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North Korea Says a Second Korean War is "Unavoidable"

If North Korea holds true to its bluster, this latest bout of tensions isn't going to end quietly.
Kim Jong-un tours front-line army detachments at the South Korean border, via KCNA

The tensions on the Korean peninsula don't appear to be easing any time soon: According to North Korea's official news outlet, Pyongyang sees a renewal of the Korean war as "unavoidable." Meanwhile, South Korea says that North Korea's recently announced nullification of the 1953 armistice that cooled the Korean War is nothing but a psychological ploy.

The first bit comes from a KCNA report, which is features some rather amusing scare quotes:

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When the DPRK conducted its underground nuclear test of higher level in face of their ganger-like [sic] action, the U.S. and its followers invented a new UN "resolution on additional sanctions", which is aimed to overthrow the leadership and socialist system of the DPRK.

The "resolution" stipulates for checkup of the DPRK's airplanes, vessels, government employees and institutions abroad. This is just a wanton violation of its sovereignty and dignity, and it is as good as giving a green light to the second Korean War.

It totally denies the DPRK's self-defensive right and provides a pretext to stamp out it, while paving a way for openly launching military actions under the signboard of "nuclear nonproliferation".

That missive is in regards to the sanctions handed down by the UN following North Korea's recent combination of a missile launch and a nuclear test, and none of it is particularly surprising. North Korea had to expect that its actions would produce sanctions, while the UN surely expected the recent boom in North Korean anti-West propaganda.

But while Pyongyang won't be hitting the US with a nuke any time soon, its move to nullify the 1953 cease-fire, as well as cut off the emergency phone line connecting the two Koreas–which it's done before, most recently in 2010–is definitely bumping things up a level on the tension meter. Kim Jong-un has reportedly been touring front-line military units as of late, which doesn't help.

As far as the armistice is concerned, South Korea has responded that a single party cannot unilaterally nullify the agreement. That amounts to politicking on both sides; nullifying a peace-fire isn't required to start a war, and the truce has already been violated thousands of times.

As the rhetoric war gets hotter–North Korea has also pledged to "rain bullets on the enemy"–the question is whether or not the rumble is going to get physical. The scenario right now almost mirrors what happened in 2009 and 2010, when North Korean missile and nuclear tests led to UN sanctions, which led to a pair of sea skirmishes between the Koreas.

South Korea and the US are currently in the middle of joint military exercises, with another round set for April. It's likely that North Korea wouldn't want to pick a fight with such a presence in the area, especially considering that South Korea has vowed to respond to North Korean aggression with serious retaliation. But if North Korea holds true to its bluster, this latest bout of tensions isn't going to end quietly.

@derektmead