North Korea "suprises" everyone by acting irrationally

By Charlie

SEOUL -- North Korea stunned South Korea yesterday with an abrupt decision to cancel landmark test runs of trains across the two nations' heavily guarded border, underscoring the mercurial [*] nature of the communist regime.

*Gasp!* Could it be that North Korea really doesn’t want to engage in activities that could possibly lead to peacefully coexistence and eventual peaceful reunification with the South?

"The responsibility for the collapse of scheduled trial runs lies in North Korea," Mr. Shin said. The tests would have been the first train crossings across the border in more than a half-century and were a high-profile element of efforts at detente between both sides since a pivotal summit in 2000.
Train service between the Koreas was halted in June 1951.

North Korea said yesterday that the situation on the divided peninsula had become too "unstable" to conduct the test runs, criticizing "pro-U.S. ultra-right conservative forces" in the South for "pushing the situation in Korea to an extreme phase of confrontation and war."

The trains would have opened up a line of communication and trade with the North, and could have alleviated the perpetual communist-sponsored famine, raised the (low) standard of living, and led to a greater understanding between the people of the peninsula. How interesting the North Korea decided to kill the deal. Like most tyrants, most recently the warlords in Somalia, famine and oppression are vital tools to repressing the populace and perpetuating the party’s power. ANY commo between the north and the south, economic or otherwise, is a direct threat to the stability of Kim Il Jong’s regime. So it comes as no surprise to me that the North would flirt with this idea and then back out at the last minute.

mercurial \mur-KYUR-ee-uhl\, adjective:
1. [Often capitalized] Of or pertaining to the god Mercury.
2. [Often capitalized] Of or pertaining to the planet Mercury.
3. Having the qualities of shrewdness, eloquence, or thievishness attributed to the god Mercury.
4. Changeable in temperament or mood; temperamental; volatile.
5. Of, pertaining to, or containing mercury.
6. Caused by the use of mercury.

May 25, 2006 03:04 PM Strategery