I have been watching the news lately about the sudden bombardment on a South Korean town by the last Stalinist State that is North Korea. The provocation is nothing new with North Korea such as the sinking of South Korean ship. However, the difference now is targeting civilian’s population center which has not happened since the last Korean War. Many Television analysts have tried to explain away the reasons why North Korea attacked such as miscommunication between the leadership and the military, or trying to get South Korea and the U.S. into concessions for economic and food aid.
However in order to understand North Korea, we would have to go back to the 1940s when the Korean War was started. After the second World War, the Japanese Empire which was defeated by both United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had to give up its former occupied territories such as Manchuria, Singapore, and of course the Korean Peninsula. The Korean territory was broken up to a Communist North capitalist south. The two Koreas did not live with each other peacefully. The South and the North both had intentions to reunify the country. However, North Korea got to act on it first. The North with the support of the USSR invaded in order to reunite. As a result, a war that lasted three years, cost three million lives, and involved the U.S., USSR, and China which happened to confront the U.S. on the side of the communist. After the war, North Korea became more focused to outdo the South Koreans such as steel production while trying to trump the United States with such incidents as the U.S.S Pueblo take over. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, North Korea has fallen to a destitute fascist regime in that people with its main benefactor gone its quality of life has fallen drastic over the past 20 years. The situation got so bad that it had to get aid from its former enemies such as the U.S. and South Korea to feed its starving citizens. However, North Korea still has a mighty military which is situated just 50 miles from the North Korean border As a result; it tries to black mail nations such as the United States for food aid and fuel in order to keep the country intact.
The latest black mail tool that North Korea is using is nuclear weapons. Ever since 1994 where the United States almost went to war to stop the North from developing nuclear weapons, the political game has followed a predictable pattern; North Korea does something rash such nuclear weapons testing or missile firing. The South and the U.S. react by giving the North Koreans aid in order for them to be calm. However, this can be a problem for North Korea’s allies and enemies in that North Korea has to get bolder and more obscene in order to be recognize in the international community. This tactic is leading to fatigue to both South Korea and the U.S. in that they are less willing to be blackmailed again and again. however, the U.S. has to deal with the issue in that they rather see a weaken North Korea then a second bloody Korean war that might involve it and China which would be a very messy affair. However, this also leaves the North with little options. A good example of this is what happened today. North Korea has to get bolder and rasher just to get attention in the international community. First it was nuclear weapons testing. Second came the sinking of a South Korean ship. Now, it is involving an army artillery barrage against a South Korean civilian community. I hope the North Koreans know that there is a limit where you can poke annoyed giant for so long whether it is the massive economy and well manage military of the South Korean government or the massive military of the United States armed services. I hope they realize this before it is too late, and we find ourselves in another horrific blood bath that would be a second Korean war
Vocabulary words
Barrage
-Noun
A heavy barrier of artillery fire to protect allies or destroy enemy targets
Provocation
–Noun
The act of provoking.
Instigates, angers, or irritates.
.
Good blog
ReplyDelete