Another Cog in the Fear Cycle

As you may know, North Korea walked out on mid-level talks to set up higher level talks between the two Koreas stating the following,

“We no longer feel the need to deal with the traitor group, which has no interest in improving relations,” North Korea’s delegation to this week’s military talks said today in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. “It is our tradition to respond to dialogue with dialogue and confrontation with confrontation.”


The question in my mind is, "was this just another useless ploy by the North to escalate tensions?" Kim is also going through a similar process that was playing out in Egypt as he tries to hand power off to his son, and much like Egypt, the military regime holds enormous sway over any possible transition. This is why in my opinion Kim and his son were both at the base that shelled the south just hours before the shelling began, as Kim tries to gin up support of high level military officials in an eventual transition of power.


The walk out seems like more drama and I doubt there were any sincere efforts by the North toward high level talks. This is about the internal politics of the North. So, don't be surprised to see another round of escalating tensions in the region. If inflation and food are problems in more developed countries, how much worse is the situation in an isolated North Korea? Attention from that reality will have to be deflected and what better way the to focus the people in a renewed push of nationalism by confronting the South in hostile engagements once again? Kim may be isolated, but he's also extremely paranoid and the events unfolding in Egypt and Tunisia are surely keeping him awake at night planning his next move to deflect criticism of his regime. After all, the long time oppressive leaders in poverty stricken countries are lining up to fall like dominos.