Just What The Heck Is Going On With North Korea
UPDATE 8-21: Both sides are currently holding peace talks.
After an exchange of artillery fire on Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered his troops to prepare for war. Here's what you need to know to sound like an informed citizen.
A WAR OF WORDS
This Conflict Is Over Use Of Loudspeakers At The DMZ
A South Korean analyst who studies the North said on Friday that Pyongyang's threats regarding the loudspeakers reflected high-level anxiety that the broadcasts could hurt the morale of troops near the border.
"The North is desperate to stop loudspeaker broadcasts because they can undermine the morale of front-line North Korean troops and its military's psychological preparedness," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute in Seoul.
Ultimatum Issued
On Saturday Morning, We'll Know If North Korea Is Serious About Going To War
The nuclear-armed North has condemned South Korean propaganda being blasted from the speakers as equivalent to a declaration of war.
It was this that triggered Thursday's exchange of fire across the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, and Kim's latest ultimatum — stop the broadcasts by 5 p.m. Saturday (4:30 a.m. ET) or face military action.
[…]
What makes this incident more worrying is that this time the North followed through with a threat, which usually doesn't happen. And the South hit back robustly, something that is also rare.
[NBC]
K-POP WOULD MAKE ANYONE QUESTION THEIR ALLEGIANCE
South Korea Is Basically Blasting Music And Rants About Why North Korea Sucks
"It usually broadcasts about ethnic homogeneity, that South and North share the same culture and history, the superiority of the South Korean system, including our culture of (capitalistic) consumption, the international economic standard and various types of K-pop," one of the personnel involved in producing the program told NK News on condition of anonymity.
[NK News]
AND CREATED AN INCOMPREHENSIBLE DIN
North Korea Tried To Retaliate With Propaganda Loudspeakers Of Their Own
As far as North Korea's retaliation goes, it appeared to be in the form of propaganda messages against South Korea, a major U.S. ally in the region.
It blasted the messages into South Korea using loudspeakers, the South's Defense Ministry said, in the latest tensions between the two nations.
"It is believed that North Korea started broadcasting in order to stop South Korea's broadcasts from reaching North Korean citizens and military in the area," a South Korean Defense Ministry official told CNN. "North Korea's broadcast cannot be heard clearly from the South side."
[CNN]
THE HERMIT KINGDOM THAT CRIED WOLF
The US Probably Doesn't Need To Worry, Probably
Even with these developments, most experts still argue that a North Korean nuclear strike remains extremely unlikely. "There is a near zero chance of a premeditated North Korean nuclear attack," Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, told NK News earlier this year, though Kimball added that a miscalculation by either side could pose a serious risk.
