Dominating headlines about North Korea news are trying the patience of world leaders and frightening stock market investors. Crass and belligerent as a rule, North Korea has turned its international misconduct up a notch lately. A South Korean ship was sunk last month by North Korea, a starving nation with nuclear weapons. After all available evidence implicated North Korea, South Korea responded with a naval exercise on Thursday. A hotline between the North and South established to defuse confrontations was then severed by North Korea. The enigmatic nation is confounding analysts, whose latest guess about North Korea is that recent belligerence is part of a hand off of power from Kim Jong-il to his son Kim Jong-un.
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. After the South cut off aid and commerce with the North this week, upon reviewing evidence implicating the North in the Cheonan sinking, the North suspended all ties with Seoul. Kim Jong-il also threatened more North Korea misbehavior if South Korea seeks a U.N. Security Council resolution imposing additional sanctions.
Motives: the Cheonan sinking
After the Cheonan ship sinking, North Korea news analysts are laying out another theory about the most recent boorish behavior from the Pyongyang regime. The attack may be part of a plan by aging strongman Kim Jong-il , a recent stroke victim, to hand over the reins to his 27-year-old heir. The New York Times reports that for a country with nothing else to lose, North Korea’s succession gambit is a valid theory. A reasonable person would believe that North Korea’s confrontational stance is delusional. Chances are Kim Jong-il thinks differently. He needs to create a warlike atmosphere against a foreign enemy to rally public support. Kim Jong-il will like give Kim Jong-un credit for the Cheonan ship sinking to create the impression his son will be a strong leader of North Korea’s armed forces.
North Korea news: one thing for certain
North Korea news-events perpetrated by an isolated secretive country, has always confounded the world. 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 added that in the past, there has been considerable tension between South Korea and the United States on how to handle North Korea. Maintaining the status quo may not be possible anymore after the Cheonan sinking. Still confused, but united, South Korea and the U.S. are making it clear that their patience has finally run out.
North Korea stock market fear
The volatile stock market let North Korea tensions get the better of it this week. When the North Korean government ordered its citizens and troops last week to be ready for combat, investors ran for cover. In an interview with MarketWatch about the North Korea stock market issue, 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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