In some cases, I'm really behind. This article appeared in Newsweek three issues back. I think I read it a week ago and finally getting around to writing about it.
What does North Korea want? B.R. Myers says the goal is to reunite the country under the dictatorship of the North. This is what justifies their huge investment in the military.
After spending so few words to summarize the article, why would I bother to mention it?
I want to ask the question: How do I, a general reader, verify a story like this one? Why should I accept this scenario rather than some other? With the amount of intelligence I have access to I can't answer that question.
I can only contrast that story with another. Though I know this second story was aired on NPR I didn't think to write about it until I read the story above. So I don't have a link.
The NPR piece was also a commentary of North Korea. It said the North's leader was not insane enough to risk his own life (and perhaps those of his inner circle) by actually starting a war with the South and America. Instead, he has found intermittent saber rattling as a good way to extort much needed food for his country from America and the rest of the world. It is a con game that has worked quite well over a few decades.
Which scenario is closer to the truth? For me personally it may not matter. For those where it does matter they have much better intelligence and access to scholars.
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