The Korean Crisis: Kim’s Dangerous Game

Threats by North Korea against the United States and South Korea are more intense than in the past, suggests a blog by the New Yorker’s China correspondent. “In barely three months, North Korea has launched long-range rockets, conducted an underground nuclear test, signalled its withdrawal from the 1953 Korean armistice, and threatened a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States,” writes Evan Osnos. The threats seem theatrical, coming from a dictator of an impoverished state lacking in great capability. Still, Osnos points out that the belligerence does force global leaders to question at what point must they take North Korea seriously. New leadership throughout the region, harsh sanctions, US-ROK military exercises and a UN inquiry into human rights in North Korea could be temporarily exacerbating belligerence and not signal a lead-up to actual attack. The greater danger could be internal fighting, leading to coup or civil unrest in North Korea, which would require rapid deployment of international troops to control crowds and secure nuclear weapons. – YaleGlobal