#173, DPRK
On July 27, 1953, Army Lieutenant General William Harrison, Jr. and General Nam Il signed the Korean Armistice Agreement. This agreement ended the fighting between the two Koreas and led to the establishment of the Demilitarized Zone close to the 38th parallel. It did not end the war though. It was to be used as a placeholder until a “final peaceful settlement” could be reached. Legally, North and South Korea are still at war.
More than half a century later the two countries seem further away from that peace than they ever have been. North Korea continues to develop its nuclear program and has been as brazen as to test its missiles by launching them over Japan. South Korea and its ally, the United States, have responded with military drills near the DMZ as a show of force. Some of you may have noted the frequent roar of fighter jets overhead all this week.
The rhetoric from both sides has also escalated since Donald Trump was elected president.
"Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation. I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire.”
-Kim Jong Un, September 22, 2017
Tensions with North Korea have been headlining the news regularly. The rest of the world looks at the Korean peninsula with great worry. But, as an individual living in South Korea, are you worried?
To complete this Journal response,
- On a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being extremely worried), how worried are you about North Korea? Why?
- Comment on a peer’s response.
-Brenden Lee Teacher
but no: it’s some kind of multiphasic cluster lure