If tensions seemed to have lessened at the beginning of the week in Korea they are certainly ratcheting up now. South Korea continues its live-fire exercises along its border, including a sensitive area around Peongyong Island. North Korea calls the drills preparations for war, and it declares that it is willing to fight a "Holy War" against the South. The China-Russia Axis also continues to do little to actually help ease the strong feelings on the peninsula.
Preparations for War?
South Korea has been conducting live-fire drills for several days now, and they seem to be increasing in intensity. These drills have not only included land and naval artillery fire, but also simulated air attacks. Bloomberg radio was repotting earlier in the month that over 12 million South Koreans conducted a civil-defense drill, running for their basements while jet fighters screamed overhead, simulating air attacks on the North.
Armored units have also taken part in the practice, firing live rounds into the hills around a training range in South Korea about 20 miles from the DMZ. These units were assisted by helicopters, which also fired live ammunition. Heavy tanks backed by tank-killing helicopters would be the backbone of any ground defense of South Korea, with the North forced to channel any invasion into one of several valleys running from the DMZ towards Seoul, and other parts of the South.
South Korea insists that the drills are not meant to be provocative, and they, like any other sovereign nation, have the right to conduct self-defense drills on their own territory. President Lee has stated that he hoped patience with the North would have brought the two sides closer together over the last few years, but that sentiment went up in smoke on November 23rd when North Korea shelled Yeonpyong Island and killed two South Korean civilians and two marines.
A Korean Jihad?
The North has responded to the continuing exercises by saying that they are preparations for war. Pyongyang has also stated it will be a “Holy War” for the North, interesting statements coming from a Communist government. North Korea has put its forces on a high state of readiness, but has not made any provocative moves to counter the intense exercises being conducted on the south side of the DMZ. North Korea is reiterating that if it is forced to go to war, the war will be nuclear. Again and again the North has played this card throughout the recent high tensions, stating that any war on the peninsula will result in a nuclear holocaust.
This seems to be the short-term strategy for the North, to continue to lean on the threat of nuclear war to try and keep the South under control. South Korea is in a difficult strategic position and the North knows it. Even if a war is fought in Korea and the South eventually wins, Seoul is almost sure to be destroyed, by conventional weapons even if not by nuclear warheads. What would be left to the Allied victors in a Pacific War would be a smoldering Korea, not the economic juggernaut the South is becoming.
The China-Russia Axis
Russia and China are doing very little to ease the tensions. Russia has recently asked the South Koreans to cease their drills, saying that they were too provocative and increased the threat of war on the Korean Peninsula. Russia has also spoken with foreign officials from the USA and the ROK, but seemed to offer little in the way of a viable solution. It is interesting that the North Koreans, who seem to enjoy shooting rockets into the Sea of Japan to try and intimidate their enemies, should be so upset about the South conducting their own drills.
If the West is looking for any help from China or Russia to stem the rising tide of war in Korea, they may be watching for a long time. The China-Russia Axis has only been acting negatively towards the West in recent days. They have, in concert, dropped the US Dollar as a reserve currency and have started trading Russian and Chinese money in Moscow. China has ordered that all English words be dropped from any publications. China has also had strong words for Japan, who angered their Asian neighbors by daring to consider China a bigger threat to Japanese defense than Russia in a post-Cold War era.
What may be occurring here is a little bit of smoke and mirrors. North Korea yells and screams and threatens nuclear jihad and the world watches and wonders. But when Russia and China drop the dollar, no one bats an eyelash. When Russia and China grow closer in terms of military and economic ties it isn’t exciting, so it tends to pass by like any other news. The Axis wants the North to act like they want to start a jihad, but not actually do it. The key is, can they control the North enough to prevent an actual war?
Russia and China have formed an Axis, and the North Koreans are currently serving their needs. It is not that they completely control the North; it is just that the North provides the cover for the real important actions taking place. Russia and China would rather not fight a war in the Pacific right now. They would much rather control Western mortgages and currency and natural resources, and just watch while the West goes bankrupt. Perhaps it would be better if a war were fought right now, while the West still has the edge in technology. Better to fight the Chinese now than in twenty years when their weapons are as good as the West’s.
