The Innuendo of North Korea Blowing Up the Inter-Korea Liaison Office Building

The Innuendo of North Korea Blowing Up the Inter-Korea Liaison Office Building

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

June 22, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

North Korea a couple of days ago, in a move attracting great attention, cut off the North-South Korea military hotline on the grounds that the South Korean government turned a blind eye to North Korean defectors who released air drifting balloons, and then blew up the Inter-Korea Liaison Office building in Kaesong. At the same time, North Korea warned that it would tear up the military agreement of Panmunjom, re-deploy military forces at the border, restart military exercises in the West Sea, and then prepare to distribute "punitive leaflets" to South Korea in a humiliating manner. South Korea was not willing to show weakness, claiming that it would no longer tolerate North Korea’s unreasonable provocations and demands. These exchanges of gambits have suddenly escalated the Korean peninsula situation, which had been stable for quite some time.

From past experiences, as the US-China confrontation heats up, North Korea frequently played the role of a God-sent assistant to Mainland China, making itself an issue that cannot be ignored on the US-China negotiating table. On the 17^th, US Secretary of State Pompeo and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi held talks in Hawaii. North Korea chose to deliberately ignite the incident at the 38^th parallel on the eve of the talks between the two. Although the United States and China still have differences on the issues of Hong Kong and Xinjiang, the North Korean issue unexpectedly became a lubricant for both sides. Maintaining stability and peace on the Korean peninsula is the largest common denominator between the US and China, which has allowed the US and China to reach some constructive conclusions during the Hawaii talks in the extraordinary period of continued deterioration of relations.

It is foreseeable that under the circumstances, neither the US, nor North Korea would yield, before the yearend presidential election, North Korea would employ war brinkmanship tactics to gradually escalate regional conflicts. Of course, the tensions on the Korean peninsula usually affect the situation in the Taiwan Strait, only we don’t know whether the Tsai government is prepared.

Attachment : none