The New York Times reported on the 25th (local time) that there are voices of concern among former and current U.S. government officials regarding the possibility of North Korea’s military action.
On this day, John Finer, deputy adviser to the White House National Security Council (NSC), attended a forum at the Asia Society, a U.S. think tank, and said, “North Korea is continuing to make very negative moves.” Asia Society Vice President Daniel Russell also pointed out that North Korean Workers’ Party General Secretary Kim Jong-un appears to be intending to carry out an attack that goes beyond the 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, adding, “We need to prepare for the possibility that Kim Jong-un will make shocking physical actions.”
Previously, at the 10th meeting of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly on the 15th, General Secretary Kim Jong-un stated that it was necessary to specify in the Constitution that ‘the Republic of Korea is the number one hostile country and unchanging main enemy’ and that expressions such as ‘peaceful unification’ should also be deleted. He also announced that he would abolish inter-South organizations such as the Fatherland Peaceful Unification Committee and the Mt. Geumgang International Tourism Bureau.
Secretary-General Kim also demolished the ‘National Unification Three Charter Monument’, saying, “It stands in an unsightly manner at the southern gateway of the capital Pyongyang,” and threatened to completely remove the very concepts of ‘unification,’ ‘reconciliation,’ and ‘compatriots’ from national history. Also instructed.
On this day, the NYT cited multiple U.S. government officials and reported, “Since Kim Jong-un has adopted an openly hostile policy toward South Korea, there is a possibility that he will carry out some form of lethal military action against South Korea in the next few months.” These officials said, “Kim Jong-un’s recent public declarations are more aggressive than before and must be taken seriously.”
Even if North Korea does not advance to the level of starting a war, concerns have continued to arise recently that the possibility of accidental conflict has increased significantly.
According to foreign media, including the Voice of America (VOA), researcher Robert Carlin and professor Siegfried Hacker of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies in the U.S. wrote in an article for ’38 North’, a media outlet specializing in North Korea, on the 11th, “The situation on the Korean Peninsula was the same as in early June 1950. “It is more dangerous than ever since.”
They said that General Secretary Kim Jong-un said, “We don’t know when he will pull the trigger, but the level of danger has exceeded the routine warnings of the United States, South Korea, and Japan,” and added, “The ‘preparation for war’ message that has appeared in North Korean state media since early last year is North Korea’s usual response.” “It is not a ‘bluff’,” he pointed out.
Robert Gallucci, professor emeritus at Georgetown University, said in a recent contribution to the National Interest, an American foreign affairs and security magazine, “We must at least keep in mind the idea that a nuclear war could occur in Northeast Asia in 2024.”
He said that while the United States and China are currently in a standoff over Taiwan in a nuclear war scenario, North Korea is making nuclear threats against America’s assets and allies in Northeast Asia, either at the encouragement of China or, if not, to support China. It was predicted that it could be used.
It was also predicted that North Korea could decide to use nuclear weapons in the name of forcing South Korea to follow ‘political and territorial instructions’ and suppressing US intervention to help this situation.
In addition, North Korea judged that its ‘capability to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)’ could reduce the credibility of the United States’ ‘extended deterrence’ against its Asian allies and analyzed that it could use nuclear weapons.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.