Rangel: Do More to End the "Cancer' of North Korea

Statement

When Charles B. Rangel volunteered to fight North Korean forces in 1950 as a U.S. Army infantryman, little did he know that 66 years later he would still be waiting for an end to the war that changed his life.

Early in his deployment, his fearless leadership of his all-Black artillery unit during a heavy Chinese assault north of Pyongyang saved 40 of his fellow soldiers, paving the way for military awards and recognition as a war hero.

And so, despite once being a high school dropout in post-Depression Harlem, Rangel's war experience would ultimately lead him to Washington, where he serves his home district in his 23rd term as congressman.

Representing one of New York City's most diverse neighborhoods for more than four decades, it's easy to think that his experiences in Korea might have faded long ago. But Rangel maintains a close interest in the peninsula, having been actively involved in bills to honor Korean War veterans, encourage inter-Korean family reunions and, most recently, call for a formal end to the Korean War.

And while Rangel has strong views about the tragedy he's seen unfold since the hell he witnessed in November 1950, he has no doubt about where the problem of today comes from.

NORTH KOREA A "CANCER'

"… to split a people's culture as they did in Germany and Korea, to me it is just wrong'

"To me it is morally wrong for a people with the same history, the same culture, the same blood, the same families, to have superimposed on them a political division," Rangel told NK News from his congressional office on a hot Spring day in Washington, D.C.

"And to think that my country was a part of a plan that drew an imaginary line … to split a people's culture as they did in Germany and Korea, to me it is just wrong."

"Having said that, I view North Korea as a cancer," he said.

"I view North Korea as what can happen in the world if you find a person whose mental capacity can be considered by their actions as … being erratic."

And that's something Rangel seems to fear seriously -- the idea that North Korean leaders might one day do the unthinkable and actually use nuclear weapons in an unpredictable and aggressive manner.

COMMERCIAL COMMUNISM

Decades on, Rangel is still troubled by Chinese intervention in the war.

"I ask -- and I always ask the Chinese authorities when I'm there -- "Why is it that is you snatched that victory away from the UN forces with the People's Volunteer Army, since now you claim you hold the North Koreans in such disdain?'"

Usually, Rangel said the Chinese tell him they were worried that American commander Douglas MacArthur, who led UN forces in South Korea, ultimately had his eyes on Beijing.

"They believed it -- then they stopped him."

But while China "may be stuck with North Korea … there is no question in my mind that if the United Nations viewed the problem the way South Korea views it, they could stop it," he said.

"It's a poor damn country, it is not a productive country, (but) it has an umbilical cord to China.

"China may have political concerns about (North Korea) being what you call a buffer, but having a buffer you can't rely on, that's not stable, that's provocative, that could suck you into an international war… is pretty damn scary."

As such, every time sanctions emerge which could force China to toughen up, Rangel said he gets "new hopes." And in that regard, he's especially hopeful for what UN Security Council Resolution 2270, implemented following North Korea's 2016 nuclear and rocket tests, may achieve.

"The more China realizes that there is a whole new world out there through cooperation, the more they realize they cannot afford to have a cancer on their side'

This means, in the long-term, Beijing might change its approach to Korea.

"The more China realizes that there is a whole new world out there through cooperation, the more they realize they cannot afford to have a cancer on their side." This is a situation that, Rangel adds, "specifically threatens the People's Republic of China."

WASHINGTON'S ROLE

But is the U.S. doing enough when it comes to dealing with Pyongyang?

"Hell no," said Rangel. "I can say "In my opinion, no, we are not doing enough, the United Nations is not doing enough, and whatever security China may want (to influence North Korea more)' … we should give it to them, as long as it doesn't jeopardize our national security."

In particular, Rangel thinks the U.S. should play a greater role in promoting access to information inside the DPRK.

"There should be a type of informational barrage for the people of North Korea, to let them know that they have a damn option … (not just to) starve to death as their leaders are able to enjoy a life of champagne and luxury.

"It seems as though with the expansion of cellphones that if ISIS can get that message to each other, why the hell can't we get that message to North Korea?"

But as a politician, Rangel concedes his blunt talk doesn't "have to be sensitive to the needs of foreign governments. "Diplomats do and I have respect for our State Department and our president," he said.

"So, I can't give the reasons, but it just doesn't make any damn sense to me why an insignificant country like North Korea can threaten the entire region and the world, (including) world powers like Russia, China, the U.S. and the UN -- and even some countries who are not our friends."

And that is something Rangel worries about, longer term.

"I believe it's possible that North Korea could wake any morning and find out it lost all of its friends … and that its people would know they lost all their friends because their leadership decided they would take on the world with nuclear warfare, instead of providing food and clothing and a decent way of life."

IMMATURE ADOLESCENTS

But while Rangel thinks Washington can certainly do more, he also expresses concerns over the recent deadlock of inter-Korean relations, something he witnessed during a visit to Seoul days after a landmine incident last year which resulted in the maiming of two South Korean soldiers.

"North and South (Korea) … I don't understand that," he said. "Countries sometimes act the same way as immature adolescents in terms of foreign policy and pride."

Given America's history, he said he finds the lack of communication particularly notable.

"There is no way in hell for me to think that the Union States and the Confederate States, during the Civil War, didn't have a whole lot of communications (going on) so as to understand each other."

Thinking back to his Seoul trip last year, Rangel said when he saw "pretty high officials" leave the dinner table after the North fired artillery shells towards the DMZ, he "really thought that here was another possible threat of conflict.

"Countries sometimes act the same way as immature adolescents in terms of foreign policy and pride'

"But after two or three days … I found these grown, mature, intelligent people were talking about the loudness of the loudspeakers going into North Korea and that North Koreans were saying "We never fired anything, but we regret the incident.'"

"Now you couldn't get by with that with me, and I couldn't get by with that with you, but these were public statements that people were making," he said of the two Koreas. "That so completely defies human nature and common sense.

"I don't know why, even though the South Koreans wouldn't want them, why a group of North Koreans led by a North Korean Dr. Martin Luther King (can't) just run into South Korea, and say "Free at last!'"

And this artificial frontier, it seems, is something Rangel truly deplores.

"(North Korea) can open up the doors for South Koreans to be able to say, "Have you anybody here you want to visit? You can… (and) they could open up the doors to our Korean-Americans to come back home and just say "Hey, I am not here to stay, I just want to see what you look like so I can tell my grandkids who you are'.

"These things to me just make too much damn sense."

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