North Korea vs. South Korea

Max Peck / April 03, 2008, 6:02 PM / Global Political Relations / #11

In a national press conference held yesterday, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak urged North Korea to “tone down the rhetoric.” In the past few days, North Korea has not only fired short-range missiles, but has also threatened to burn South Korea “to ashes.” According to analysts, the attitude taken by the North Korean government is a direct response to South Korea’s recently-toughened attitude, which has urged de-nuclearization and sided with the U.S. government on a number of political issues.

Their rocky relationship is nothing new; they have been, at least, in a state of semi-war since the Korean War ended in 1953.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said North Korea "was intentionally interpreting Seoul's objectives and remarks by its officials in a malicious manner.”

To an uninvolved citizen of a relatively separatist state, this news, although new to me, isn’t personally provocative. While I hope that their issues are resolved peaceably (which seems unlikely), I remain, for the moment, relatively ignorant and thus uninvolved.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/02/koreas/index.html#cnnSTCText
-CNN