The uneasy calm on the Korean peninsula stands ruptured. Pyongyang’s jingoism to fire artillery shells across its western maritime border, prompting return fire from South Korea is quite unfortunate.

North Korea should not have crossed the threshold of patience that it had been exercising for long. This misadventure, which set on fire several buildings near the disputed inter-Korean border, would not have come at a more unfavorable time. Just days after Pyongyang revealed that it has a modern uranium enrichment plant, this act of war-mongering will go a long way in eliciting condemnation and tit-for-tat demands from the international community. The restraint exercised by the South Korean officials is a welcome gesture, and the need of the hour is to ensure that such border skirmishes do not come to sabotage the groundwork for peace and reconciliation that has been at work in the archipelago.
Notwithstanding the recent upset, there is a lot that is in need of being cherished. Both Seoul and Pyongyang have come a long way in forging a consensus for unification of the peninsula, demarcated along the 1953 Armistice line. The exchanges that have taken place among the divided families is a great opening, and many more such interactions can come to overwhelm thousands of families on both sides of the divide. Pyongyang’s desire for trade and cultural interaction with the south needs to be reciprocated in all positivity, as it comes as a rare privilege to make inroads into the reclusive state. On the eve of winter, rather than imposing sanctions against the Stalinist state, it would be more appropriate to provide it with succor and assistance to overcome shortage of food and fuel supplies.
The stalled denuclearization talks should not be a victim of any further delay, especially under the pretext of Pyongyang’s new revelations. Washington’s stance that it would not take to the table until the gloom is cleared over the issue is petty politics. All that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il looks forward is international recognition, and the moment the U.S. gets into formal talking terms with him is more than enough to broker a deal on the clandestine nuclear program and the shabby economy. This can’t be resisted under any rhyme or reason.
Photo: A North Korean soldier mans his position on a hilltop above the banks of the Yalu River, November 26, 2010. (Getty Images)