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Post by Admin on Jan 12, 2018 16:48:01 GMT
Laura is the administrator this week  |
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Post by Laura Gutauskas on Jan 14, 2018 19:19:13 GMT
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Post by Olivia Girdwood on Jan 16, 2018 14:17:16 GMT
In lieu of recent events between North Korea and South Korea, family reunions seem to be on a list of possible outcomes of the discussions. While the family reunions have not been able to occur for awhile now, if North and South Korea have a good meeting, as in no conflicts just agreements, family reunions may begin to happen again. Some of the other outcomes of a good meeting could potentially be less military weapons aimed at one another, but there will most likely still be some; citizens going back and forth between countries, but will have to have legitimate reasons for travelling; and trade agreements, meaning more money for both countries. While all of this is mainly wishful thinking, there is the possibility that they will occur. Even if the meeting goes well, there will still be tensions between the two countries as well as their allies. Overall, though, there seems to be something off about the entire situation. From events in the past between North and South Korea (bombings, stopping family reunions, military actions) and South Korea and the US, it does not seem very likely that the North’s leader would all of a sudden be very open and willing for discussion. There seems to be an motive behind it, The Hill makes the comment that “Kim’s goal is quite simple: Hold the games hostage”. Surprisingly, this seemingly far-fetched statement may have some truth behind it. Kim would not talk to the South's leader until the US and the South's military exercises were delayed (BBC). This has something in it that makes the situation seem a little fishy. It makes Kim appear a little skeptical of the US and the South, maybe even scared. And everyone knows if you corner a wild animal, you never know how they will react. The overall point is, there is no way Kim is just trying to be nice and make relations better; there is some motive that is making him propose these ideas. The upcoming Olympics are going to be one of the most tension filled games yet.
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Post by Laura Gutauskas on Jan 17, 2018 21:04:33 GMT
Although, both parties showed happy faces at their meeting for the Olympics, that doesn’t guarantee further mutual agreements. I think that there will be benefits on the surface, like the renewal of family reunions, but not an increase of them in comparison to the years prior. As for diplomacy goes, the tension will most likely still exist between both countries because of how ritualistic guarding the border has become for both sides. The Atlantic stated that “Kim announced a proposal to renew dialogue with Seoul, initially focusing on the North’s participation in the games,” meaning he is taking baby steps in order to possibly fix what has been broken by past regimes and that this tension needs a gradual reduction, not a fix-all solution. The U.S. could be the barrier that is in the way of North and South Korea relations, not the actual border between them. This is because S. Korea is so closely tied to America from its roots, while N. Korea is ready to start a war with them, making it nearly impossible for the two countries to come to real agreements until the U.S. issue is “taken care of” essentially. N. Korea may also just be trying to get under the U.S.’s skin despite Trump saying he “supported inter-Korean dialogue and expressed his own willingness to talk to Kim;” (The Atlantic) this could be a way to soften up the U.S.’s allies in order to further advance themselves to avoid banning nuclear weapons. The actual games may be tense because of the stifling competition that N. Korea wants to bring and as suggested by The Hill, Kim may even bribe S. Korea to give them food and oil in exchange for safety from nukes since “90 percent of its exports are barred by international law.” Which means they’re currently getting the butt end of the stick in trade and want something changed about it, and in order to do that they have to “play nice.”
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Post by Maya French on Jan 18, 2018 4:32:10 GMT
In reading the summaries of actions taken by North Korea, both current and past, I can not help but feel as though they are acting too much out of their violent character. For generations this communist based half of the Korean Peninsula has acted only in their self interest, not even so much for the interest of their people, but for their government and high powers. They have been a growing threat to South Korea and all its allies since the separation at the 38th parallel and feared by many due to their unpredictable outbursts and distorted views on human life. The few times that North Korea was able to be at least semi-trusted was in allowing families that have been separated by the border of the north and south participate in family reunions once every so many years. Unfortunately, North Korea’s track record of actions taken towards the south is heavily weighted on the violent side. When South Korea was able to make it to the third-place play-off game in the 2002 Fia world cup the country was souring with nationalism, BBC worte, “photos of South Koreans cheering their team, dressed in red and celebrating in the streets of downtown Seoul, made headlines around the world.” The burst of confidence was quickly turned into sorrow and mourning when North Korea sent a boat to gun down a South Korean Naval Vessel past the maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea. Other aggressive actions such as this have given North Korea its violent, inhuman character that most of the world sees them as today. It is due to this common view that in response to the recent multitude of nuclear test conducted by North Korea that some South Koreans have “prepared for the worst - buying "war survival bags" in anticipation of a possible nuclear attack. (BBC). Then suddenly, as is if having a change of heart over night, North Korea wanted to play nice and go into the 2018 Olympics in joint with South Korea in the Dear Leader’s New Years Speech. This seemingly nice action still reverberated the old North Korea the world has come to fear. Daniel Russel wrote for AVIOS, “Kim Jong-un's New Year's speech, in which he boasted about a nuclear launch button on his desk, mixed bluster toward the U.S. with overtures to South Korea.” This perfectly sums up the mixed and unsure feelings that confusing leaders around the world. No matter how this plays out, the 2018 Olympics will be a history changing event.
Side note: I thought it was interesting that Japan’s actions towards Korea during the end of WWII was a perfect example of imperialism when Kallie Szczepanski wrote for ThoughtCo, “It had actually run the country through puppet emperors since its 1895 victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. Thus, from 1910 until 1945, Korea was a Japanese colony.”
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Post by Admin on Jan 18, 2018 17:50:32 GMT
Maya-
Yes! Great connection to class content of imperialism with the point about Japan. Japan will act as a dominating power in Asia from the end of the 19th century up through World War II. Japan acted in this manner under the "assumption" that they were racial superior to other Asiatic countries (ie Korea, China) and were more modernized making them able to dominate these areas.
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Post by Barbie Cessar on Jan 18, 2018 20:01:07 GMT
After World War II, North and South Korea have been separated along the 38th parallel of latitude which ¨remains to be the tensest border on Earth¨(ThoughtCo). This border has created tension between the two nations and internationally. North Korea has isolated itself from the rest of the World and ¨ Its leaders say nuclear capabilities are its only deterrent against an outside world seeking to destroy it”(bbc.com). It is shocking that this country is willing to attend the Winter Olympics but continues to test nuclear weapons and isolate itself from the rest of the World. I don't believe that North and South Korea will allow more family reunions based on the history of the two nations. Again I don’t think this means that North and South Korea will have a better relationship in the future because North Korea. I predict that North Korea will go back on their word because they are only interested in the power of their own nation. For example in 1987, two North Korean agents planted a bomb on a South Korean flight and killed one hundred and fifteen people in order to stop South Korea from hosting the 1988 Olympic games. It would make sense that North Korea is willing to be involved with this years Winter Olympic Games in fear of Trump’s intimidation tactics. There is a good chance that North Korea has some sort of malicious plan involved considering Kim Jong Un has a “nuclear button on his desk that he could use at any time if attacked by the U.S” (TheHill.com).
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Post by Meghan Miller on Jan 19, 2018 0:08:26 GMT
The relations between North and South Korea have been strained since the closure of WWII, the relations have worsened in the last few years because of the increasing militarization of North Korea. North Korea wants to enter this years winter Olympics and has had peace negotiations with South Korea, one of South Korea’s talking points was the reunion of families. It seems as though North Korea will agree to let the reunions happen so they will seem agreeable and so that Kim Jong-Un can “do something to de-escalate tensions” between them and the United States, a South Korean ally( . Kim will concede to this point to divert attentions from the rest of the South Korean agenda, peace talks. The future relations between these countries is uncertain, it can probably go one of two ways, either they follow the pattern outlined in “North Korea: A Sporting history” (the manipulation of South Korea’s efforts to better diplomacy with other countries) or it could have no effect on peace negotiations at all (“North Korea Sends a Team to the Olympic Games”) if Kim is simply participating to flex the “muscles” of his country.
The decision of North Korea to enter the games is for three primary reasons: to improve its relations to other countries, to have a foot hold in diplomatic relations with South Korea, and to increase patriotism for North Korea. According to the second BBC article, the main reason for North Korea’s willingness to interact is to “do something to de-escalate tensions” between them and the United States, but it may also be a veil to make more allies from the countries at the Olympic games that are only 60 km from the border. The same article said that, with the peace talks surrounding the games that the “North only agreed to the talks after the US and South Korea agreed to delay their joint military exercises until after the Olympics”, demonstrating that they are using the games as leverage. Many of the other article suggested that they will use the games as a way to get resources (by threatening to go nuclear), simply put, they want leverage in negotiations with South Korea. And finally, North Korea is going to the games for the same reason every other country is, to beat other countries into submission. The Korean conflict is a complicated issue that will be at the cornerstone of political debates for decades to come.
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Post by Makayla Rieder on Jan 19, 2018 0:55:36 GMT
North Korea has recently opened up to the South, but it may not be a warm welcome. The family reunions were a very nice gesture on the North’s part, but it’s unlikely to happen again if the allegations made by the last 2 articles are true and North Korea is just using the South for needed resources that they are running out of without their usual imports. The reunions are a good idea just morally and to reunite families for the first time in 4 years, but it’s probably not going to happen. South Korea seems to be very eager to be on good terms with North Korea, which makes a lot of sense if the North has finally figured out how to use Nuclear bombs, and with the close proximity, anyone would be nervous. The air is obviously tense between the two. While i was reading the first few articles, i honestly was maybe thinking that just maybe Kim was loosening up just the slightest bit, but it is very possible that he is using this as a tactic to make friends and then strike or just use them because at the moment they can’t get what they need from all the tension. Using people or technically blackmailing them seems right up North Korea’s alley and definitely in line with what they’ve done in the past. North Korea will most likely end up coming to the Winter Olympics this year to again get on the South’s good side, and maybe it will be fun, but the grudge holding countries like the U.S.A will probably make it more tense and strained than it necessarily needs to be, but it will still be the Olympics. It will still be a celebration for many and just high energy all together.
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Post by Maya Borland on Jan 19, 2018 2:46:33 GMT
North Korea and South Korea are two different places that was once upon a time was just Korea. Back in the nineteenth century Korea was a united people until they were taken over by the Japanese. Ever since then they have been a divided people. After world war two the Soviet Union took over the North part of Korea and the US took control of South Korea. The North being controlled by the Soviets became communist. The South did not follow the North and eventually the South became a Democracy. The North unlike the South wants to unite and become one Korea just has used to be. The South has no desire to become communist. “More than sixty years and millions of lives later, the accidental division of North and South Korea continues to haunt the world, and the 38th parallel remains arguably the tensest border on Earth”(ThoghtCo). Without relent North Korea has tried to destroy the South in order to take it over and remake it into a communist empire just like itself.
South Korea has tried to be a productive member of society by interacting with other countries in sporting events. North Korea tried everything in their power to stop such interactions from happening. With the aircraft bombing in 1987. “At the time, South Korea was preparing to host the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul - and North Korea was determined to stop it” (BBC). From then on North Korea has tried whatever they could to destroy any and all sporting event that South Korea has hosted or competed in. With the 2018 Winter Olympics coming up in February no one was surten what was going to happen. Especially with North Korea having more nuclear test. Nothing looked good for the Winter OLympics of 2018. Until, “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's "olive branch", when he announced in his New Year's speech that the North could send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February” (BBC). With this truths happening I think that Korea will have another reunion before the winter games. This is when families from North and South Korea can see each other after being seperated from the Korean War so long age.
I would hope that with this sign of peace between the two countries that the border scrummage would be resolved and reversed. Clearly North Korea is not happy where the border has been set and, if the two countries can fix this that would be one less thing they would no longer fight over. I think that something did bring on this new found peace, but I am not sure what it exactly was. I also don’t think that this time of peace will last. The quote, “ Keep our friends close, keep our enemies closer.” I believe that this could be true for the Winter Olympics. Why should the North Koreans keep attacking everyone from a far distance if they all show up in one place. By letting South Korea to believe that everything is fine and that the North will not attack. The North is putting the South in to a false sense of security. I think that the North might try and to destroy the South during the Winter Olympics and things will go terrible. But then again only time will tell.
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Post by Brooke Gentile on Jan 19, 2018 3:22:12 GMT
The initial split of North and South Korea surprisingly happened at first without their consent around 1945 due to ensuring that the capital city of Seoul would be in the American section(thought Co.). Although the split was not initially their idea, the two veered off into different political and social directions. As for the upcoming Winter Olympics I feel that both North and South Korea have taken a very serious approach, and have been trying to set their many differences behind them. As sated in the BBC article, "the South pushed for the reunion of family members separated by the Korean War" and they also proposed resuming negotiations over military issues and the North's nuclear programme. This was a big step for South Korea, and that being said that fact that the North's response is still unknown is frightening to say the least. The South is trying to make amends as best they can, and no matter how "good" North Korea seems to be acing in front of the cameras, there seems to still be some unresolved tension. I do however feel that once the Winter Olympics passes North and South Korea may allow more family reunions to take place in order to keep the piece they have lacked for decades. The Olympics very well could be what brings these two back together after many years, or so we may think. A source from (thehill) states that Kim Jong Un is using the Olympics in order to benefit their political stance. He may even "demand some sort of economic assistance, sanctions relieve or a straight up bribe in food or oil help to secure his nation’s commitment to joining the games" according to (thehill). If this were to be true, every hope we may have of North and South Korea ending their decades of feuding might never actually happen. The so called "playing nice" aspect most definitely be a cover in order to benefit themselves and I would no put it past Kim Jong Un for a second being that he has threatened to blow us out of the water more times than we may be able to count. If it were m decision, I would absolutely not allow North Korea to participate if there is even a speculation of them only dong it in order to better their economic stance, and not making amends for the good of the people. If they end up going to the Winter Olympics there will definitely be tension due to the controversy this has brought upon them.
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Post by Matt Hartz on Jan 19, 2018 3:35:33 GMT
Question A that was posted is a tough question to answer. This is for the sheer fact that North Korea is unpredictable. This is shown through the multiple bombings and/or strikes that had done in the past. The bombing in November of 1987 was plan that was well thought out and developed. This shows how much time that North Korea had set aside to develop this idea. Also stated by BBC, The Second Battle of Yeonpyeong happened at the 2002 World Cup. The front that they are using by "making their amends" with South Korea could possibly be North Korea's next well thought out plan to start another attack. Yes, this is another time that families will get to reunite, but will this count for the families twice a year reunion, most definitely. Question C asks "Do you think something else influenced this mutual decision?" Again, as stated above in this response, the facts are shown are leading many to believe that the North Koreans are using this opportunity to there advantage to disguise an attack against not only South Korea but other important countries in the world. The straight facts are stacked against North Korea from their previous acts of war. Are the 2018 Winter Olympics going to be tense? Absolutely. Both in the terms of competition and the terms of what might happen here.
How else can North Korea use this opportunity, besides the fact of making there amends to South Korea, to there advantage?
How would causing an attack at a "world event" make North Korea be feared? Will this make others jump on to the Trump bandwagon?
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Post by ricky on Jan 19, 2018 3:47:54 GMT
Recently, North Korea opened their borders to South Korea to an extent. They also requested to join the Olympic Games under one flag with South Korea. To the majority of people, they are seeing this as a hue step towards peace for the Koreas, but there is a hidden motive by the north. The Hill really makes it seem like North Korea is being like a parasite and just using south korea. North Korea will most likely request food, oil, and other goods and materials from opening the borders and unifying the nations under one flag for the olympics. The number family reunions that have happened in the past will not occur because of the awful things happening in North Korea, and it has been a lot less than 60 years than they have seen their family unlike before. Since the borders are opening up, trade will be more available between the Koreas and the relations should become a little better at least. To be honest, I believe North Korea is using this whole "peace agreement" to take the focus off of them while they rebuild and get stronger again using materials and goods brought over by South Korea. North Korea is struggling internally with the population becoming starved and many other atrocities along with the threat of nukes so they are looked at with a sharp eye. This peace agreement will maybe shift the focus away from North Korea for a little so they can rebuild and take care of their internal problems. Obviously there are going to be tensions in Pyongyang because of the location of the games.
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Post by Wyatt Heyl on Jan 19, 2018 3:47:55 GMT
The border between North Korea and South Korea is said to be one of the tensest places in the world as said in the thoughtco article. One of the thing that I notices in the thoughtco article is that, whenever WWII came to an end and Korea was split by the 38th parallel and Russia took the north and America took the south, is that they eventually reflected who had occupied them. What I also realized is that in the future the two countries, North and South Korea, resented each other due their opposing ideals, just like America and Russia in the cold war. Something that struck me however is how it is still an issue today between North and South Korea. So in article 2 it explains the past event pertaining to how North Korea had harassed and committed terror like acts against South Korea during and leading up to major sporting events, For instance the bombing committed by North Korea against South Korea leading up to the 1988 summer Olympics taking place in South Korea's capital, "In 1987, two North Korean agents planted a bomb on Korean Airlines Flight 858 travelling from Baghdad in Iraq to Seoul, South Korea. During a stopover in Abu Dhabi, they got off. Hours later over the Andaman Sea, the bomb blew up, killing all 115 people on board." Also in article 2 it talks about how North and South Korea would have family reunions which would allow people to reunite with their family that they were split from after the Korean conflict. In article 2 it talks about how these reunions would take place twice a year until about 2007, then they started happening less and less through more conflict between the two countries. However in article three it talks about the meeting held in the DMZ between North and South Korea, pertaining to North Korea sending a team to the Olympics. More than just the Olympics was brought up at this talk, one of those things being the family reunions, "The South pushed for the reunion of family members separated by the Korean War - a highly emotional issue for both countries" Since this is a serious issue that both countries share this can help mend the bond between these warring countries. Now the real question is what is going to happen at the winter Olympics this year, whether North Korea will keep up their act of trying to create peace, or that they will use this charade as an opportunity to strike at South Korea. The question stands mainly because anytime South Korea hosts any major sporting events is when North Korea strikes at them.
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Post by Jonah on Jan 19, 2018 3:49:50 GMT
The rivalry of the Koreas has been a long standing battle for not just the two nations but many nations around the world. Especially after the recent breakthroughs in North Korea's Nuclear Program. This sparked tensions and fear into the minds of south koreas and that of the neighbors of them. North Korea has always held it out against the South because the south was like the little brother that got everything it ever wanted. The North always tried to sabotage every play date the South had in hopes of no only ruining their spirits but possibly making them snapback and retaliate. And just because North Korea is playing all nice for the Olympics DOES NOT mean we should let our guard down. They are still a threat to anyone within striking distance and shouldn’t be taken lightly. And because I think this I also do not think there will be more family reunions as there were in the past. I don’t think this is for sure Kim being nice all of the sudden it just smells funny also don’t believe that there was any outside influence for Kim’s actions. I think he is planning something outrageous and it scary to think but he might be plannign an attack. You never truly know someone's motivations for something. He might have a false justification or it but no one knows and we might never know. If there isn’t a malicious plan under laying in the North than I would be surprised. I personally can’t wait for the Winter Olympics because it will be intense not knowing if North Korea is going to strike and also seeing how well their athletes perform throughout the games. To me it will be very interesting and I cannot wait.
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