|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
North Korea and the Future of Peace in East Asia
| Article
# : |
20417 |
|
|
Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
|
| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1992 |
2,977 Words |
| Author
: |
Michael Marshall
Michael Marshall is executive editor of THE WORLD & I. |
North Koreas has always been an isolated and inflexible society whose founder president Kim II Sung had even created his own version of Marxism - Leninism, known as Juche (self-reliance). Almost four decades of talks had failed even to replace the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War with a full fledge peace treaty. It came a as great surprise, therefore when on December13, North Korean officials signed a reconciliation and non aggression treaty with the south and followed up this unexpected initiative with others on nuclear weapons and a rage of crucial issues on which "no progress" had previously been the order of the day.
North Korea has a relatively small population of 21 million but its key position in a sensitive region in a state of flows gives it great significance. In the days of the communist bloc, it strengthened its independent position by moving judiciously between Beijing and Moscow. How it aligns itself henceforward will make a difference to the future shape of east Asia.
In the past North Korea's position has been clear and intractable, causing observers to puzzle over its recent and dramatic change in attitude. Since its unprovoked invasion of the South in 1950, it has been a persistent threat to peace on the peninsula and to the stability of the region. It has waged an ongoing campaign of infiltration and sabotage against the South. In one notorious incident in 1983, North Korean officials, including four cabinet ministers, in a bomb explosion in Rangoon and in 1986 blew up a Korean Air Lines flight over Myanmar, killing 183 people.
The threat of renewed full scale war has also remained ever present. North Korea maintains over 100,000 trained special forces in addition of its regular military units. During the 1970s, American and South Korean troops discovered several tunnels dug by North Korea below the demilitarized zone, large enough for full battalions to pass through into the rear of defending troops.
North Korea's diplomatic stance reflected the same attitude. Since the end of the war in 1953, only one agreement was signed between the two Koreas until last year. Both sides approved the creation of a North South Coordinating Committee. In 1972, However the North never followed through and no group was ever established.
Inflexible Demands
The North always considered itself the sole legitimate
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
