Here we have another example of how foreign pressure on a government does not lead to a "rally around the flag" effect among the people of the pressured nation:
Pak Kil-yon, Pyongyang's vice-foreign minster, put the blame for the tense state of inter-Korean relations firmly on South Korea's conservative government and claimed the citizens of the North feel "shame" and "political terror."
Monday's speech was the first time a representative of North Korea has addressed the General Assembly since Kim Jong-un assumed power after the death of his father in December last year.
"Since taking office, the current South Korean government has caused the worst situation in North-South relations by making all inter-Korean agreements null and void," Pak said, referring to pacts with previous South Korean administrations that sought reconciliation between the two ideological enemies and an expansion of economic co-operation.
Another article I read said that South Korean opinion believes the South Korean government's tougher foreign policy toward North Korea is causing more problems.
Hey, at least we're not the only nation who has people who foolishly ponder the question "why do they hate us?"
More amazingly, the North Koreans toss in a nuclear threat to pressure South Korean voters to elect more pliable leaders:
"Today, due to the continued US hostile policy towards the DPRK, the vicious cycle of confrontation and aggravation of tensions is an ongoing phenomenon on the Korean Peninsula, which has become the world's most dangerous hot spot and where a spark of fire could set off a thermonuclear war," Pak said.
Which is silly. I don't believe North Korea has a deliverable nuclear weapon. At best they have a nuclear device that they can set off under laboratory conditions. Unless several hundred thousand South Koreans are invited to stand around that device in North Korea's interior, I don't know how North Korea hits them.
So if there really is a nuclear war, it is North Korea that will finally glow in the night.
And a conventional threat to bombard Seoul won't work out well for North Korea. Not one bit.
Yet threats can work. North Korea continues to have the edge over South Korea which doesn't want its citizens to die versus North Korea which doesn't care how many of its subjects die if the ruling elite continues to run the place.
But who knows? Maybe South Korean voters will yet rally around the flag and reject North Korean blackmail to elect leaders more willing to pay tribute to North Korea.
