North Korean Pres. Kim Jong-Un
North Korean Crisis: How did it come to this?
WASHINGTON(AFP) - Tensions have soared in recent weeks
over North Korea, which has threatened a nuclear strike against the United
States and has allegedly moved missiles to its east coast.
HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?
The latest crisis erupted when North Korea fired a
long-range rocket on December 12 that splashed down near the Philippines.
Pyongyang said it was a peaceful satellite launch and US experts acknowledge
that the regime put a small object into orbit.
The United States and its allies said that the launch was
aimed at developing ballistic missile capabilities and moved at the United
Nations to tighten sanctions. North Korea voiced anger and carried out its
third nuclear test on February 12, defying even its main ally China.
The UN Security Council on March 7 unanimously approved
new sanctions that include greater scrutiny of shady financial dealings by
the impoverished regime. North Korea had warned of consequences for the UN vote
and afterward renounced a 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War and declared
itself at war with the US-allied South. North Korea's military has said it has final approval for
a nuclear strike on the United States.
WHAT DOES NORTH KOREA WANT?
Experts know little about North Korean leader Kim
Jong-Un, who is believed to be in his late 20s and who succeeded his father Kim
Jong-Il in December 2011.
North Korea has indicated that it wants recognition as a
nuclear weapons state -- seen as a guarantor of the regime's survival. The
United States has refused.
Some experts believe North Korea is operating from a
playbook of steadily upping the ante and had planned out actions to coincide
with the inauguration of conservative South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.
WHAT ROLE HAVE US-SOUTH KOREA EXERCISES PLAYED?
The United States and South Korea are carrying out their
annual "Foal Eagle" exercises through April after starting them in
March. North Korea regularly denounces the tests as a preparation for war, but
tensions have been especially high this year.
The United States took the unprecedented step of
announcing latest run by
its nuclear-capable B-2 bombers. US officials said the
step was meant to
reassure South Korea, but Pyongyang voiced outrage and US
peace activists called the move provocative.
The United States has also sent to South Korea its
stealth F-22 jets, moved
two destroyers to nearby waters and -- in response to
North Korean threats
against US bases -- sent a missile defense battery to its
Pacific territory of
Guam.
WHAT ARE NORTH KOREA'S CAPABILITIES?
North Korea is seen as capable of attacking South Korea
and Japan, but experts doubt it can strike the United States with the possible
exception of Guam.
The Arms Control Association research group estimates
that North Korea's
Rodong-1 missile has a range of 1,300 kilometers (800
miles). The Musadan theoretically has a range of 3,000-4,000 kilometers
(1,900-2,500 miles), but
North Korea has never tested it.
WHAT ARE THE US MILITARY RESOURCES IN THE REGION?
The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea
and around 50,000 in Japan. It also keeps nearly 6,000 troops in Guam, a base
for fighter-bombers and submarines, and 50,000 troops in Hawaii.
More than 40 US Navy vessels are permanently based in the
Pacific with plans to increase the number as part of a growing US focus on
Asia.
The Yokosuka base south of Tokyo is home to the USS
George Washington aircraft carrier, two cruisers and seven destroyers. The USS
John Stennis aircraft carrier is temporarily in Singapore on its way back from
a mission in the Gulf.
ARE WE ON THE BRINK OF WAR?
Most experts consider North Korea's threats to be bluster
but warn of the potential for miscalculations to blow up.
Stanford University's Siegfried Hecker, to whom North
Korea revealed a uranium enrichment facility in 2010, doubted that Pyongyang
would use nuclear weapons even if it could as such a step would "result in
a devastating military response and would spell the end of the regime."
Still, North Korea has a history of taking action around
April 15, the 101st birth anniversary of the regime's founder Kim Il-Sung,
grandfather of Kim Jong-Un. (WilmaYamzonBlogs)
No comments:
Post a Comment