Threats from North Korea? Should we be afraid?

These past couple of weeks have seen an increase in the amount of coverage on the United States and South Korea’s relationships with North Korea. If you don’t know what is going on, a spokesman for North Korea released a statement saying that the US is pushing North Korea to the brink of war and that they could be planning a mobile missile attack. But after their many failed attempts at using missiles, is this any reason to be as scared as some people are?

I personally have mixed feelings about the whole subject. No one really likes the thought of the United States, or even South Korea, being randomly attacked with a missile. And with the North Koreans ending the Korean war Armistice from 1953 who knows what will happen next. They have done this in the past, six times to be exact. But this time they actually went further than making a statement and cut off the phone line between the two countries and they also closed the border between themselves and South Korea. None of this sounds appealing, but are we really on the brink of nuclear war or is the North Korean government just using words to make Kim Jong Un look like a powerful dictator to the world and the North Korean citizens.

In a CNN article, I found this quote, “Many analysts say the increasingly belligerent talk is aimed at cementing the domestic authority of the country’s young leader, Kim Jong Un”. To be honest, I had never thought about their verbal threats like this. I can see where this makes sense, because if you’re a new, young dictator what would be a better way to get the people to love you more than threatening their number one enemy?

In all, I don’t know what is going to happen and I don’t think anyone does. (Except for maybe the North Koreans) But I appreciate that the US and South Korean governments are taking the necessary precautions, just in case something were to get out of hand.  Hopefully it doesn’t, but preparation for the worst is always a nice thing.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/04/world/asia/koreas-tensions/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/01/opinion/haggard-north-korea/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

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