2020 Would Like to Draw Your Attention to the Koreans

As we spend our days time travelling to gibbet our ancestors for ... well ... existing in a different century mal-aligned with 2020's struggle sessions, the rest of the world continues its march forward.

We need to remember that many of the world's events will unfold on their own timeline independent of our picayune obsessions.

North Korea has blown up a joint liaison office with the South near the North's border town of Kaesong.

The move comes just hours after the North renewed threats of military action at the Korean border.

The site was opened in 2018 to help the Koreas - officially in a state of war - to communicate. It had been empty since January due to Covid-19 restrictions.

In a statement, South Korea warned it would "respond strongly" if the North "continues to worsen the situation".

The destruction of the office, it said, "abandons the hopes of everyone who wanted the development of inter-Korean relations and peace settlement in the Korean Peninsula".

North Korea is such a hermit state whose national character has been developing in isolation for so long, no one really knows what they are thinking - but this cannot be good.

At best, they are signaling ... or trying to get attention ... internal or external, who knows.

Pyongyang is also angry at Seoul for not challenging Washington's insistence that strict sanctions should remain in place and for not pursuing inter-Korean projects which would have breached both UN and US sanctions.

It feels as if North Korea could be punishing the South and with the aim of using the tension as leverage in future talks.

Whatever the reason, this is a real slap in the face for a South Korean administration that pushed so hard for engagement.

How do you try to move forward when every step you take in a positive direction, the other party kicks you in the chest back two?

Pray for peace ... or better yet ... we get lucky.

The only people who dislike this instability more than the South Koreans & Americans are the Chinese.

It is in both our interests that this relic of the Cold War, North Korea, drifts in to history.

If I could offer something - if a window opened - it would be to work with the People's Republic of China to wind this down.

If they would agree to allow the unification of Korea, then the USA would remove all American ground forces from the peninsula withing 18-months of unification. Drawing down 50% withing 12-months.

No USA ground forces will return to the peninsula except for training or exercises and never more than battalion strength.  PRC observers will be allowed to witness for a period of 15 years.

We can negotiate from there.

I work cheap; DM me.