North Korea explained in graphics (7 Pics)
http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2017/09/north-korea-explained-in-graphics-7-pics.html
What is the history of the two Koreas
In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, starting the three-year Korean War. Since the signing of the armistice agreement in 1953, North and South Korea have been divided by a 4km wide demilitarized zone stretching 250km.
Seoul, South Korea's capital and largest city, is within close range of this demilitarized zone and could be hit by North Korean artillery in case of hostilities.
Both Koreas have steadily increased their military spending over the decades. The US has thousands of its troops stationed in the region, making the Korean Peninsula, located between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea, one of the most militarized zones of the world. Today, North Korea spends more than any other country on military spending as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). Nearly a quarter of its GDP goes towards the military.
With almost 1.2 million people currently serving in the military, North Korea also has the world's fourth largest army.
As world leaders have come and gone, North Korea's Kim dynasty has remained in power. (Article continues.)
When the US government decides it doesn't like a foreign regime, it's become something of a tradition for US politicians — with the help of a compliant media — to portray those leaders as irrational, unhinged, or even downright insane.
Why The War Party Loves To Call Foreign Leaders Insane
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-07/why-war-party-loves-call-foreign-leaders-insane
This was true of Saddam Hussein, and it was true of Slobodan Milosevic. In both cases, a foreign head of state was condemned as irrational in order to help justify US invasions and bombings of foreign nations that were no threat to the United States.
The US narrative usually goes something like this — as described by Ronnie Lipschutz:
Why would so-called rogues — and these are the only countries that, according to Washington, threaten US forces, allies, or interests — choose to [threaten the US]? No rational reason can be given, and so irrational ones are offered instead. They hate us, but for no reason since we have no designs on them. They desire vengeance, but for no reason since we have never offended them. They wish to injure us, for for no reason, since they have only been injured through their interference with our pusuit of order.
This narrative helps to reinforce the credulous American public's naive acceptance of the idea that the US government is an untrammeled force for good in the international sphere, and that any opposition to the US must be based on irrational, evil motives. If any other head of state is angry with the United States, it's simply because he absurdly desires world conquest, or to massacre innocents. Or he may even be insane. (Article continues.)
Tensions between the United States and North Korea have escalated following Pyongyang’s hydrogen bomb test. North Korea has described the recent atomic bomb test as a deterrent move and a gift for Washington. US President Donald Trump has fanned the flames of hostility by responding that an American military strike against Pyongyang would be “a very sad day for North Korea.” To discuss the spiraling escalation, Press TV has interviewed David Swanson, co-founder of warisacrime.org from Charlottesville, Virginia, and Brent Budowsky, a columnist of The Hill from Washington.
US begging for war, not North Korea: Analyst
http://presstv.com/Detail/2017/09/08/534420/North-Korea-US-War-Nuclear-Weapons
Swanson said that North Korea has clearly been open to negotiation in order to solve differences on militarization of the Korean Peninsula, but the United States has propped up its warmongering policy.
“It is US politicians and US major media outlets that are begging for war not North Korea,” because “North Korea has repeatedly and endlessly been open to negotiations,” the activist said on Thursday night.
The White House has threatened North Korea with a nuclear war, which is a clear violation of the UN charter; thus, President Trump needs to be impeached immediately and removed from office, Swanson noted.
He further said that
“the US is now going to the UN and trying to get approval to stop North Korean ships on the open seas and search them for nuclear weapons and nuclear fuel." "This has the potential to create an incident with violence that immediately escalates into war,” he said.
Pointing to the history of Washington’s failures to live up to its commitments, the analyst said
North Korea halted its nuclear program for over a decade back in the 1990s when the United States agreed to scale back its hostility, military exercises and militarization of South Korea, but America violated the agreement.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un ordered the production of more rocket warheads and engines, shortly after the United States suggested that its threats of military action and sanctions were having an impact on Pyongyang’s behavior.
Swanson explained that “a diplomatic solution is not identical to a military solution,” whereas the US wants to achieve peace through further weaponization, belligerence, threats and sanctions against North Korea.
Brent Budowsky, the other contributor on the show, said, “What North Korea can be offered is the opportunity to end up with a negotiated diplomatic solution that guarantees through an agreement with the United States and other countries nonaggression against North Korea as part of a larger deal.”
However, the analyst cautioned, “Having nuclear weapons is not the only way or the best way for North Korea to guarantee its security. It can be done through diplomatic agreements.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested that North Korea will not abandon its nuclear weapons program because Pyongyang views its missiles and atomic weapons as its only means of self-defense.
Putin suggests North Korea will not give up nukes
http://presstv.com/Detail/2017/09/07/534327/Putin-North-Korea-nuclear-state-EEF
“They (the North Koreans) view the possession of atomic weapons and missile technology as their only means of protection. Do you think they’ll give it up now?” the Russian president said during the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in the far-eastern Russian city of Vladivostok on Thursday.
“It’s impossible to scare them,” he added.
The Russian president said North Korea was being provocative by advancing its missile and military nuclear programs but said any escalation of the dispute with Pyongyang would be “counter-productive.”
“The build-up of some military atmosphere, of hysteria, is counter-productive, in my opinion. It will lead to nothing, because what is happening now, of course, is a provocation from North Korea. This is quite obvious. They are provoking the situation, but if they are doing it, they are not stupid people, believe me. So, they expect the corresponding reaction from [their] partners, and they achieve it,” Putin said.
The Russian president repeated his stance that it is possible to resolve the dispute through diplomatic means, stressing that the issue was a top priority for development in East Asia.
There has been an uproar over Pyongyang’s sixth and the biggest nuclear test to date, which was conducted on September 3.
Earlier, North Korea had tested a missile by firing it through Japanese airspace, angering Tokyo and its ally the United States.
Tensions have been especially high between the US and North Korea. Washington has military presence on the Korean Peninsula and has threatened the North with military action over its weapons programs.
Japan urges ‘greatest possible pressure’ on North Korea - Also on Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was in Russia for the EEF, called on the international community to “unite in applying the greatest possible pressure on North Korea” to have it abandon its nuclear and missile programs.
“We must make North Korea immediately and fully comply with all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and abandon all its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner,” Abe said.
“North Korea is escalating an overt challenge to the peace, prosperity, law and order of the region and indeed the entire world,” he said.
North Korea is already under mounting international pressure over its missile and military nuclear programs and has been subjected to an array of sanctions by the United Nations.
However, Pyongyang says it needs to continue and develop the programs as a deterrent against hostility by the United States and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan.
China is focused on solving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue through talks and peaceful means, Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President Donald Trump in a telephone call on Wednesday (Sept 6).
China’s Xi Jinping tells Donald Trump that North Korea nuclear issue must be solved via talks
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/chinas-xi-jinping-talks-to-donald-trump-about-korea-nuclear-issue
The United States and South Korea have asked the United Nations to consider tough new sanctions on North Korea after its nuclear test on Sunday that Pyongyang said was a advanced hydrogen bomb.
Washington and its allies have said there is a growing urgency for China, North Korea’s top trading partner, to apply more pressure on its already isolated neighbour to get it to back down on its nuclear weapons and missiles programmes.
China “unswervingly” works to realise denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula and to safeguard the international nuclear non-proliferation system, Xi told Trump, according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry.
“At the same time, we always persist in safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and resolving the issue through dialogue and consultation,”
Xi said. “It is necessary to stay on the path of a peaceful solution.”
Xi also said that China attaches importance to Trump’s visit to China later this year.
The statement cited Trump as saying that the United States was deeply concerned about the Korean nuclear issue and that it valued China’s “important role” in resolving the problem.
