Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World

Besides being a thoughtful, informative chronicle of the current Democratic Peoples Republic of North Korea (DPRK), I believe this book is a must read for anyone interested in the security of the free world. It not only summarizes the history of the Korean pennisula, and the evolution of North Korea's Kim regime and its nuclear weapons program; but describes the current politics involved in both North and South Korea as well as Japan and China. It also dramatically describes the current "clear and present danger" that the North Korean nuclear weapons program poses to the world.

This is an excellent overall summary of the crisis with North Korea over nukes. Chang packs a lot into this book. He gives a history of the Kimist regime in North Korea. The Kims are more totalitarian, than communist. He then relates the series of events which the father and son regime have taken in regard to the armed forces and specifically nukes. This regime has been using maximum deception on the west. It makes agreements, then breaks them. Kim doesn't even care about his people. He will let them starve if that means he can get nuclear weapons. His sole goal is to stay in power and if that means nuclear war, he is willing to risk it. One fault I have with this book is that it gives a lot of possibilities on how to work with this regime. Then after it relates on how to do this, it tells the reader that some government tried this and got snuckered by the Kims. There are no definitive answers in this book. However it gives the reader a sense of fustration on how the North Koreans have used their allies and the west. A nice read.

Gordon G. Chang's "Nuclear Showdown", like his previous book ("The Coming Collapse of China"), allows you many different ways of reading it. Some might read it as an intriguing prescription to resolve the ongoing nuclear standoff among the member nations in the six-way framework, just to say that will, or won't, work when they are through with the 225-page book. In fact I was impressed by Chang's propositions such as the one in which the author suggests that in the wake of the virtual bankruptcy of the Nonproliferation Treaty and other U.S.-led antiproliferation initiatives, America take a unilateral step to drastically reduce its nuclear arsenal so the American president, who could now "order to eliminate all human life on this planet several times over", can "kill everyone only once." I am not sure, though, if Chang really means it because he says this is an "extreme dream". However, my way of reading "Nuclear Showdown" was quite different because I hadn't assumed the author was just bringing up a quick recommendation or two for Christopher Hill, head of the American delegation at the six-party talks, to convey to his North Korean counterparts next time he meets them in Beijing. True, Chang talks a lot about the threat being posed by the North Korean tyrant, but he does that only from a broader perspective far beyond the framework of six-way talks. Actually I read it as if I was reading a work by Arnold J. Toynbee, British historian who intensively scrutinized the rise and fall of civilizations. This is especially true with the last three chapters - "The End of American Primacy", "Civilization's Last Weapon" and "Last Exit before the Dark Ages". This, coupled with Chang's readable, sometimes witty, writing style, makes "Nuclear Showdown" a real page-turner.

A perceptive book, especially on the complex relationship among the various countries that are involved in the nuclear negotiation: US, China, South Korea and Japan. It shows that the author has lived in that region for many years. I especialy find the chapter on South Korea very thoughtful provoking. He hear many people say that South Korea is no longer America's ally but this book shows that the changes in South Korea society are finally beginning to favor conservatives who still support a strong relationship with America. This books examines those countries one by one. I only wish that the chapter on South Korea is longer, especially how that society is changing. I also find the book really understand the motivations of the Chinese leaders and the changes in Beijing's foreign policy. The book also discusses and issue that is rarely mentioned: the problems between China and Japan and how they are affecting the nuclear crisis negotiation. I only hope that the Americans handling this crisis have such clear understanding as well. They don't seem to be doing a terribly good job at the moment. There are so many things that people over here doesing know but need to know about that region which is becoming very important.