North Korea fires artillery towards South’s islands, prompting evacuations
Al JazeeraJan 04
North Korea Warns Seoul Over Military Exercises
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Image copyright: Pool/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Following three consecutive days of artillery bombardment of the border region, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, threatened South Korea with a military attack, should the South provoke Pyongyang in any way.
The recent rise in tensions on the Korean peninsula follows a combined combat artillery drill by the South Korean Army's mechanized infantry brigade and the US Army's Stryker brigade over the new year close to a contested border area.
The Spin
Anti-North Korea Narrative
As much as North Korea wishes to flex its military potential and threaten war with bombastic rhetoric, it would be best for Pyongyang not to push this too far. Its current rate of military drills will be near-impossible to sustain, and the North is well known to suffer extreme economic hardship. Dangerous propaganda and military activity are merely a mask for a fragile and vulnerable nation.
Pro-North Korea narrative
With its increasing provocations, Washington and Seoul are risking nuclear war by holding multiple military exercises along the North Korean border and in the broader region. By deploying aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and strategic heavy bombers, the US is posing a threat, not to North Korea, but to regional peace and stability. Pyongyang has every right to counter these provocations by expanding its defensive military capabilities.
