Thursday 25 November 2010

Dealing With North Korea

It does seem that North Korea is spoiling for a fight. It sank a South Korean navy ship earlier in the year and this week fired over 200 artillery shells onto the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, killing four people.
Where it all gets a bit tense is that North Korea is an ally of China and South Korea an ally of the United States. Throw in the fact that North Korea has nuclear weapons and it has the potential to be highly dangerous.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's health has deteriorated rapidly after his recent strokes and the thinking is that this is the handiwork of his son and successor, Kim Jong Un, who is keen to show his southern neighbours and US protectors that he will not be an easy touch when it comes to the negotiating table.
China is aware that if military action is taken against North Korea, it faces an influx of millions of refugees crossing over its borders so it holds back from outright condemnation of North Korea's attack, only urging both sides to 'retain calm and restraint and engage in talks as quickly as possible in order to prevent similar incidents from happening again'.
The White House said that 'We stand shoulder to shoulder with our ally in South Korea and we're fully committed to their defense.' America, has now sent US aircraft carrier the USS George Washington to the Korean peninsula for four days of naval exercises with the South Korean Navy which North Korea has warned will drive the peninsula 'closer to the brink of war'.
All very tense and reminiscent of the sort of dances that took place with the US and Soviets during the Cold War, but with so many potential flash points that we can only hope that the Chinese can rein in their hot-headed ally. As a wannabe super-power, it has to take on a greater share of the responsibility and as America has found out, if you don't choose your friends carefully, you can bring down a whole load of trouble on your own head.

4 comments:

David G. said...

The fact that Korea is bitterly divided is a direct result of America's 1950 interference in the region, its silly attempt to stop communism by military force (though now it deals quite happily with China).

Wherever America goes there is death, destruction and chaos (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc) and, of course, even more military bases!

What will come out of this current situation, who would know? But the world can be sure that the U.S. can be relied upon to play a spoiling, provocative role that will make the situation far worse.

Lucy said...

I am hopeful that N Korea is just full of bluster and will pull its head back down again otherwise it could all get very dangerous. Both of us berate America for supporting Israel when it launches attacks on the Palestinians so we should be doing the same to China for standing by its loose cannon of a friend.

David G. said...

Keep in mind that China not only has to deal with large numbers of U.S. military forces in South Korea but they are also placed in Japan and Taiwan and the Philippines, etc, which form a threatening semi-circle.

Yet America was prepared to start a nuclear war when Russia was going to put missiles in Cuba, near to its homeland.

It's a clear case of don't do what I do, do what I say!

American hypocrisy knows no limits.

Anonymous said...

david,

korea is bitterly divided for a lot of reasons. the biggest is that the nuts leading north korea wanted their insanity to apply to all koreans. if not for intervention (in this case american) the people of south korea would live in the same s**t hole as the people of north korea. or maybe china... not much better.

if not for american troops in taiwan and south korea, both would be under the dictiorial control of china. yes, america has other reasons (self interest), and yes it is hypocritical. but, there is a difference between russia in cuba and america in the far east. cuba did not and does not need russian aide to keep the usa from invading cuba...

lastly, in re japan. american troops in japan eliminate an argument by japan for re-building their military. ditto germany which rebuilt its army in a short 15 years right under the noses of europe.

as usual you only present one view of complex global situations skewed toward your obsession with american hatred.

aside from that, great comment... oh, aside from that you didn't have a comment... never mind...

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