Erratic Power
North Korea has taken a drastic turn in its inflammatory rhetoric today. For years, the reclusive “dear leader” has insisted that his burgeoning nuclear arsenal was strictly being developed for defensive purposes, or for a deterrent against a US attack.
The notable shift came today, after a South Korean business decided to pull out of the North and move its operations back across the border. The North issued the statement “Our nuclear deterrent will be a strong defensive means…as well as a merciless offensive means to deal a just retaliatory strike to those who touch the country’s dignity and sovereignty even a bit,” through its official government run news agency.
The heightened rhetoric further enflames tension on the peninsula. Yesterday, the North sentenced two American journalists to 12 years of hard labor. Its worth noting that these journalists had been sent on their mission to the Chinese-Korean border by former VP Al Gore’s network.
All this erratic behavior coming from North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il could come from a number of different angles. Some suggest that he is paving the way for his son to take over leadership, others would suggest that he is simply seeing what he can get from the new American president. Whatever the case may be, there comes a point where you must take these threats with a little more than just a grain of salt. President Obama has indicated that he plans on scuttling the Pentagons missile defense program, which would be unwise to say the least. At the very least, we have 28,000 US military sitting on the border. With the North having pulled out of the armistice, test fired missiles, and a successful nuclear test, these soldier lives are not a gamble. They need to be thought of in the decision making process. Do not leave them their as sitting ducks for a sociopathic leader to make a point.
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