N Korea’s armour

NORTH Korea has been mocked, demonised and dismissively referred to as a Hermit Kingdom with a crackpot leader.

What I have never heard in the mainline news is what has made this small country so determined to retain its independence and maintain a nuclear deterrent. Has anyone tried to give some context to this story?

One needs to go back to the Korean War that started some 57 years ago.

During this brutal war, the US committed numerous war crimes against the general population.

It dropped 600 000 tons of bombs and 30 000 tons of napalm on military and civilian centres. It is estimated that over 20% of the North Korean population was killed during the conflict.

By the end of the war, on General Douglas MacArthur’s orders, the US was to destroy every means of communication and all installations, factories, cities and villages.

This war hero even contemplated the use of nuclear weapons.

Besides the aerial destruction, the killing of civilians by ground forces was quite common, reaching a murderous frenzy at No Gun Ri where several hundred thousand civilians were slaughtered.

Having suffered atrocities and genocide, it is no wonder that the North Koreans are desperate to defend themselves by any means. They understand that the only thing that will give the US cause for pause is having a nuclear deterrent.