North
Korea’s recent announcement about its ability to reach the U.S. with
its missiles highlights the corrupt, power-seeking nature of their
government. They are trying to instill fear in the rest of the world,
namely America, and assert their power. When I read this article,
however, I was not afraid. There is no way of knowing whether North
Korea’s claims are true. Even if they are, the rest of the world has
enough nuclear power to retaliate brutally and swiftly, and the
officials in North Korea know this.
The
North Korean government uses propaganda to justify their actions. The
article quotes North Korea in its claim that the U.S. agreement with
South Korea to lengthen the range of the South’s ballistic missiles was
an offensive action. The country claimed that this purely defensive
measure was “a product of another conspiracy of the master and the
stooge to push the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the extreme
pitch of tension and ignite a war.” By saying this, the North Korean
government essentially put blame on the U.S. and South Korea for the
tense disunity that they are ultimately responsible for. This use of
propaganda is similar to that of the Japanese Empire during World War
II. In Lost Names,
the Japanese teachers and officials justified and upheld the actions of
the Axis powers, while attempting to instill fear of the Allies in
their people. They promoted this idea to hide the fact that victory for
the Allies would benefit all their ill-treated subjects.
In
conclusion, I think that Victoria Nuland’s point is absolutely true.
The North Korean government is putting too much time and money into
their ballistic power, while oppressing, deceiving, and mistreating
their citizens. North Korea’s power-hungry elite is neglecting the true
purpose of government, which, in my opinion, should be for the people.
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ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you when you said that they are trying to instill fear in the rest of the world, they are trying to show that they are so strong and better than everyone else. Even if North Korea's claims are true, the rest of the world and even only the U.S. is much stronger and has enough power to retaliate. It looks like they are just trying to find reasons to start a war and will say things that as you said there is no way of knowing whether North Korea’s claims are true or not.
ReplyDeleteThis is most likely propaganda. North Korea is trying to instill fear into us but the facts make you laugh. Their ballistic missiles have a range of about 3700 miles which bring the missiles to somewhere over the pacific or over Canada. Also, all of the test launches of this missile have ended in failure after a very short amount of time. If North Korea is trying to nuke the fish and birds, then they have the perfect weapon, but for nuking the US, not so perfect.
ReplyDeleteI agree that North Korea’s claim is a bluff. I believe that the main purpose of this announcement is to maintain North Korea’s power over its people and strike fear into other nations. The propaganda poster supports this idea. As a result, this highlights the corruption in the government. Also, I do not believe that the agreement of lengthening the missile range of South Korea as a defensive measure will make this situation any better. It will just aggravate the situation and cause more military action from North Korea as a response.
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