North Korea’s Artillery Attack on Yeonpyeongdo: Responses and Implications

Both the revelation of a highly refined capacity for uranium enrichment and the shelling of South Korean military positions amply demonstrate Pyongyang’s preparedness to push the crisis to the extremes.

Both the revelation of a highly refined capacity for uranium enrichment and the shelling of South Korean military positions amply demonstrate Pyongyang’s preparedness to push the crisis to the extremes. If the South too reacts with similar measures, it would be a recipe for disaster. True, the process of leadership succession could have been the key factor behind the North’s belligerence but crossing of the threshold of tolerance by either party would not be the right choice. If it is true that the senior Kim in failing health has lost some of his earlier influence over the military, the shelling and newly revealed enrichment capacity are not the right reasons for resumption of the stalled SPT, though new “disarmament-for-aid deals have the potential to alleviate the North’s food shortages and reserve currency woes.” There has to be some balance between means and objectives of the strategy to be adopted vis-a-vis North Korea. The SPT has not proved successful. Can North Korea’s nuclear ambitions be curtailed through diplomacy? Past experience does not suggest that it can be the case.

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