Recent speculation on the Korean peninsula has focused on whether or not the North is preparing to test a nuclear weapon for the first time. Missile tests launched on the 4th of July failed miserably, and there has been much anxiety amongst regional observers as to how Kim Jong-Il would respond to such a damaging blow to his nations international prestige. I personally see North Korea as the greatest threat the United States has ever encountered, because the status quo is not indefinitely sustainable and I can't imagine a scenario in which the North will peacefully submit to the West. The Kim family has had 50 years of "ceasefire" along the border with the South, which has given people living in Il-Song and Jong-Il's Orwellian prison state no reason to fall disenchanted with their bizarrely narcissistic "Supreme Leader." My grandfather fought in the Korean War, and my entire life he has told stories of the time he spent on the Penisula. One which particularly frightened me was when he told of the Korean advances at the American lines, with the first wave of soldiers carrying the only rifles available for the entire invading force, with the second wave following delicately, unarmed, waiting for the first opportunity to seize a weapon from one of their completely slaughtered comrades. The ceasefire on the 53rd parallel is only temporary, for I can assure you that Kim Jong-Il won't stop playing with matches until a 10,000 pound bunker-buster burns his house down.
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