Without a doubt, when it comes to unpredictability, volatility, and capability (nuclear), and sheer lunacy of its leadership, North Korea ranks at the top as the most dangerous country in the world. It began with its founder, Kim Il Sung, who against the advice of cooler heads, launched an invasion of South Korea in June of 1950, an invasion that ended in disaster for both sides, but especially for the north. An armistice, a cease fire agreement was finally made at Panmunjom in 1953. Although all sides agreed to stop shooting at each other, the war, never ended. So, the state of war has existed all these years. Most recently, in 2013, North Korea declared that the Armistice of 1953 was invalid, so, as far as they were concerned, there was nothing to prevent them from continuing the war!
Kim Jong Il, the son of Kim Il Sung and the father of the current leader Kim Jong Un, was a certified nut case. During his reign, he orchestrated numerous terror acts and attacks which resulted in deaths of Americans and South Koreans. He began getting involved in these activities while his father was still the supreme leader. It was Kim Jong Il who ordered the infamous axe murders of two American officers in 1976. He also ordered the kidnapping of various South Koreans, including a movie director and a film star! It was also Kim Jong Il that orchestrated the terror bombing in Burma in 1983 in which 21 people were killed, including 18 South Koreans! The list goes on and on.
Since the end of the so-called hostilities in 1953, there have been so many incursions, attacks by North Koreans that they cannot be listed all. South Korean and American soldiers have regularly died or were wounded in firefights with North Koreans along the DMZ since the Armistice was signed! Most Americans do not realize that at one point there were so many casualties that Pentagon approved the awarding of all combat decorations for service in Korea along the DMZ. This took place for more than 30 years, from 1969 until 1994. In one incident, 43 American soldiers and 299 South Koreans soldiers were killed! So there was a full fledge war going on. American soldiers were awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Purple Heart, and all other combat decorations during that period! This is not to say that there haven't been American deaths before 1969 or after 1994! Its just like in Vietnam, no awards were given to American soldiers who served and were wounded or even killed in Vietnam before 1961. Yet, there were a number of Americans who were killed and wounded in action before 1961, starting with the first casualty in 1958!
I guess what I am trying to get across is that the war in Korea actually never ended. Modern day Seoul is a bustling, traffic congested, technological marvel like Tokyo. But unlike Tokyo, only a few miles north of Seoul there is constant danger of actual war breaking out at any moment! Terror attacks by North Koreans are common place, including a commando raid that they conducted on the South Korean Presidential Palace in 1969. A 31 man North Korean commando unit infiltrated into the Presidential Palace grounds in an attempt to assassinate the South Korean President. That would be like an attack on the White House! In all, 28 North Koreans were killed and the rest captured while 26 South Koreans were killed and 66 wounded, and yes, there were 3 Americans killed a 3 wounded! There have been constant aircrafts and ships being sunk or shot down. The list goes on and on.
Today, with Kim Jong Un at the helm, the situation is even more dangerous. He is just as unpredictable and unbalanced as this father and his grandfather. Actually, the grandfather seems to appear almost normal compared to his son and his grandson! Kim Jong Il is reported to have killed his own brother so that he would have no competition for the top spot! Kim Jong Un has demonstrated that he is also capable of extreme violence against those that are close to him. He had his own uncle shot! It seems that with this Kim family, blood is definitely not thicker than water. Blood ties that have such tremendous meaning and impact in Korean culture has no meaning for Kim Jong Un! So, if the comparatively speaking "normal" grandfather invaded South Korea to start the horrible war, think what the lunatic grandson is capable of doing!
Now, North Korea has nuclear capability, nuclear weapons. They may not be as powerful as the ones we possess, nor is their delivery system as reliable as ours, but they do have means of delivering nuclear warheads. North Korea does have medium range missiles that can reach our West Coast! They may not have ICBMs that can reach Chicago or New York and Washington, but they can reach our West Coast, and Hawaii is a given! When you consider that they have nuclear bombs and have the means to deliver them as far as our West Coast, it makes me, very nervous. When you add to that the complete unpredictability of their unbalanced leadership, it is obviously, extremely dangerous for us, especially since we seem to be their main target for their obsessive hatred! Yet, we seem to have almost a cavalier attitude and our press only makes fun of their "failures" in missile launching and the physical appearance of their overweight leader! Our experts are constantly denigrating North Korea's nuclear capability, saying that their bombs are not as powerful as they claim! You know, personally I don't care how inferior their bombs are to ours, it just scares the hell out of me that they do have nuclear bombs! To put it another way, I don't care if it is only a .22, I don't want to be shot!
It seems to me that this administration in particular, appears to have almost an apathetic attitude towards North Korea. There seems to be an obsession to make nice with Iran, Iran that was supposed to help us defeat ISIS in Iraq, Iran to whom we gave billions so that they would not make nuclear bombs. But we have shoved North Korea not even to a back burner but completely off the stove! I am sure there are folks in Pentagon as well as in the 8th Army HQ in Seoul who are very nervous about what is going on in North Korea and our government's seeming lack of attention. But unfortunately, for whatever reason, North Korea is not on the radar screen for the White House, it is not "fashionable" for current administration. I learned long ago that Washington seems to operate on what is currently fashionable, at least in the eyes those in power. That is how, periodically, we drop the ball on some world situation, because it was not on our "radar." That is what happened with Libya and the Benghazi incident. That is what happened with Syria and the present mess.
I hope someone in our current administration realizes and starts paying more attention to what is going on in North Korea. Because if things get out of hand, if things "blow-up" in North Korea, it won't be another Benghazi or like the situation in Syria, it will be something that will be much bigger with much higher cost in human lives, especially American lives!
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