http://media.salon.com/2013/04/north_korea2.jpg
Recently, North Korea has had peace discussions with the United States so that conflict could be avoided. So far, the threat from North Korea seems to have decreased and therefore perhaps Kim Jong-Un has opted not attack after all. Some expected an incident to occur on April 15, Kim Il-Sung's, first leader of North Korea and Kim Jong-Un's grandfather, birthday. However, no attacks have happened yet and what we see on the news is tragic attack in Boston. Luckily, maybe there won't be any conflict or war in the end.
Or maybe this was all planned anyway. I've heard from other sources that Kim Jong-Un's main reason for his threat was not because he wanted to attack the U.S.A but to actually consolidate his power. They claim that he's smart enough to know that the U.S.A are too large to risk going to war against and therefore is only looking to get the support of his own people. Since the media in North Korea has been heavily censored since the Korean War in the 1950's, where North Korea went to war with the United States, public opinion on America has always been very negative because they are unable to see how the world is like outside their country. Therefore, Kim Jong-Un is supposedly threatening the United States to increase the support from his own people but deciding to not attack in the end so that he can tell his people that he scared off the Americans and stopped them from war. This would be a fantastic propaganda attempt and would help him seem like the true hero of North Korea. But who knows? He may be a complete madman after all.
Anyway, the time in history which I would like to compare this incident is again Japan in 1941, right before they went to war with the United States. In fact, only about a week before the incident of Pearl Harbour, where the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the American naval fleet in Hawaii and resulting in war in the Pacific between Japan and the U.S., Shigenori Togo, Japan's foreign minister, was trying to make negotiations with the United States prevent war even on 29 November, just over a week before the attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December Japan time (8 December Hawaii time). What this shows is that peace negotiations were still being held and war did not seem to occur anytime soon, but shockingly, the Japanese air force unexpectedly attacked and stunned the whole world and defining parts of World War II. It was a complete surprise. For example, Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German foreign minister, was angry about the situation because he thought that the press department fell for a propaganda trick by Germany's enemies.
http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2013/04/16/1226621/836420-north-korea-koreas-tension.jpg
What makes this event in history similar to today is how although risk of conflict seems to be subsidising, we never know what the North Koreans are up to. Just like the Japanese, they might think that war with the United States is inevitable because of the sanctions she is posing on the country. Just like Japan, the country might be smaller in military than the United States, also definitely smaller than Japan in 1941, but still might end up shockingly attacking them. Of course, there are many different suggestions of what Kim Jong-Un is planning to do, but a surprise attack by the North Koreans cannot be ruled out especially when the official news agency, KCNA, stated that they won't warn South Korea before attacking them. To conclude, although hopefully the reduction in threats by North Korea is a sign of peace, do not be surprised if Kim Jong-Un does fulfill his words about sending nuclear weapons.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/16/world/asia/koreas-tensions/index.html
Kershaw, Ian. Fateful choices: ten decisions that changed the world, 1940-1941. New York: Penguin Press, 2007. Print.
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