Over the past few days the world has seen a distraction from economic crisis, fiscal instability or the huge oil spill near the USA. This distraction is to be accredited to the very strong statement made by the President of South Korea a few days ago.
The situation is quite well known to the world at large. A South Korean ship has been sunk by a torpedo resulting in 46 casualties. An independent inquiry into this incident has shown that the torpedo was of the type that the North Korea’s navy uses. As expected the communist regime in the North has denied any allegations and demanded that it could carry out its own inquiry (with the result that the torpedo had nothing to do with North Korea, as you can easily expect).
What surprised the world at large was the way in which the President of South Korea reacted. In a very strong statement against North Korea he pretty much told them that the South will no longer accept the carry on that the North had. He stressed that the South has endured a lot of hardship while trying to co-operate with the North and ensure a peaceful atmosphere. However, this will no longer be the case as a sinking of a South Korean ship can easily be read as act of war.
The reaction from the North? Simple: South is trying to be an aggressor and start a war, thus all the ties were cut, all of the South workers deported and army was told to be on alert (just a note, this is 1 million men ready to strike).
The reaction from the world has been somewhat cautious. Vladimir Medvedev has said that he supports the South but that he does not want to see any war and prefers a diplomatic approach. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has quite strongly said that the aggression of the North cannot be tolerated and so the US are fully behind the South. Same can be said of Japan, who always had a massive fear of the North Korea attacking Japan.
All eyes are on China at the moment. Chinese government sees North Korea as a partner that separates him from the US bases in the South Korea. However, China also holds a lot of power over the North as it is the North’s almost exclusive source of export and money. Thus whatever China says, goes. This can be a great moment for Chinese democracy that is being pressured into agreeing on tougher sanctions on Iran, which it is very reluctant to do. A simple ‘trade-off’ can be made with China telling North Korea to behave, while allowing sanctions on Iran to be postponed for another few years.
Either way, China holds the power to decide whether there will be war in Korea or not. This can prove very dangerous as it is clear that the North has tried to create nuclear weapons. Though many commentators agree that this was not successful, one can never know when it comes to North Korea, a country from which it is extremely difficult to get any unbiased information.
The Chinese Korea
Posted by mariobilo on May 26, 2010
Over the past few days the world has seen a distraction from economic crisis, fiscal instability or the huge oil spill near the USA. This distraction is to be accredited to the very strong statement made by the President of South Korea a few days ago.
The situation is quite well known to the world at large. A South Korean ship has been sunk by a torpedo resulting in 46 casualties. An independent inquiry into this incident has shown that the torpedo was of the type that the North Korea’s navy uses. As expected the communist regime in the North has denied any allegations and demanded that it could carry out its own inquiry (with the result that the torpedo had nothing to do with North Korea, as you can easily expect).
What surprised the world at large was the way in which the President of South Korea reacted. In a very strong statement against North Korea he pretty much told them that the South will no longer accept the carry on that the North had. He stressed that the South has endured a lot of hardship while trying to co-operate with the North and ensure a peaceful atmosphere. However, this will no longer be the case as a sinking of a South Korean ship can easily be read as act of war.
The reaction from the North? Simple: South is trying to be an aggressor and start a war, thus all the ties were cut, all of the South workers deported and army was told to be on alert (just a note, this is 1 million men ready to strike).
The reaction from the world has been somewhat cautious. Vladimir Medvedev has said that he supports the South but that he does not want to see any war and prefers a diplomatic approach. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has quite strongly said that the aggression of the North cannot be tolerated and so the US are fully behind the South. Same can be said of Japan, who always had a massive fear of the North Korea attacking Japan.
All eyes are on China at the moment. Chinese government sees North Korea as a partner that separates him from the US bases in the South Korea. However, China also holds a lot of power over the North as it is the North’s almost exclusive source of export and money. Thus whatever China says, goes. This can be a great moment for Chinese democracy that is being pressured into agreeing on tougher sanctions on Iran, which it is very reluctant to do. A simple ‘trade-off’ can be made with China telling North Korea to behave, while allowing sanctions on Iran to be postponed for another few years.
Either way, China holds the power to decide whether there will be war in Korea or not. This can prove very dangerous as it is clear that the North has tried to create nuclear weapons. Though many commentators agree that this was not successful, one can never know when it comes to North Korea, a country from which it is extremely difficult to get any unbiased information.
Posted in International Relations | Tagged: commentary, International Community, Korea | Leave a Comment »