Justin Bullock, FISM News
Relations between North and South Korea have taken a turn for the worse as North Korea denounced the US and South Korea for a joint military exercise that began on Tuesday. A senior North Korean official said “They must be made to clearly understand how dearly they have to pay for answering our good faith with hostile acts after letting go the opportunity for improved inter-Korean relations.”
The relationship between the two neighboring countries had just begun to improve as a line of communication had been reopened last month. North Korea, however, stopped answering this hotline on Tuesday, prior to the official’s warnings. The collaborative military exercises are an annual event for the two countries and are “purely defensive in nature” according to the US State Department.
In a similar way to the Israel-Palestine conflict in the Middle East, the situation between North and South Korea in Asia is extremely sensitive and volatile. North Korea has earned a reputation as being fickle and wavering in their diplomacy. The communist country has frequently made promises only to completely change their minds within a matter of days. As a result, while South Korean and US officials are disappointed by the statements, they are not surprised.
However, a more concerning development for the US was that the North Korean official also announced a closer working relationship with Russia in order to counter US influence on the Korean peninsula. Whether or not such a situation will actually manifest is yet to be seen. The US has maintained a large military presence in South Korea since the ceasefire of the Korean War back in the 1950s. South Korea serves as a committed ally to the US and is also provides a key strategical base in a region of the world dominated by long-time political foe, China.