Domestic This - Horace Mann School

International
A Korean Conflict
The North Korean military attack on the South Korean island of
Yeonpyeong ignites tension throughout the region and the world
“Earlier today North Korea conducted an artillery attack against the South Korean
island of Yeonpyeong. We are in close and continuing contact with our Korean allies.
The United States strongly condemns this attack and calls on North Korea to halt its
belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement. The
United States is firmly committed to the defense of our ally, the Republic of Korea,
and to the maintenance of regional peace and stability.”
-White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
by spencer cohen
White House Press Secretary
Robert Gibbs released this
ultimatum as a direct response
to North Korea’s
attack on the South’s island
of Yeonpyeong. The statement insinuates
that the US will retaliate in response
to any further hostile act by the North
towards the South. Our government,
as ascertained through the insights of
many high-ranking officials, believes that
North Korea will take no further aggressive
action.
P. J. Crawly, a spokesperson for the
U.S. State Department, stated that, “without
getting into intelligence matters, we
don’t see that North Korea is preparing
for an extended military confrontation.”
This assertion reflects the aforementioned
mentality.
This US’ stance is due in part to the
popular conviction that this unprovoked
attack was perpetrated by North Korea
as a plea for international aid. Another
belief is that this attack, along with the
March sinking of the South’s ship, were
both executed by rogue North Korean
officers disloyal to the ailing Kim Jong-il.
The belief that this was a plea for aid
stems from the North Korean economy’s
nosedive over the past two years. Its obscure
dictator, who chooses to focus his
attention on the military, recently failed
to reform the currency, crippling the
nation’s economy. In conjunction with
flooding and food shortages, North Korea
is in desperate need of international
aid.
Such a phenomenon is not unprecedented.
In 2008 the U.S. sent large quantities
of food to North Korea, in the same
period as a release of a Declaration by the
North’s leader, Kim Jong-il, documented
Plutonium production. At the time, The
Boston Globe argued ,“the United States
says its food aid is determined by humanitarian
need and that food is not used as
a diplomatic lever. But its food is arriving
during a season of much-improved,
if still chilly and suspicious, relations between
the North and the United States.”
In turn for food and aid from the US and
other western nations, the North will
comply with certain demands.
The other claim, that North Korean
officers committed the unjustified attack
on their own accord, has many adherents
as well. Several days after the attack, the
North “test” fired weapons right off the
coast of the Yeonpyeong Island (the same
island where the attacks occurred).
North Korea is in the midst of a
power-shift. Kim Jong-il is deferring to
his son, Kim Jong-un. The artillery strike,
along with the earlier torpedoing of a
South Korean ship, may be in part due
to the heightened instability during this
transitional time.
North Korean leader Kim Jong
Il has expressed willingness to
retaliate against any South Korean
threats
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The Horace Mann Review | Vol. XX