The notable strange behavior can first be affirmed with their sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan a few months ago. Now there are incidents occurring all of the time in Korea and most of what happens is never reported but an incident of this magnitude and audacity is virtually unheard of. There is a method to their madness. Even the North Koreans wouldnt risk such a great provocation without an agenda. They were taking a calculated risk on war with South Korea but they had done their homework and knew just about what they could pull off. Their ploy worked beautifully. The South Koreans tried to get the UN to levy some sort of punishment since they choose to take the hard right over the easy wrong. They UN being the toothless organization that it is failed to take any type of action. There was a weak attempt to condemn the action but the Chinese blocked it.
Both countries insert spies into the others territory and there is a relentless psychological and propaganda war constantly being conducted. There are often skirmishes between patrols along the DMZ but these incidents seldom cause more than a few deaths.
Propaganda campaigns include loudspeaker and radio broadcasts, and the dropping of leaflets over the territory of the other country. Propaganda is always aimed at creating disillusionment among the members of the population of the other country in order to destabilize its government.
The North Koreans have dug many tunnels underneath the DMZ. South Korea is aware of the existence and location of many of them but Im sure that they dont know the location of each and every one. They watch the known tunnels and have marked them as targets but they will just have to deal with the existence of the unknown tunnels as they find out about them.
Since North Korea saw that it was able to literally get away with murder in the sinking of the Cheonan they bombarded one of the border islands with artillery recently killing four people. Once again South Korea was left holding the bag because they didnt mount a strong initial reaction to the attack. They initiated a rhetoric campaign which was designed to provoke North Korea after the fact but was just too late. North Korea has sense enough not to bite. After both incidents they conducted large military exercises which amounted to shows of force but the North Koreans laid low. They essentially took the money and ran if you want to use a comparative phrase.
The rhetoric is not uncharacteristic of North Korea but attacks of such high magnitude are. The only conclusion is that they have a motive for the attacks. I think the reason is that they desperately need economic aid and the attacks are designed to goad the US to sit down at a negotiating table with them to talk peace. Of course one of the conditions for peace would be a significant aid package for them.
Some diplomatic experts believe that North Korea is mounting this campaign because their leadership is about to change and the new leader has to set the stage for his rule. There is probably some truth in this but I believe that the economic issues play a more significant part in this diabolical scheme.
Experts believe that North Korea will make more of these provocative moves in 2011 but I dont believe that they will. I think that they know that they have done just about all that they can get away with. South Korea will retaliate severely to the next provocation and North Korea knows not to push its luck any further.
Military Ring Express
