US military puts NKorea on edge

With the news that North and South Korea will march as one nation during the opening parade of nations in the upcoming Winter Olympics, to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, along with their women’s hockey teams playing as one, a question needs to be addressed: Is the U.S. a deterrent to peace in the Korean Peninsula? During 2000, in an attempt to reconcile relations between the two countries, North and South Korea announced plans to build a rail line and highway connecting the two countries, which was completed three years later.

Does North Korea hate us so much that they are willing to risk complete nuclear annihilation? Why is it that the U.S. seems to be the only country North Korea seems hell-bent on waging war against? I’m no political scientist nor military strategist, but the answer seems to me is that we still have 30,000 troops stationed along the 38th parallel, 65 years after the Korean War ended. Making matters worse, our military conducts regular war games with South Korea, the most recent just last month.

Is there any wonder why North Korean leaders fear another war with America?

In a television interview after the start of both the Afghan and Iraqi wars, Osama bin Laden stated he attacked America on 9/11 because we left troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, the most sacred land in the Islam religion, after the Gulf War. Have we failed to learn any lessons from all our military engagements and foreign policy debacles in the past 65 years?

Steven Spring South Charleston