of H-bombs in the US, led a secret campaign for the Israeli to acquire the atomic bombs, raising billions of dollars and providing the nuclear technology.
Above all, it was an undeniable fact that the US, Great Britain, and France were conspired to provide Israelis with materials, money, technologies, and acquiescence, in order to position a teeny small Jewish nation a nuclear gendarmerie in the region.

Ever since Harry Truman’s support of the birth of Israel (there is an episode that two Jews delivered two suitcases of cold cash, 2 million dollars, to the Truman campaign train), the US government, Democrat or Republican, turned the blind eyes on the Israeli nuclear ambition and behaved like a cat that swallowed the canary when they were pushed to the limit.
During the 1973 Yom Kippur War when Israeli defense was in danger of total collapse by the invading Arab forces, the Israeli Government threatened both Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon with the use of nuclear weapons against the Arab countries.

In the Gulf War in 1991, the US Government had provided the Israelis the batteries of the Patriot Missiles against the incoming Scud missile attacks by Saddam Hussein, fearing that the Israeli Government might engage in pre-emptive nuclear strike against the Iraq.
On the issue of Iranian attempt to develop the nuclear capabilities, it is rational, putting in terms of the Samson Option, to think that Israelis strongly feel compelled to strike first, before Iran has the ability to make its own first strike.
In sum, the fact that the nuclear capability empowered the Israel providing the leverage in regional conflicts has offered an attractive logic for other countries considering the nuclear option: the United States has never attacked a country with nuclear arms.

3. The Samson Option: 2nd Edition

Since Israel was known a country holding the nuclear bombs in the basement, India and Pakistan officially declared to join the Nuclear Club, making total eight countries membership nation.
For Kim Jong-il’s North Korea, it is apparent and logical to join the Nuclear Club that would guarantee to protect them from the Yankee harassment and insult.
It is bizarre to see why the Western nations cannot understand the North Korea’s situation while they can understand the fear that forced Israelis to hold the nuclear option.

In case of Pakistan, Uncle Sam initially regarded it as a rogue nuclear state when it test fired missiles capable of carrying the atomic warhead with North Korea’s Rodong technology.
It is also known fact that the North Korea had acquired the bomb making techniques from the Pakistan in return for exchanging missile technology, designating both Pakistan and North Korea the violating countries of the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty).
And voila!
Pakistan is a great friend of Uncle Sam, getting billions of military aids from the US and North Korea became an evil nation that threatens the world peace.

Imagine for a moment that Kim Jong-il does not have nuclear deterrence against his enemies…the street of Pyongyang flares up frequently, at Uncle Sam’s whim, with cluster, napalm, and 500-pound bombs lobbed by Tomahawk missiles and a squadron of B-50 bombers launched from the Guam Air Base.
Imagine for a second how many North Korean men, women, and children would perish without any recourse to counterbalance the barbaric and cowardly bombing raids.
One does not need to imagine the scenario in case the North Korea with a lack of nuclear capability…the world already and abundantly experienced how Uncle Sam punished the weak countries at random in order to shape world in his own image.

Now, is there still anyone to rebuke Kim’s rationale holding the nuclear bombs in his bosom while accepting Israelis Samson Option?

4. Conclusion

In essence, the Samson Option adopted by various weak nations upset the cold war model for nuclear strategy…during the Cold War, the more you hold nuclear weapons, the more you have power and deterrence against your enemies.
Not any more!
You don’t need piles of atomic bombs to deter the enemy attack but how and when one or two bombs strategically position to strike and disrupt the core area.

Ariel Sharon, an Israeli General and ex-Prime Minister, once said: “Arab may have the oil, but we have the match.” (Since January he is in a vegetative coma state peeing and pooping in his pants devoid of his arrogance and chutzpah.)
Kim Jong-il brags: “We don’t have a luxury of cell phone, I-Pod, or HD TV, but have an A-bomb to take you to Inferno together.”
However there is a slim hope that we, if logical, sane, and reasonable, could prevent any nation to initiate the suicidal attack, since the Samson Option requires preparing for the total annihilation of the launching nation.

Kim may behave like a sewer rat, but he still has a choice of biting you when you corner him with no escape route.
On the other hand, Kim is poised, contrary to the Western media spins, no threat of launching the Samson Option on its neighbors, Japan and South Korea unless he feels otherwise no other choice.
How a nation that cannot feed its own people three-meals-a-day could engage in a war against the enemy whose conventional and nuclear arsenal could annihilate the whole population on the earth?

Don’t let the spin-doctors (the stupidity of Mr. Cho-Joong-Dong in South Korea and the arrogance of the Neo-Con warmongers in US) dictate your life!
Sanctions and other efforts, like “Do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do” US imperial diplomacy, to isolate the North Korea are not the most effective way to deal with nuclear-armed “madman”, Kim Jong-il.
I tell people you only live this life once, whether you are an American, North or South Korean, Jew or Japanese! We all are on the same boat.
The choice is with us…and jaw-jaw is always better than war-war.
Let us resume to talk again.

Peace! Insh Allah! Shalom!
pepesojourner@verizon.net

Liberation Theology

Liberation Theology

가장 먼저 알아야 할 것은 흔히 교회에서 하는 말 중에 "하나님은 영원불변, 어제나 오늘이나 내일이나 항상 똑같으시다."라고 하는 말의 정의입니다. 물론 하나님은 영원불변의 하나님이십니다. 하지만 사람은 아침저녁으로 변하는 정도가 아니라 화장실 들어 갈 때와 나올 때가 달라지는 존재입니다. 그럼에도 불구하고 사람이 보고 느끼고 이해한 하나님이 영원불변이라고 우긴다면 그건 정말 어리석은 소리입니다.

예를 들자면 여기 산이 있습니다. 두 살 먹은 아이가 보는 산은 그저 어른들이 산이라고 가르쳐 준 것에 따라 '산'이라고 부르는 대상 일 뿐인 것입니다.
열 살이 되어서 산에서 캠핑을 했던 경험이 있는 아이에게는 '산'이 주는 의미가 캠핑일 수 도 있을 것입니다.
어떤 이는 산에서 사랑하는 사람을 잃었습니다. 그렇다면 그에게 있어서 산은 또 다른 의미를 줄 것입니다.
어떤 이는 산에서 나무를 자르는 일을 직업으로 가지고있습니다. 그렇다면 그에게 있어서 산은 다른 이들과 같지 않은 의미일 것입니다.
그 밖에도 수 없이 많은 시대와 상황에 따라 산은 각기 다른 의미로 그들에게 다가 올 것입니다. 산은 전혀 변하지 않았는데도 말입니다.

같은 이치로서 하나님은 전혀 변하지 않으십니다. 하지만 천년전에 하나님을 믿었던 사람들이 하나님을 이해했던 방식과 오백년전 하나님을 믿었던 사람들이 하나님을 이해했던 방식은 결코 같을 수 없는 것이며, 경제적으로 풍족한 여유를 가지고 노예를 부리며 살던 사람들이 믿었던 하나님의 모습과 백인 주인에게 짐승 취급을 당하며 노예로서 팔려가던 흑인들이 믿었던 하나님의 모습은 결코 같은 것일 수는 없는 것입니다.

이런 전제하에 분명히 말씀 드릴 수 있는 것은 하나님은 영원히 변하지 않으시는 존재이지만 사람이 이해하는 하나님의 모습은 시대와 상황에 따라 수시로 변한다는 것입니다. 그러므로 하나님은 변하지 않으시지만 신학-Theology는 변하는 것이며 또 변해야 하는 것입니다.

이해가 되셨으리라 생각합니다.

다시 해방신학으로 돌아가서 ... 혹시 Mission 이라는 영화를 보셨습니까? Robert De Niro 가 주연을 했던 영화입니다.

이 영화의 사건이 바로 해방 신학의 시발점이 되는 것이었습니다. 그것은 남미의 상황에서 유럽의 식민지 제국주의가 성직자들까지도 자신들의 식민지 제국주의의 확장을 위해 무참히 살해하는 시대와 상황에서 발생 할 수밖에 없었던 신학이었습니다.

이후 해방신학은 계속되는 군사적 독재와 테러 등 살육이 난무하는 남미에 있어서 하나님의 정의를 지키기 위해 하나님을 믿는 사람들이 무엇을 해야 하는가에 대한 고민의 산물로 자리를 잡게 되었습니다. 물론 해방신학을 이단시하는 보수주의적 사람들이 가장 먼저 말하는 것이 '무력투쟁'이라는 것인 줄 압니다. 하지만 그 흔히 말하는 보수 전통주의자들의 근본이 '십자군 전쟁'을 일으켰던 사람들이라는 것을 생각 해 본다면 이는 언어도단-말 같지 않은 소리 일 뿐인 것입니다.

독일의 나치 치하에서 히틀러 암살 계획에 가담했다가 감옥에서 처참히 죽어간 Dietrich Bon Hoffer 라는 독일 목사는 "어느 미친 운전사가 차를 몰고 있습니다. 그는 전진하면서 많은 교통 사고를 일으키며 달리고 있습니다. 당신 이 그 자리에 있었고 만일 기독교인이라면 쫓아다니며 치료만 해 주고 기도만 해 주겠습니까? 아니면 미친 운전사를 끌어내리겠습니까?" 라고 묻습니다.

하나님은 변하지 않으시는 존재입니다. 하지만 사람은 변합니다. 해서 사람은 자신의 시대와 상황에서 하나님의 모습과 음성 그리고 예언을 듣고 그에 따라 행동해야 하는 것입니다. 박정희 군사독재정권이라는 한국의 시대적 상황에서 '민중신학'이 태어난 것 역시 그런 맥락인 것입니다.

그러므로 제가 가지고있는 '해방신학에 대한 역사적 시각'은 당연히 발생 해야하고 발생 될 수밖에 없는 신학이며 해방신학이 발생 할 수밖에 없는 역사적 상황이 하루 속히 끝나야 한다는 것입니다. 물론 해방 신학이 지금 추구하고있는 세상이 이루어 질 때는 해방신학 역시 그 시각이 변하게 될 것이라고 생각합니다.

Pastor Chang Hojoon


Dear Pastor:

Thank you for your insightful remark on the liberation theology.

“Truth is never absolute, since new discoveries could always replace the old; it has to be demonstrated objectively and measured by its effectiveness in the practical world”

Please let me tell you how I characterize human religions, especially Christianity.
A. It is important to know that the Christian theology could never be absolute and should evolve constantly to meet the human demands of particular times, places, and circumstances. And the liberation theology is a product of the particular human society where people believe Jesus Christ not only a Savior but also a Liberator.
B. The image of God also varies along the way how people born, live, think, hope, interact, work, and die in its particular fashion. As idea of God formed in one generation by one set of human beings could be meaningless to another generation, God must be a working asset to people who believe in Him or Her. In other words, people discard their deity without any hesitation when it is irrelevant and powerless to their communities.

We, human beings, evolve constantly, for better or for worse, via natural selection during our lifetime…one is biological evolution based on genes and the other is cultural evolution replicated by “memes”*.
The term “meme” refers to an element of culture being passed on by non-genetic means from one mind to another mind, as examples of memes are; ideas, values, theories, beliefs, practices, habits, fashions, music, computer virus, etc.

While genes can only vertically be transmitted from parent to child, memes can horizontally be transmitted between two individuals that memes are more similar to parasites or infections.
In other words, memes are the conveyors of customs and traditions… all kinds of cultural information passed down through repetition and imitation.

As Christianity was a “memetic ancestor” to Catholic Church, the “memetics”, the imitative process, allows people to add or delete memes resulting in formation of complete different religious entities like the liberation theology, the Unification Church, Hutterites, or FKUCC, propagating within the basic umbrella of Christianity.

In this imitative process, one idea may become extinct while other ideas will propagate and mutate through modification, as the liberation theology disappeared from the Latin American society due to the strong opposition from the papacy, while the evangelical fundamentalism spread like a wild fire in the US, where the John Winthrop’s catchphrase in Massachusetts Bay in 17 century, “A city on a hill”, was revived and propagated throughout the Christian community, mutating for worse in the forms of “Manifest Destiny” and “American Exceptionalism”.

I, an ex-mandarin worked at the intelligence loop during the Gen. Park’s military dictatorship, am totally with your assertion that it was inevitable and necessary for the South Korean people to seek for salvation in the social justice, poverty, and human rights of the liberation theology, a sort of spiritual refuge in the oppressive gulag. The General arrested, jailed, tortured, and executed thousands of innocent people in order to keep his regime under the tin pot dictatorship.

However, you may wonder how the popularity of the liberation theology has gone awry and “winner-take-all” modality prevails now in the same society, where people line up for the plastic surgery to change their flat-nosed Chink-like figure for the white Caucasian style in its imitating and replicating process.
For worse, the South Korean people are infected with virus, “invasive memes”, of electing the daughter of the tyrant, Gen. Park CH, for next EL PRESIDENTE.

Is there a kind of vaccine, like antibiotics, that can protect from the noxious memes to catch on us?

Pepe Sojourner

*The term “meme” was coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins, the British ethologist who used the term in his book “Selfish Gene”.