I
have been following the Korean peninsula closely in the news over the past few
weeks as tension has risen between North and South Korea amid threats from
North Korean leadership and joint military operations between South Korea and
The US. Amid all of the threat
elevation by North Korea, and after threats of attack to Hawaii, Guam, and The
US Mainland, The US has announced that it will deploy missile defense systems
to Guam in order to protect the US territory. This article covers the announcement from North Korea that “its
military has been cleared to wage an attack using ‘smaller, lighter and
diversified nuclear’ weapons.” The North Korean leadership sees fault in The US
actions with South Korea and what it describes as US imperialism. Following the announcement by North
Korea, Secretary General of The UN, Ban Ki-Moon expressed his deep concern for
the developing tension in the region.
This
article goes over the US defense secretary, Chuck Hagel’s response to the North
Korean statements and refers to the “real and clear danger” of the North Korean
rhetoric to The US and its allies.
Hagel’s reaction is in contrast to recent statements by South Korean
leadership who seems to take the threats less seriously because they are
regarded by some to be part of the glorification of the new North Korean leader,
Kim Jong-un. There is concern over
the recent actions of the North in denying South Korean access to a joint
industrial complex located in the North and staffed by Northern and Southern
workers. Experts believe that the
closure is a sign of the severity of the situation and as long as it remains
closed to Southerners, hostilities will remain. North Korea is an impoverished nation and makes a lot of its
money through the factories within this industrial complex; the productivity
halt is a heavy burden on the North and will surely have sociological influence
through the families that will see no pay if the closure continues long term.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/04/20134415354828652.html
Steven Harrison
4/9/2013
12:47am
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