North Korea news is dominating the headlines, scaring stock market traders and trying the patience of world leaders. The world has gotten used to North Korea’s anti-social behavior, but recent acts have many saying the nuclear dictatorship has crossed the line. North Koreans are starving yet the nation has developed nuclear weapons and torpedoed and sank warship from the South last month. North Korea was implicated after an investigation as the perpetrator of the sinking, prompting the South to run navy drills to demonstrate resolve. North Korea then pulled the plug on a hotline set up between the countries to prevent such flare-ups. Analysts grasping for an explanation believe North Korea’s recent provocations may have something to do with the succession of power.
The North Korea nuclear test
North Korea nuclear tests, which began in 2006, revealed a nation with leadership that would rather blackmail than borrow money to survive. The Washington Post reports that since President Obama took office, dictator Kim Jong-il has launched missiles, conducted a second North Korea nuclear test and seized a pair of U.S. journalists. A North Korean submarine sank the Cheosan, a South Korean warship, as it sailed in friendly waters last month, killing 46 sailors. This week, when South Korea halted aid and trade to Pyongyang after evidence from the Cheonan sinking implicated the North, the North said it would sever relations with its neighbor. North Korea also threatened the South with more provocations if Seoul requests further sanctions from the U.N. Security Council.
Cheonan ship sinking
The Pyongyang regime’s recent spate of threats, culminating with the Cheonan ship sinking, has analysts speculating a transfer of power. Kim Jong-il, 68, is in failing health and the Cheonan sinking could be part of a scheme to install his son Kim Jong-un as supreme leader. The New York Times reports that no other explanation makes sense. A reasonable person would believe that North Korea’s confrontational stance is delusional. But not to Kim Jong-il. He needs to create a warlike atmosphere against a foreign enemy to rally public support. To create the impression his son will be a strong leader of North Korea’s armed forces, Kim Jong-il will give Kim Jong-un credit for the Cheonan ship sinking.
North Korea news: one thing for certain
No one ever really knows for certain what is going on with North Korea news. A succession of power as the reason for North Korea’s current tantrums is anyone’s guess. CNN contributor Fareed Zakaria said North Korea nuclear tests and other bad behavior could be considered simple blackmail – until the Cheosan sinking. Zakaria also said the situation where the U.S. and South Korea disagreed on how to deal with North Korea is changing. Maintaining the status quo may not be possible anymore after the Cheonan sinking. Knowing for sure the true motives driving the North Korean regime may never happen, but now the U.S. and South Korea agree that deeds, not words are the next step in the crisis.
North Korea stock market panic
The volatile stock market let North Korea tensions get the better of it this week. Indexes plummeted when the Pyongyang regime put the country on a total war footing this week. In an article about the North Korea stock market connection by MarketWatch, Andrew Wilkinson, senior market analyst at Interactive Brokers, said, “The words of the North Korean leader commanding his troops to be battle-ready are yet another excuse for markets to recoil once again.”
Citations:
Washington Post reports
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/26/AR2010052605047_2.html?wprss=rss_world/asia&sid=ST2010052502499
New York Times reports
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/world/asia/28north.html
CNN contributor Fareed Zakaria
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/05/27/zakaria.korea.china/
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