North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for rewriting the North’s constitution to eliminate the idea of shared statehood between the war-divided countries.
The Korean War “ended” in 1953. The leadership of North Korea hasn’t managed to get their shit together in over 70 years. You’re right to suggest it’s not all Kim’s fault. It took several generations of general ineptitude, greed, and bullheadedness, while alienating and provoking potential allies. Kim has only continued that “grand” tradition; he didn’t start it. Thank you for the clarification.
The Korean War never actually ended. It’s a frozen conflict with the demilitarized zone serving as a defacto border. Because of this, both the south and the north never demilitarized. The US and South Korea still to this day conduct massive military exercises which, from North Koreas perspective, could be used as cover for an invasion. While Americans have largely forgotten about the war, it still plays a large role in Korean policy decisions on both sides of the divide.
For anyone who has never been to the DMZ in Korea, it’s worth a visit. It’s been decades since I went, but when I was there the room that they use to meet had big North Korean guards on one side, hard-eyeing the big (The picked guys who were all like 6’5" or something) guards from the South. Like that feeling you get when you’re out at night and a couple guys start eyeing each other and you know shit is probably about to go down. That’s how it felt in the room. Like the guards were ready to start brawling at any second. It was very tense, weird, and surreal.
Yes, definitely all Kim’s fault. Never mind the 20% of its population that got slaughtered in the Korean War.
The Korean War “ended” in 1953. The leadership of North Korea hasn’t managed to get their shit together in over 70 years. You’re right to suggest it’s not all Kim’s fault. It took several generations of general ineptitude, greed, and bullheadedness, while alienating and provoking potential allies. Kim has only continued that “grand” tradition; he didn’t start it. Thank you for the clarification.
The Korean War never actually ended. It’s a frozen conflict with the demilitarized zone serving as a defacto border. Because of this, both the south and the north never demilitarized. The US and South Korea still to this day conduct massive military exercises which, from North Koreas perspective, could be used as cover for an invasion. While Americans have largely forgotten about the war, it still plays a large role in Korean policy decisions on both sides of the divide.
For anyone who has never been to the DMZ in Korea, it’s worth a visit. It’s been decades since I went, but when I was there the room that they use to meet had big North Korean guards on one side, hard-eyeing the big (The picked guys who were all like 6’5" or something) guards from the South. Like that feeling you get when you’re out at night and a couple guys start eyeing each other and you know shit is probably about to go down. That’s how it felt in the room. Like the guards were ready to start brawling at any second. It was very tense, weird, and surreal.