Is North Korea a threat towards the East Asian Region?

The mountains and the uplands are divided between narrow and deep valleys in North Korea. The government system is a one-man communist state dictatorship; the president is the head of state and the chief of state is the chairman of the state affairs committee. In North Korea, the central government is leading the economy in the production and distribution of products.

Historical perspective

After the Russian-Japanese war, Japan conquered the Korean Peninsula in 1910. During World War II, Japan deployed numerous Korean men as troops or compelled them to labor in industries during the war, while thousands of young Korean women became “comfort women” who provided Japanese troops with sexual services. After Japan’s surrender in 1945, the US and the Soviet Union separated the peninsula by the 38th or 38th-degree latitude in two influential zones. In 1948, Seoul, headed by the staunchly anti-communist Syngman Rhe, founded the pro-U.S. The Republic of Korea (or South Korea). And on the other side, the Northside of Korea was headed by the Soviet Union, known as North Korea.

The country developed and industrialized considerably after 35 years of colonial control. North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950 with the support of the Soviet Union and China and began the Korean War.

Nuclear program

The economic problems of North Korea have somewhat disappeared due to better ties between South Korea and its northern neighbor, which had in the early 2000s embraced “sunshine policy.” In 2000, North Korea got closer, even receiving the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Pyongyang, than ever, to forge peace with the United States. But North Korea’s aggressive attempts to become the nuclear state rapidly damaged its relationships with North Korea and the West. Although Kim Jong Il had promised to comply with the 1995 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), rumors began to emerge from underground nuclear power at the beginning of the 2000s.

Military and missiles of North Korea

Hwasong-12 has a range of 4,500km. It has the range to put US naval bases in the Pacific Island of Guam.

Hwasong-14 has a range of 10,000km.

Hwasong-15 reaching 4,550 kilometers over the International Space Station, a peak 10 times higher.

Following are the test and operational missiles North Korea has,

• Nodong – 1300km
• Musudan – 3500km
• Hwasong 12 – 4500km
• Hwasong 14 – 8000km
• Hwasong 15 – 13000km

There are two non-operational missiles,

• KN 14 – 10,000km
• KN 08 – 11,500km

Military capability

North Korea boasts one of the world’s largest standing militaries – with an estimated 5 million soldiers and reserves. Much of its weaponry is old and outdated, but South Korea could still be massively damaged by conventional troops in the event of a conflict. In North Korea, there are also around 200,000 special forces personnel, which in the event of any confrontation may be anticipated to enter the South. They might perhaps make use of a semi-sacred 20-25 tunnel network that extends over behind South Korean and American front positions across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)—the frontier territory.
Role of North Korea in East Asian security

After studying the historical background of the East Asian region, it is clearly visible that North Korea is playing a very important role in the security paradigms of the East Asian region. North Korea, as a communist state, is already a threat to the capitalist states of the world and especially towards the United States. As we know about the history and making of North Korea, the things are not good between two ideologies; communism and capitalism; in the region of East Asia. It has been clearly seen that after the US gave the nuclear umbrella to South Korea, which is a capitalist state, North Korea feels threaten so they decided to go for nuclear weapons itself and they withdraw the NPT.

North Korea’s nuclear program is based on three concepts; International stability, which is about maintaining stability in the region of East Asia; proliferation, which is about increasing the number of weapons to attain stability and power; nuclear non-proliferation policy, which talks about an arms race in the region of East Asia.

The three main concepts of North Korean policy, are creating a situation that is not going to be safe for the region. But also it is creating an arms race in the region. And China is also the main power hub of the region and both North Korea and China are together and against the other capitalist states in the region. The security of the East Asian region is not only dependent on North Korea and China but Japan and Taiwan are also part of it.

But mainly North Korea is increasing its number of nuclear weapons and other ballistic missiles and also its strict policies are creating a situation that is not favorable.

Is North Korea really a threat to the East Asian region?

Well, if we view it in general then the answer to this question is ‘NO’ because as such North Korea is so weak state with a weak economy, the only they have is a military. But if we look deeper into the matters of the East Asian region we get to know that somehow North Korea is possessing a threat to the region of East Asia. North Korea is increasing its arms and it is directly affecting the rival states like South Korea and Japan and so they are also working on their defense, so the deterrence phenomena are going to be skipped in this situation.

And the policies of North Korea and the Kim government are also violent in nature so they are also the threat-causing aspects.

Conclusion

North Korea is not a threat at the ground level but the deeper we look we will feel threatened by North Korea, and if we have a bad history with North Korea then we have to be careful and focus on the defense of our state. This is the whole situation in the region of East Asia.

Source: Baaghi Tv

Image: Courtesy of Pixabay