Why North Korea is turning up the heat again
North Korea's military is vowing to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that effectively ended the Korean War, straining frayed ties in the region as the UN moves to impose new sanctions.
North Korea's military is vowing to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that effectively ended the Korean War, straining frayed ties in the region as the UN moves to impose new sanctions.
It鈥檚 been a dramatic聽week on the Korean Peninsula, culminating with a threat from North Korea to break the 60-year truce with the South and the subsequent terse warning from South Korea's military Wednesday that it would respond to any attack from North Korea with 鈥渟trong and stern measures.鈥�
In case you missed it, this comes on the heels of China's agreement to sanction the North, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman鈥檚 debrief on his basketball diplomacy trip to the world鈥檚 most isolated country 鈥撀燼nd, lest we forget it, rumors of an expansion of the Kim dynasty.聽
The North's bombast also comes ahead of planned military exercises during an especially tense period. The聽US and South Korea鈥檚 regular combined field-training exercises聽are set for early next week, and North Korea has been observed planning their own exercises, which could set the stage for a clash as happened in 2010.聽The deadly聽shelling of Yeonpyeong Island broke out after North Korea claimed that the South had fired into its waters during routine exercises.聽
海角大神 points out that the North鈥檚 threat of violence is of course nothing new聽鈥撀爀ach year the US and South Korea have joint military exercises and each year the North loudly protests with threats. North Korea has even claimed to abandon its armistice with the South once before 鈥� in 2009, when, like today, it was facing a new round of sanctions for a nuclear test.
And it remains to be seen how strictly China will impose the new sanctions.聽
Cheng Xiaohe, a Korea watcher at聽Renmin University聽in Beijing聽told the Monitor鈥檚 Peter Ford there:
Still, he says:
And that has made Beijing鈥檚 leaders more apt to do more to express displeasure, such as urging the North to show restraint.
"The Korean War armistice is significant in terms of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily press briefing Wednesday, reports Voice of America.聽
Whether the North will listen is another question.聽