Clayton Chang
Period A
2/27/12
Current Event Posting #2
Article: http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/27/world/asia/north-korea-tensions/index.html?hpt=us_c2Topic: Leaders (National) and Technology/Science
Title of Article: North Korea: Ready to Go to War with U.S., South Korea
Author: Paula Hancocks
Publication Name: CNN
Date of Publication: February 27, 2012
Length of Article: 386 Words
A. Main Ideas
South Korean troops and U.S troops stationed there are engaging in military drills, and are accused of carrying nuclear equipment. The North Koreans feel threatened by the military actions, and are ready to go to war if attacked. The last talks between the U.S and North Korean leaders ended on Friday, and showed little progress. These were the first talks since the death of Kim Jong Il in December of 2011. South Korea and the United States regularly hold military drills, and the current ones are set to end in April. Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, is said to have visited military troops and told them to “make a powerful retaliatory strike at the enemy, should the enemy intrude even 0.001 mm into the waters of the country where its sovereignty is exercised”.
Relations between North Korea, South Korea, and the U.S are strained. North Korea is ready to launch a counterattack, if there is one, and tensions are high between the North and South. Talks between leaders seem to be making little progress.
I believe that peace talks should continue to be held between leaders, and that new proposals should be introduced. Current negotiations don’t seem to be making any progress, and until agreements are made, the U.S and South Korean troops should continue military drills in case there is an attack. North Korea should also be talked into shutting down nuclear weapons development.
This is really interesting but also a big problem to worry. This sounds like there's going to be 70 or 80 percent chance of having a war between the North and South Korea. At this stage having a negotiation would be hard to prevent from having a war especially with the new leader in North Korea. The tension between the two country may bring some attention in Asia and maybe cause some problems.
ReplyDeleteThe situation at hand seems dire. Without a clear understanding of the true intentions of each country, we cannot truly comprehend the magnitude of the situation in Korea. So far Kim Jong Un's statements have been quite threatening and war sounds like a tragic possibility. We can only hope that all the countries keep their composures, and peace talks will continue until the tension dies down.
ReplyDeleteI find that the military drilling can often be a tactic of intimidation when it comes to warfare, and is highly suggestive of South Koreans and their possible intents on attacking North Korea. Furthermore, ever since Kim Jong Il's successor took over South Korea, South Korea has been even more keen on attacking North Korea, and these sudden suggestions could pose a danger to North Korea. Although, I find the largest worry is that we are involved in this issue, and will get dragged into the war if anything occurs between the two sections of Korea. I feel that the leaders need to try and hold the peace that is currently being shown, even if their interests don't exactly coincide with each others'. Also, are we going in and helping with the negotiations? Since it can be helpful to have a partisan (which would be us in this case), I feel that we should try and watch over the negotiations and possibly make suggestions of compromise to North Korea in everyone's best interest.
ReplyDeleteI think at this point, talks between the world and North Korea aren't really going to accomplish much except prolong an inevitable conflict. North Korea has reached a rubicon and isn't going to un-militarize anytime soon. That being said, a lot of this is really all for showing off, and the nations are both so small that any conflict that goes on wouldn't affect the world outside a lot. The real problem for the world is what this conflict will do to the US's relationship with China. As China does support North Korea a bit, the consequences of two countries fighting that are each backed by two different world powers sounds very familiar to the situation in World War One and World War two. I think our best hope is to stop anything having to do with nuclear weapons, as that would cause the most chaos and destruction.
ReplyDelete