From handshakes to hostilities: How dangerous is the situation in North Korea?By Jean Mackenzie
BBC Seoul correspondent
May 9, 2022
Kim Jong-un is testing North Korea's weapons with renewed urgency, as South Korea prepares to inaugurate a new, hard-line president. After years of stalemate, following failed nuclear talks, tensions on the Korean peninsula are rising."I thought about getting an axe, but I decided it would be too difficult to carry, so I settled for a knife."
Sitting in a dimly-lit cocktail bar, late one night, Jenn recounts her detailed escape plan. As a South Korean, living in Seoul, she knew exactly what she would do if the North attacked. First came the weapons, then two motorbikes: one for her, the other for her brother. Their parents would ride on the back. This way they could cross the city's river quickly, before the North Koreans bombed the bridges, and hopefully make it to the coast before the port was destroyed. One evening she and her brother sat and mapped their route, agreeing to tie ribbons to the trees should they be separated.
This was five years ago. At the time, North Korea was furiously testing missiles that could, in theory, deliver nuclear bombs to the United States, and its then President Donald Trump was threatening to respond with "fire and fury". Jenn admits she was more worried than most. But nonetheless, this was the closest many South Koreans felt they had come to war since fighting with North Korea ended almost 70 years ago.
Then something remarkable happened. South Korea's newly-elected president at the time, Moon Jae-in, convinced Mr Trump to meet Kim Jong-un. It was the first time a sitting US president had ever met the leader of North Korea. A flurry of historic summits followed, sparking hope that the North might just agree to give up its nuclear weapons, and the two Koreas would make peace.
* * *
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61331859
