It is now clear, if it wasn’t before, that Kim Jong-un’s ascension to follow his father as North Korea’s supreme leader is going to be a turbulent time on the Korean Peninsula. How dangerous it gets in the region may depend on how much aggressive behaviour South Korea is willing to tolerate from its neighbour without pushing back hard.
After a brief period of calm following the 20-something’s introduction as the heir apparent to an ailing Kim Jong-il, the North Korean regime has shocked the outside world twice in a matter of days. First by unveiling a uranium-enrichment facility – described as “stunning” by a U.S. scientist who was invited to see it – that could be used to produce more nuclear weapons for a regime that has already defied the world by detonating two of them. Then, on Tuesday, it shelled an inhabited South Korean island, killing two soldiers and wounding dozens of others, prompting a heavy retort from South Korea’s own artillery.
Read More: North Korean actions tied to domestic agenda
After a brief period of calm following the 20-something’s introduction as the heir apparent to an ailing Kim Jong-il, the North Korean regime has shocked the outside world twice in a matter of days. First by unveiling a uranium-enrichment facility – described as “stunning” by a U.S. scientist who was invited to see it – that could be used to produce more nuclear weapons for a regime that has already defied the world by detonating two of them. Then, on Tuesday, it shelled an inhabited South Korean island, killing two soldiers and wounding dozens of others, prompting a heavy retort from South Korea’s own artillery.
Read More: North Korean actions tied to domestic agenda
