Soon, most likely, there will be new brutal sanctions imposed against North Korea. And there will be massive provocative military exercises held, involving the US and South Korean (ROK). In brief, it is all ‘business as usual’: the West continues to torture DPRK; it is provoking it, isolating, demonizing and dehumanizing it, making sure that it wouldn’t function normally, let alone thrive.
On March 7, the Republic of Korea (ROK)-United States joint military drills known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle began. The goal of this year’s exercises is to practice pinpoint strikes on the North Korean (DPRK) leadership and the country’s key nuclear sites and missile facilities. Although these drills are held annually, this year they are unprecedented in scale and are carried out against the backdrop of tough anti-North Korean sanctions.
Buried in an article criticizing Chinese culture, the New York Times drops this bombshell: “News reports that women across China are applying for and receiving spousal protection orders from courts since the Anti-Domestic Violence Law took effect on March 1 showed that they were seizing new opportunities to ensure their safety.
Inter-Korean relations have reached their nadir. Following the North’s fourth nuclear test in January and subsequent long-range rocket launch that placed a satellite in orbit, Seoul has closed the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Pyongyang has cut military communication lines with the South and shut down the liaison office at Panmunjeom.
The phrase “a Pig War” used in the title of this article has been mentioned in a number of previously published articles. Today, in view of another episode of escalation of inter-Korean relations, this phenomenon will be explained in detail. First, let us look at the causes of the new wave of antagonism. If we focus on the role of mutual demonization and agitation, we will notice that a few factors heavily contribute to the transformation of a misunderstanding into a hostility.
Kim Jong-un’s statement that the country will soon be revamping its military doctrine to adjust to the new external conditions, and that it may use nuclear weapons to counter any threat “whenever necessary,” has made a stir and has been covered in a separate article (reference to the previous article Have We Witnessed a Dramatic Change in the Military Doctrine of the DPRK?). But despite the public’s reaction, this news was just another link in the chain of acts of mutual demonization and agitation.
Observing amplification of South Korean rhetoric, deterioration of the inter-Korean cooperation and escalation of the crisis up to allegations by the leadership of the South Korean National Intelligence Service of posible acts of terrorism, I decided to write an article that would shift readers’ attention to a no less important topic. It will not be about conservatives in South Korea making another breakthrough.
Australia and China have a long history of mutually beneficial cooperation. Over the past five years, bilateral trade volume has grown by about fifty percent, and that was before signing the Free Trade Agreement between the countries, which took place in June 2015. Both countries make their respective mutual investments, Australian companies are widely represented on the Chinese market, student exchange and tourism programs are developing.
