With article after article on North Korea hitting the press every week and North Korea’s flow of noteworthy stunts, it’s a bit difficult to get the whole picture in one sitting. The following is a play-by-play of all important activity in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Just to understand North Korea’s point of view, we’ll start early, with US and Korea’s first interaction. The two nations made the 1882 Treaty of Peace, Amity, Commerce, and Navigation in 1882 (obviously).
Later, in 1905, Japan assumed control of Korea only to surrender in 1945. Korea was then split horizontally by the 38th parallel, forming the USSR’s Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North) and US’s Republic of Korea (South).
North Korean forces invaded South Korea in 1950. Led by the US, a UN coalition of sixteen countries defended South Korea, leading to the Armistice in 1953.
On March 11, 2013, a state run paper in North Korea claimed the communist government would cancel the 1953 Armistice and shut down the Red Cross hotline between North and South Korea. This came with another threat to attack the US, which is common of Pyongyang, the Capitol of North Korea.
The UN pointed out that the Armistice will stand, but the Red Cross hotline has been shut down.
In response, the UN sanctioned restrictions on the Pyongyang nuclear and ballistics program, travel, the import of luxury goods, and expanded financial sanctions. North Korea responded by claiming these restrictions were a “crime.”
After some deliberation, the Pentagon also responded to North Korean threats by deciding to apply an additional fourteen interceptors to a missile defense site in Alaska by 2017.
After all of the media coverage of North Korea, an apparent internet assault took place. North Korea complained of “intensive and persistent virus attacks.”
South Korea was also the victim of cyber-attacks, which shut down bank accounts. According to media, the suspects are China and North Korea.
The past few weeks also saw a ridiculous misrepresentation in a North Korean propaganda video that claimed there were no birds left in the US because the starving citizens ate them.
For every post of the video, there are comments claiming it is mistranslated and is propaganda itself.
The latest stunt from North Korea was a new threat to attack bases in Guam, Hawaii, and the US with long-range artillery units.
There is debate as to whether or not there will be true conflict as consequence to North Korea’s flexing and taunting.