Friday 17 March 2017

duck and cover or cowboy juche

Provocatively, and despite the regime’s constant accusation that their opponent was the hawkish one, the oil executive anointed as the USA’s top diplomat visited the Demilitarised Zone that separates North and South Korea and declared that if Pyongyang persists with its sabre-rattling, America is not ruling out pre-emptive strikes with nuclear warheads—that the “strategic patience” of the US has reached its end. That escalated quickly. In return, North Korea affirmed that any attack would solicit a nuclear exchange—as would any attempt seen to undermine Kim Jong-un’s authority.