01.Jan

January 01st, 2018

New year, old politics

EDITOR:

Gurmeet Singh, Berlin

Kim Jong-Un took time over the New Year to issue both an olive branch and threats, in a show that’s become fairly routine to global news. He used a New Year’s speech to state that the US would never be able to start a war with the country, as North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is complete. He also took time to claim he was open to dialogue with the South.

The speech comes in the wake of an overwhelming UN vote to impose sanctions on the country – a widely recognised way to destabilise Kim Jong-Un’s power, and much more effective than the bluster of the US. It’s also been discussed that both the US and North Korea have been engaging in increased rhetorical displays of aggression, simply to play to crowds at home. However, the fact that Kim Jong-Un’s speech falls on New Years shows that he is by no means willing to do what others do on this day: making some sort of peaceful resolution.

Instead, he and Trump will drag out last year’s politics into this year, and continue the war of words, risking a potential hot war – one that is nuclear, simply to ensure the reputations of the country are enshrined and upheld in the most macho terms possible.

However, it is encouraging that North Korea appears to be open to dialogue with the South; hopefully, that is one New Years promise that can be kept.