Weeks of calm and quiet following the North Korea saga was broken today, when a North Korean flagged ship from Cuba was detained in Panama when attempting to cross the Panama Canal.
Although Northeast Asia and the Middle East are home to different geopolitical realities, the resolution of tensions on the Korean peninsula will almost certainly influence calculations made in Washington and Tehran regarding the Iranian nuclear program.
The US and China have declared that they will work together to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear programme and to dampen the tension on the Korean peninsular through dialogue.
The increasingly aggressive stream of rhetoric and posturing by the North Korean government are part of a regime survival strategy based on symbiotic nuclear security and economic development.
In recent weeks, the DPRK (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) has been ratcheting up its bellicose rhetoric. While analysts remain divided over whether or not another Korean War will ensue, two things are for certain: Kim Jŏng-ŭn may be far more dangerous than his father and that an all-out war may have disastrous ramifications for global economy and America’s Asia-Pacific strategy.