Girding for Action

I thought the South Koreans would unleash an air strike on the offending North Korean artillery positions after the shelling of their island off the west coast of South Korea. After doing nothing after the sinking of the Cheonan, I figured they'd reached their limits of accepting death at the hands of the nutballs up north. But South Korea did nothing to strike back, I assume under intense pressure from us, after making statements that gave every indication that South Korea would retaliate.

But the South Koreans really do seem to have reached the end of their patience:

South Koreans stopped their cars, donned gas masks and ducked into underground shelters Wednesday in the country's biggest-ever evacuation drill — a government attempt to prepare traditionally indifferent citizens for possible new attacks by North Korea.

Fear of North Korea seems to be fading as resignation over their inability to shape North Korea with positive action sets in.

This acceptance that retaliation is the proper response to another attack could wear off, of course; and over time if no more attacks take place, it will weaken.

We shall see how long North Korea can resist the impulse to strike their southern enemy. Kill South Koreans too soon and North Korea will feel the full weight of South Korean retaliation. Austin Bay sees the next 1 to 2 years as crucial in the question of North Korean aggression.