North Korea and WWIII

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IS North Korea dragging the United States into World War III? North Korea’s Kim Jongun has been flirting with global disaster in the past months. He has been threatening the United States with annihilation through nuclear bombs.

Kim’s latest provocative action is its claim to have tested its most powerful nuclear device, a hydrogen bomb that may be able to reach the mainland US.

For the past several months, NoKor has been testing nuclear missiles as a taunt to the US, South Korea and Japan. In case of war, South Korea and Japan would be the first to be hit by NoKor’s missiles.

Previously, NoKor had threatened to unleash a nuclear missile toward Guam, a US territory, causing widespread panic in Guam, and anger and anxiety in the US. Kim later backed off from the threat.

How likely is a war between NoKor against the US, Japan, and South Korea?

Since man cannot be judged rational all the time, and with someone as reckless as KimJong-un as NoKor’s leader, a nuclear war cannot be ruled out. This is what’s causing the tension in Asia, especially in South Korea and Japan, and around the world.

Why is the United States involved? The US has treaty obligations with Japan and South Korea and, therefore, is bound to get involved once SoKor and Japan are attacked.

This is why US President Donald Trump is incensed with NoKor’s intransigence. Kim Jong-un has been playing a game of chicken for months now, moving closer and closer to the brink of armed conflict.

Trump has called on China, NoKor’s ally, to rein in Kim’s belligerence. Whether China has attempted to directly influence NoKor is not clear, but Trump has chided China for not doing enough to ease the tension in the Korean peninsula.

Trump is also peeved over Sokor President Moon Jae-in’s pacifist approach to the conflict. Moon has reached out to Kim Jong-un for peace talks rather than war.

Trump doesn’t agree with Moon’s approach, which he calls “appeasement.” A few weeks ago, Trump threatened NoKor with US “fire and fury” if the latter didn’t stop its warmongering.

The risk of war is real, considering the personalities of the protagonists – Kim and Trump. Both seem to favor bluster over cool-headedness.

I happen to agree with SoKor’s Moon’s approach. Armed conflict no longer has a place in today’s world because of the risk of total destruction to mankind. The hope is that both Trump and Kim, despite themselves, will realize the enormity of the danger.

How would war affect the Philippines? The Philippines is an ally of the United States, Japan, and South Korea, and would be obligated by treaty to side with those three nations, either by sending Filipino soldiers, as it did in the Korean War in the 1950s, or civic action contingents, as in the Vietnam War in the 1960s-70s.

(But if the war goes nuclear, the war is likely to be short and decisive, making ground soldiers or civic action groups unnecessary.)

The risks are enormous and, with nuclear arms involved, the prospect of the elimination of mankind is present. If North Korea and the United States and its allies engage in nuclear war, that would be MAD -- Mutually Assured Destruction.

*** Tantrum Ergo. While the risk of nuclear war in the Korean Peninsula is real, there’s reason to be optimistic. Let’s hope self-preservation will ultimately prevail in the minds of Messrs. Trump and Kim and they step away from the brink of war.