Past and Present... and Future?: Japan withdraws from the League of Nations and North Korea ends non-aggression pacts

Another series of blog posts that I will be posting about is called "Past and Present... and Future?". In this series, I will be looking at current day events and comparing it with previous events in history. Some of the events I compare might seem completely irrelevant, however the saying, "History always repeats itself," is no fiction and we do not realise how different events in history are so similar and so connected. The purpose of this is not just to compare two events, but to also predict the future from this analysis. The future of a current day event might be predicted accurately by seeing how the comparable event in history turned out. Of course, most of these will not likely be completely accurate, but hopefully the blog post will give a better insight on what's happening in the world right now and will also interest you.

The first current day event I will be talking about is North Korea's decision to end armistice with South Korea.

http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2013/0305-world-latestnews-northkorea/15183629-1-eng-US/0305-world-latestnews-northkorea_full_600.jpg

Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un

On 8 March 2013, North Korea announced that it will end all non-aggression pacts with their neighbouring country, South Korea. This comes after North Korea's nuclear tests and their threats that the United States is the target for their nuclear programmes. After worries of potential aggression from North Korea, the announcement of ending a 60 years-old armistice with South Korea has caused shock in the world. The announcement also included the decisions to close the joint border crossing and cutting hotlines with South Korea. Although there haven't been any violence thus far, there intentions and their preparation for aggression are some reasons for worry.

And now, what does this even remind me of? The historical event could actually be compared to all sorts of times where countries have decided against peaceful treaties and pacts. But, the one I picked was Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations.

http://www.globalautonomy.ca/global1/glofigures/GL_OR_LeagueOfNations_Fig1.jpg

A meeting of the League Assembly in 1920

O 19 September 1931, the Kwantung Army, part of the Japanese Imperialist Army, began invading Manchuria (without the Japanese government's consent). The motives for invading Manchuria was because it was a large area of land full of natural resources, which Japan needed after her economy was troubled due to the Great Depression and had a rapidly growing population. Plus, they already had an army stationed there. This act of aggression was a breach of several treaties and pacts that Japan signed such as the Kellogg-Briand Pact, a pact agreeing not to use war, and the League of Nations, an international organisation which aimed maintain world peace. After negative responses from Western powers demanding an end to the invasion, Japan decided to simply withdraw from the League of Nations on February 24, 1933. This left Japan isolated and she did not have any powers stopping them from their actions. She were able to completely capture Manchuria. Eventually, Japan expanded their invasion across China, down to South East Asia and even attacked the U.S.A at Pearl Harbour. 

The fact that both the Empire of Japan back in the 1930's and North Korea today ended some sort of non-aggression pacts and threatened other countries give thoughts to worry about. Although North Korea hasn't committed any invasions or acts of violence unlike Japan did with Manchuria, they potentially could follow the same path as Japan and attack South Korea or the United States in the near future. Although they might not have enough resources and modern technology to commit a war against foreign powers, they certainly do have intentions do so. And, if their claim that they posses nuclear weapons is to be true, the future is something to be concerned about because Kim Jong-Un does not seem afraid of utilising them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21709917

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/11/north-korea-declares-end-armistice

http://www.johndclare.net/league_of_nations6_news.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasion_of_Manchuria

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/manchuria.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_nations

Gauci, Joe. IB History Route 2:Origins and Development of Authoritarian and Single-Party States. Oxford, UK: OSC IB Revision Guides, 2010. Print.