The conflict between North Korea and South Korea in 2010
Name: Amir Mohamed Ahmed Suleiman
ID#: 20070102
Course Name: National Security Theory and Geopolitics
Submitted to: Dr. Abdulrahman Rashdan
Submission Date: 14/5/2012
The Korean War and history
After the Japanese occupation which began before 1910 and ended in 1945 the Korean Peninsula was divided into North Korea and South Korea and the Soviet troops occupied the North and the USA troops occupied South Korea starting from 1945
On August 15, 1948 South Korea was established after US troops returned home and North Korea was established on the September 9, 1948 after the Soviet troops left the land and returned home too and there was a huge war taken place between the two neighbor countries since 1950 till 1953.
In the 1950s the conflicts on the borders started to take place between the north and the south, on June South Korea was invaded by North Korea and some United Nations members started to send aids to the South Korea, in October 1950 the UN forces joined and were able to make the North Korean forces go back to their land in the north. After that china entered the war to the side of the North Korea and helped it to go again to the south and the South Korean capital was captured in January 1951. Fighting continued throughout 1951 and 1952. There was a peace negotiations taking place on July 27 1953 which ended by forming a demilitarized zone. After that an Armistice Agreement was signed by the Korean People's Army, the Chinese People's Volunteers and the United Nations Command, which was led by the U.S. South Korea hasn’t sign the treaty and until no there is no any peace treaty or agreement officially signed between North Korea and South Korea.
Since the end of the Korean War from 1950 till 1953 the clashes didn’t stop between North Korea and South Korea and tensions between them remained on going on the political perspective and military perspective. For example: in 1968, North Korea attempted to assassinate the South Korean president but failed, and in 1983 a bombing in Myanmar that was linked to North Korea, killed 17 South Korean officials and in 1987, North Korea was accused of bombing a South Korean airplane.
2010 incident
In this part I will be discussing the conflicts that took place in 2010 between North Korea and South Korea and what sectors and levels in the national security were affected by these conflicts in 2010.
On November 23, 2010, North Korea fired an artillery shells on the South Korean island called Yeonpyeong. North Korea said that South Korea was doing a war maneuver and threatened North Korea, but South Korea stated that it was conducting maritime military trainings which are legal.
An unofficial spokesman for North Korea told the Guardian that firing artillery was a "totally justifiable act of self-defense" in response to the sea drills and warned that nuclear war could follow "at any point" unless the exercises stop. Pyongyang has repeatedly issued such threats in the past.
"If the South continues its dangerous behavior, Seoul will be the next target. It will be a sea of fire," said Kim Myong-chol, executive director of the Centre for Korean-American Peace.
Sectors which were affected in the national security of South Korea by the threats from North Korea and vice versa.
Economic Sector:
North Korea’s artillery shelling of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010 woke up the tension and risk of armed conflicts between North Korea and South Korea; North Korea might also threaten to target critical economic infrastructure as refineries in South Korea. North Korea threats against South Korea were taken in a very serious way by the South Korean system in the economic sector also and not only in military, also the public statements and actions took by the North Korean government we taken in consideration seriously by the South Korean Government. Also dealing under a standby status for war costs a lot of money and buying weapon and spending a huge amount of its money in manufacturing weapons and buying weapons and its repairing and service and training soldiers and making war drills all these are affecting the economic sector directly.
Military sector:
Conflicts between North Korea and south Korea never ended up and always remain, especially after the artillery shells shot by the north Korean army on the south Korean island, each of them calls for reinforcement on the borders and staying on the standby status for any expected attacks.
On the 20th of February South Korea made live-fire military trainings near the disputed sea boundary with North Korea, South Korean military trainings took place in an area that was the target of a North Korean artillery shells attack in 23rd November 2010 were four South Koreans were killed and made threats and raised the alert between North Korea and South Korea and made the conflict and clashes wider between them.
Political sector:
in January 2012 the South Korean president offered to cooperate with North Korea to begin a new era of relations between North Korea and South Korea.
"The most important goal for the country is peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," Lee said in his New Year's address to the nation. He called the transitional period following the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's death "a window of opportunity."
The ROK, which says none of their shots crossed the NLL, continued the exercises. The Korean People’s Army fired around 170 artillery shells at Yeonpyeong Island, one of the ROK islands closet to the line. This resulted in the deaths of two South Korean Marines and two civilians. The ROK fired back approximately 80 shells; North Korea did not announce any casualties. The next day, the DPRK Foreign Ministry blamed South Korea, saying that the shelling was a “self-defensive measure.” On November 29 President Lee referred to North Korea’s killing civilians as a “crime against humanity,” and pledged that the DPRK will pay “a dear price without fail” if it commits “any additional provocations.”
Societal Sector:
Some families living on the borders or used to live there either on an island or near the border, these families were divided and some of them went to the north and some went to the south when both Koreas were divided. And till now these families are living some of them in South Korea and others in North Korea.
Conclusion:
In my point of view the struggle on the borders between South Korea and North Korea will remain still because both Countries are seeking hegemony and domination on the borders and in the region concerning three sectors, Military – Political – Economy.
These conflicts between both countries may be ends by interference of a super power but even when a super power interfere it will choose a side to be with even in an indirect way due to interests in the political and economic sides
References:
CNN Wire Staff. (23 November 2010). Korean Tension: A Look at the Conflict - CNN.com. Retrieved from:http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/23/koreas.clash.explainer/index.html
Infoplease.com. (n.d.). Korean War - Infoplease.com. Retrieved from:http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0828118.html
United States Department of State. (10 December 2010). South Korea. Retrieved from:http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2800.htm
Wikipedia.org. (29 December 2010). Korean War - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War
