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World Affairs
Mahesh

01/02/24 09:14 AM IST

Rising tensions in the Korean peninsula

In News
  • There has been a notable uptick in provocative moves by North Korea and the subsequent rebuttals by South Korea and its allies.
  • North Korea has rescinded its national objective of Korean reunification and has formally categorised South Korea as an adversarial state.
Historical background
  • The Korean peninsula was divided into two by the end of World War II, after imperial Japan who occupied the territory was defeated.
  • The North went under the ambit of the Soviet Union and the South under the U.S., resulting in the creation of two ideologically different regimes which mirrored either sides of the Cold War divide.
  • The Korean war (1950-53) broke out as a result of the North’s attempt to take over the South — the first “hot war” of the Cold War.
  • Decades after the cessation of active conflict and the end of the Cold War, the two countries are still divided over ideology and geopolitical leanings — the North being an authoritarian dynastic regime allied with China and Russia, and the South being a liberal democracy allied with the U.S.
  • However, one of the biggest issues in the contemporary geopolitics of the Korean peninsula has been the question of North Korea’s de-nuclearisation. Various efforts were made by the international community to stop and reverse North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.
  • North Korea’s nuclear ambitions were held up for a brief period during 1994-2002, when the U.S. signed an “Agreed Framework” with the country for halting its nuclear programme in return for nuclear energy.
  • Over the past couple of decades, North Korea has demonstrated its nuclear weapons capability by testing the same six times.
  • It has developed, tested and deployed delivery vehicles, space launchers and satellites, and has conducted provocative actions ranging from military drills to shelling South Korean islands and even threatening nuclear attacks.
  • North Korea supposedly has the ability to even target the U.S. mainland with its nuclear arsenal, and it has also become a major source of cyber-attacks across the world.
  • South Korea, in turn has enhanced its military alliance with the U.S. and has become an integral part of the latter’s wider alliance system, hosting not just U.S. troops, but also advanced missile defence systems.
Recent protest
  • Mr. Kim, in his address to the Supreme People’s Assembly on January 15, proclaimed that he is scrapping the decades old North Korean goal of reunifying the South, and has rebranded the South as an enemy state.
  • North Korea has also flexed its military muscle by testing multiple types of missile systems during the first month of 2024 itself.
  • The U.S., South Korea and Japan have conducted joint naval drills in response to the provocations by North Korea, featuring nine warships.
  • The exercises were meant to enhance their joint effectiveness against North Korea’s missile and underwater threats, as well as its illegal maritime shipment of arms.
  • North Korea has alleged that these exercises are rehearsals of an offensive intent and not defensive drills.
  • The nation subsequently tested its “Haeil-5-23” nuclear capable underwater drone in retaliation to these joint naval drills.
  • Pyongyang also tested its strategic cruise missile “Pulhwasal-3-31”, which could allegedly threaten critical American bases in Japan.
Threat for international security
  • The tensions in the Korean Peninsula are rising at a time when the world is witnessing the activation of historically rooted conflicts such as Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine, while others like China-Taiwan and India-China are smouldering.
  • This is indeed a significant concern as the key external stakeholders of the Korean peninsula are the very same nuclear powers who are locked in a global strategic competition — the U.S., China and Russia.
  • Since there are alliances and nuclear weapons involved, a major conflict may be prevented from breaking out.
  • However, as in the case of North Korea’s torpedoing a South Korean warship or its shelling of a South Korean island in 2010, there are chances of violent incidents or skirmishes.
  • Nevertheless, North Korea’s deepening ties with China and Russia, and South Korea’s increasingly firm entrenchment in the U.S. alliance system imply significant linkages with ongoing conflicts.
  • China has always been consistently supportive of North Korea, being the single largest trading partner of the country
Source- The Hindu

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