After North Korea Missile Launches, East Asia is on the Razor’s Edge
A single miscalculation could plunge the Korean peninsula into a conflagration with grave consequences for Japan, China, Russia—and the United States. Donald Kirk Published 08.01.19 5:03AM ET
SEOUL—The defection on Thursday of a North Korean soldier weaving his way across the DMZ is the latest in an accumulation of incidents putting not only the Korean Peninsula but much of East Asia on the razor’s edge of a crisis out of anyone’s ability to control.
The soldier, spotted by thermal imaging as he made his way across the heavily mined demilitarized zone, presumably is providing testimony about the problems of morale and hunger afflicting tens of thousands of North Korean troops within 20 miles of the line.
These are the facts about his country and especially the military that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un does not want known. And it’s to stave off simmering discontent exacerbated by sanctions and poor crops that Kim Jong Un is testing missiles and rocket systems—prime examples of threats that could send the region hurtling toward disaster, the United States along with it.
Read more at; https://www.thedailybeast.com/after-north-korea-missile-launches-east-asia-is-on-the-razors-edge
Lengthy article, high on the negatives but probably worth considering nonetheless.
