With all the attention that was heaped on the U.S. presidential elections, many of the critical world situations were shunted aside during the last couple of months by the news media. The news media, which seemed to want so badly for Clinton's to move back into the White House, almost had the American public convinced that Trump had no chance what so ever. It seems that the "King Makers" do not have the kind of juice that they thought they had and badly misjudged the elections. Be that as it may, in their attempt to put their choice in the White House, which they were able to do for the last eight years, they failed to report on some of the more critical issues that have taken place around the world during the last couple of months. To be sure, there were reports on activities in the Middle East, in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. After all, with U.S. troops present in those locations and battle casualties taking place, the media could hardly ignore them. But overall, other world events were very lightly, if at all, covered by our news media, except for the "Brangelina" divorce!
There have been some critical and extremely dangerous events taking place on the Korean Peninsula in the past couple of months. Actually, there have been some extremely important events that took place in the past year. To begin with, South Korea has had a policy of "glass-half-full" approach with North Korea for the past several decades. In an attempt to resolve the reunification issue as peacefully as possible, South Korea had been using the "Sunshine Policy" approach, i.e., the "gentle" approach when dealing with North Korea. Whenever Kim Jong Un and his cronies became belligerent and unreasonable, South Korea would simply back off and at the same time continued to work on joint projects such as the Kaesong joint venture factories. When harsh economic sanctions were imposed by U.S. and other countries, South Korea was allowed to continue to provide economic assistance to North Korea under the Korean Reunification Program. However, it seems that about a year ago all of the "nice guy" approaches have been stopped. The joint venture program at Kaesong was closed down and all of South Korea's economic assistance to the north ceased. The meetings between North and South on the reunification issue ceased as well. South Korea's meetings with Japan on mutual security agreement which was suspended five years ago in part due to North Korea's protest has been resumed again. There were a number of reasons for this shift in policy, suffice it to say that South Korea decided that there was no hope in dealing with Kim Jong Un's regime.
With the cessation of South Korea's economic assistance, the North is now totally dependent on China. China, on the other hand, doesn't particularly like the idea of being the sole supporter of a regime that they do not trust! China's assistance has abated considerably and China has beefed-up its border security along the Manchurian border supposedly to stop the flow of escapees from North Korea. There has been a considerable shift of China's military units to the border in the last couple of months. The North, predictably, reacted to this new situation by becoming even more belligerent and unreasonable. Both U.S. and South Korean intelligence believe that it is not unlikely for North Korea to launch a strike against the South under current circumstances, as a reaction to rapidly deteriorating situation in the North. In other words, it would be in character for the North to lash out in anger and frustration, blaming everything on U.S. and South Korea, of course.
South Korea is undergoing some political turmoil of its own. As of late, their President is embroiled in controversy over an "unofficial advisor" that she had in the form of a close personal friend. This person, who the press colorfully refers to as "Korean Rasputin" is reputed to have wielded an awful lot of power despite her unofficial position and was involved in multi-million dollar graft. Although President Park herself cannot be connected to the graft, the fact that her close personal friend and advisor has been arrested and is being interrogated, makes things very dicey for the president. There have been protests and calls for her resignation, but so far she has been able to hold on. The North misinterpreted the situation in the South and obviously misunderstands the democratic system of government. They launched a massive propaganda attack via their own radio and television as well as cyber attack, hoping to topple the South Korean regime and thereby create instability. They put their military on full alert, ready to strike. They have not let up, and this has angered the South Koreans to no end, even those who are opposed to President Park.
South Korea has gone into "war" mode, their military went on full alert. The North Korean leaders live on their own planet, it is hard to figure them. They in turn have a hard time truly understanding how other countries think and work, even their closest neighbor like South Korea! With a new administration coming into power in the U.S., who knows what Kim Jong Un and his "advisors" think we will do? For that matter, even we don't know what the new administration will be like!
The U.S. and South Korea just concluded a series of military exercises. These exercises have been held regularly for as long as U.S. military has been present on the peninsula. They have always been "general" military exercises with some assault stages and some defensive maneuvers. This time, however, the exercises were very different. The military maneuvers were basically "invasion" exercises with no attempt to disguise the target! The U.S. and South Korean forces practiced invading and occupying North Korea! Additionally, U.S. Forces in South Korea even held evacuation exercises for their dependents and family members in the event of outbreak of war! So, there is no mistake about it, U.S. and South Korea are preparing for war. North Korea, on the other hand, has mobilized its substantial Special Operations Force (the largest in the world!) preparing not for attacking the South but for repelling the invasion. It may all be nothing but hot air on both sides, but it only takes one mistake, one nut to push the button or pull the trigger to start a catastrophic war on that small peninsula!
The whole situation is compounded by China's presence and position. There's no denying that China has supported North Korea through the years. North Korea's nuclear program was developed thanks to China's support. Historically, China has always had a surrogate in Korea. It was China's alliance with Silla that allowed the fall of Paekche and the great Koguryo Empire. Throughout history China has always supported an element in Korea that would be their surrogates. So, North Korea has been more or less like Silla of ancient times. However, China was also known to take chunks of Korea's territory when opportunity presented itself. That is how China was able to gain foothold in Manchuria in ancient times, and it was also close to "occupying" North Korea during Korean War. It was only because of Stalin and the Soviet Union that Mao refrained from taking over North Korea. Besides, China was in no position to take over a devastated North Korea when China itself was still struggling. So, the next best thing for China took place, North Korea became China's surrogate!
If Kim Jong Un's regime collapses and the country plunges into chaos, China could very well send its vast army across the Yalu once again as it did in 1950 and numerous other times in the historical past. South Korea does not want that to happen, so China must be kept out of the Korean peninsula. South Korean government has openly stated that they would not tolerate China's occupation of North Korea, that Korean problem should be solved by the Koreans. South Korea hopes that it will have international backing on this issue. The United States has gone on record that it agrees with South Korea. But, who knows what we will do? Remember? We promised never to abandon Taiwan, which we did, and how about South Vietnam? So, the situation in Korea is not just volatile, but could create a whole new geopolitical scene and a new power bloc in Northeast Asia.
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