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Could an accidental war between N. Korea & S. Korea/U.S break out?

With South Korea and the U.S. flashing new military hardware and North Korea staging competing war games, there's a real fear among some that a misunderstanding or misfire could lead to an accidental war. Today we look at what would war in Korea look like?...
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With South Korea and the U.S. flashing new military hardware and North Korea staging competing war games, there's a real fear among some that a misunderstanding or misfire could lead to an accidental war. Today we look at what would war in Korea look like?


Freelance Reporter Jason Strother


Kim Jong-un's theme song is broadcast several times a day on North Korean state television. Onwards Toward the Final Victory speaks of an "undefeated army winning a hundred battles" and paints North Korea as the "beacon of the new industrial revolution." It's fairly typical of the kind of bombastic propaganda the country churns out on a regular basis. And it's easy to get blasé about it ... until something like this comes along.

"Since the United States is about to ignite a nuclear war we will be exercising our right to pre-emptive nuclear attack." - NBC News (Thanks to NBC for the translation.)

Yesterday, North Korea officially canceled the Armistice that ended the Korean War and shut down the emergency communications hotline that connects North and South Korea.

Kim Jong-un's regime now says it is free to launch any kind of attack against anyone, whenever it wants. It's worth remembering that North Korea has just conducted its third successful nuclear test ... that it is busy developing long-range missile technology ... and that it has one of the largest standing armies in the world.

Yesterday, North and South Korea staged competing war games. South Korean troops are on high alert. And North Korean officials have mused about turning Washington into what they call a "sea of fire." All of this is making a lot of people very nervous ... and it has some suggesting that a new Korean war is actually a legitimate -- and potentially ugly -- possibility.

For a sense of the mood in South Korea, we reached freelance journalist Jason Strother in Seoul.

Panel: Christine Hong / Scott Snyder / Peter Pry

"We have worked in a concerted way with our international partners to put pressure on and isolate N. Korea because of its failure to obligations. As you know the security council passed a resolution with unanimous support just last week in reaction to actions by N. Korea and we will continue that effort." - White House press secretary Jay Carney yesterday giving the Obama administration's perspective on the situation in North Korea.

There's been no open conflict - yet - but many people who watch events on the Korean peninsula are worried that open conflict may be closer than it has been for years or even decades.

For their thoughts on what's at stake right now, were joined by three people.

Christine Hong teaches Critical Pacific Rim studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She's also an executive board member at the Korea Policy Institute and she was in Santa Cruz, California.

Scott Snyder is a Senior Fellow for Korea Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

And Peter Pry is the Director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, a congressional advisory committee. He was also in Washington.

This segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal, Hassan Santur and Jessica deMello.

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What women can teach the Church

The ethics of uterus transplants and doctor-assisted pregnancy

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