North Korea threatens the United States with 'gift packages'
On Tuesday, North Korea's UN ambassador, Han Tae Song, said:
[Begin quote]"I am proud of saying that just two days ago on the third of September, DPRK [North Korea] successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test for intercontinental ballistic rocket under its plan for building a strategic nuclear force.
The recent self-defense measures by my country, DPRK, are a ‘gift package’ addressed to none other than the U.S.
The U.S. will receive more ‘gift packages’ from my country as long as its relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK."[End quote]
So Han says that North Korea is developing a nuclear arsenal to use against the United States for defense. Defense from what? An American invasion? North Korea already has an arsenal of conventional weapons lining the border with South Korea that could be used to destroy Seoul, and that would deter an American invasion if any were even contemplated.
Han's statement is a clear incitement to war or, as Nikki Haley put it, North Korea is "begging for war." As I described yesterday, this has been going on for a long time. In 2010, the North conducted two acts of war targeting South Korea -- in May, North Korea torpedoed and sank the warship Cheonan, killing dozens of South Korean crew members, and in November, North Korea killed South Korean civilians by shelling Yeonpyeong Island. In both cases, the South Koreans chose not to respond, but it's pretty clear that they might have.
North Korea's ambassador Han Tae Song could have made a more conciliatory statement, but his threat of "gift packages" cannot have any possible outcome except to increase the probability of war.
As I wrote yesterday in my Generational Dynamics analysis, North Korea is not afraid of war, and is encouraging war, apparently believing that they'll win because of support from China. Furthermore, in this generational Crisis era, the people in both the US and China believe that they'll win any war quickly. That's a recipe for "a global, planetary catastrophe and a huge loss of human life," as Putin has suggested, though his solution of "dialog" won't prevent it.
It's hard to see how Donald Trump has any choice. If North Korea is permitted to build a nuclear arsenal, and the US just sits there and does nothing to stop it, then it will be an enormous humiliation to Trump and to the United States, and will soon lead to war anyway. The die seems already to be cast. Reuters
Related: America's UN ambassador Nikki Haley says North Korea is 'begging for war' (05-Sep-2017)
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