The North’s erratic behavior

Is it possible for anyone to understand North Korea these days? Given the North’s recent behavior, it seems as though it would be impossible for even God to understand North Korea’s policies and actions toward South Korea.

An incident occurred on Friday that no one with a basic knowledge of the North can possibly understand. Until the morning of that day, the North had maintained a soft attitude toward the South, but that evening it threatened to attack South Korea and exclude Seoul from all future talks on the peace of the Korean Peninsula.

Unless something serious has happened with the North’s system of authority, it’s difficult to understand its actions.

On Friday evening, the North’s National Defense Commission represented by Kim Jong-il said that the communist country would take “revenge” for the South Korean government’s contingency plan for North Korea.

The North said that if the contingency plan is carried out, it will “launch a holy war of retaliation on the South Korean officials that drafted the plan, including the Blue House.”

It also said that “unless the South Korean government apologizes in earnest,” it will exclude Seoul from all future talks and negotiations related to peace and security on the peninsula.

In the New Year, the North has been far from hostile toward the South and has been moving to improve the inter-Korean relationship.

Several days ago, the North Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee had proposed to resume the tours to Kaesong and Mount Kumgang and last Friday morning, the North accepted the South’s proposal from October last year, in which it offered the North 10,000 tons of corn.

It is difficult to understand why the North is reversing its position and is now threatening the South.

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