Hi y'all, Sorry again, couldn't get this out yesterday, darn computer again. But then, I think it is fixed and in good shape again. Now, this blog today is about Peace in Korea and I believe your will learn some things you didn't know about N. Korea. We read about he situation there between North and South Korea, but not about pertinent history. Worth the read.
This also comes from the news letter, IMPRIMIS, published by Hillsdale College, and written by Sung-Yoon Lee, assistant Professor of Interrnational politics at Fletcher School of Law at Tufts University.. So here goes. (This maybe be in three parts).
We are often reminded that the Korean War ended not with a formal peace treaty, but rather iwth an armistice. And indeed, that is an irrefutable fact. But it is not true tht the absence of a formal peace treaty is an impediment to peace in Korea. The signing of such a treaty between the United States and North Korea today would not facilitate, let alone guarantee, genuine peace of denuclearization on the Koren peninsula. To believe that it would can only be the result of a fundamental misreading of the North Korean regime, both in terms of its nature and of its strategic intent.
It was on July 27, 1953, that the armistice bringing the Korean War to an end was signed. The war ended without a clear victor and with the Korean peninsula divided more or less along the same lines as at the beginning of the war on June 25, 1950. Despite the lack of a final resolution, the armistice made possible a long peace in Northeast Asia and planted the seeds of South Korea's freedom and prosperity.
In North Korea, on the other hand, July 27 has a different meaning. The date is referred to as the day of "Victory in Fatherland Liberation War", and Pyongyang commemorates each year " the anniversary of the great victory of the Korean people in the Fatherland Liberation War." North Korea considers it a reminder of the unfinished business of communizing the entire Korean peninsula -- or, in the words of Communist Part Charter, "the accomplishment of the revolutionary goals of national liberation and the people's democracy on the entire area of the country." The war may have ended in 1953, but the North Korean revolution rages on. This fact helps explain the fundamental geopolitical dynamic on the peninsula.
In this light, consider Nort Korea's repeated demand for a peace treaty with the United States. What explains its insistence on signing such a treaty with its vanquished foe? The answer is self-evident to realize its goal of evicting the U.S. forces from South Korea. Ever since North Korea joined the World Health Organization in 1973 and opened a diplomatic mission in New York the following year, it has been proposing bilateral peace negotiations with Washington.
Of course, this didn't stop it from sending assassins to kill South Korean President Park Chung Hee or kidnapping South Korean fishermen. Why would a nation that claims to seek peace engage in such war-like activities? The answer is that North Korea is not seeking peace, but rather a change in the military balance of power on the Korean peninsula. In addition, North Korea regularly makes threats against the U.S., its ostensible future partner in peace. WHY? Because Pyongyang sees itself as the party wielding the carrots and sticks in order to cajole and coerce its adversaries, Washington and Seoul. In other words, North Korea acts upon its own strategy. It does not merely react to signals coming out of Washington or Seoul, no matter how "diplomatic" they may be.
This be part I of this series and I hope you are interested enought in the affairs, of the world and the good old USA, to get a handle on this rather peculiar situation in world aggressiona and diplomacy and learn more than you will read in the newspapers. Probably will continue this tomorrow seeing as how it is friday and my lateness. So do come back and visit agiain, I do so appreciate it. Cheers CJ
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