North Korea -- more thoughts...

Image from Jamie's Digital Blog.

I’ve written about (North) Korea twice (1, 2) in recent weeks on this blog and a couple of days ago reworked those thoughts and added to them in a letter to some friends. Below is the section from the letter, and below that some recent developments.

North Korea is clearing sending a signal to the world that it has become a nuclear weapon wielding power. The international response to this gesture could be atrocious. On the Internet I read rumours that America is considering a pre-emptive strike—possibly even a nuclear strike. At first I thought it a ridiculous unsound rumour, but then South Korean news suggested a similar idea, namely America considering invading North Korea. And just a day or two ago, a friend of mine who is currently in America told me that they are indeed propagandizing the idea in America. This is not new American rhetoric. Rumsfeld has suggested similar ideas in the past. If the USA could invade Iraq on the whim of a nuclear threat, there’s little that will stand in the way of America invading North Korea which undoubtedly has nuclear capability.

Of course, North Korea’s antics are attempts at getting attention, they cannot afford a war. They are probably in need of food or assistance and want to use this show of power as a trump card of some sort. Evidently neither America’s new regime, nor South Korea’s new regime, are capable of seeing that North Korea is just playing an old political game, which it has used many a time in the past, like a naughty child begging for attention—even if it is negative attention. North Korea has announced an end to the ceasefire agreement between the North and the South. The Koreas are theoretically still at war; there is/was just a ceasefire for the last six decades. Calling the ceasefire void is also something North Korea has done in the past. Nothing new; the country isn’t really hoping to go to war. Unfortunately, I think that North Korea is playing with fire. Because of terrorist threats, economic issues and other triggers, the world (and especially America) is jittery and may actually invade the communist state.

Image from Hot Indie News.

The two American journalist (of Asian descent) that were captured at the North Korean border were both found guilty of a “great crime” against the Communist nation and sentenced to 12 years of labour prison. According to the Associated Press it is plausible that North Korea will use these prisoners as “bargaining chips in its standoff with South Korea and the United States”.
As I said, North Korea is playing with fire.