Tension Rises As N Korea Cuts Off Hotline

U.S. Navy personnel arrest mock infiltrators during joint military exercises with South Korea, which began today in Jinhae. Yonhap / European Pressphoto Agency

From The Financial Times:

North Korea on Monday cut its military hotline to Seoul and put its million-man army at battle stations, ratcheting up tensions as South Korean and US troops began war games that Pyongyang warned could spark open conflict.

UN forces last week tried to counter North Korean claims that the exercises were a smokescreen for an invasion by promising to keep the hotline open, giving Pyongyang advance warning of anything that could cause a misunderstanding.

Read more ....

Update: U.S., South Korea open war games; North Korea in combat mode -- L.A. Times

My Comment: Sec. of State Hillary Clinton's visit two weeks ago to the region has not help to diffuse the situation .... instead .... tensions and military preparedness has increased to an unprecedented level.

I do not expect war to break out, but the rhetoric and threats are clearly going over the top right now. The Chinese are also concern, summoning North Korean PM Kim Yong Il to visit China for a "goodwill" trip is a sign that they are not happy with the situation.

Many are speculating why now .... why this increase in threats and rhetoric of war. From what I see, it appears that something is happening in North Korea that is "not normal" for North Korea. They are probably assessing their current situation, and are not happy with what they are seeing. With a new Administration in the White House, and the world's focus on the financial/economic crisis, they are probably some in the North who feel that this may be a time to put pressure on everyone else to get concessions. What those concessions are is anyone's guess .... but something has clearly changed in North Korea and it is impacting all the neighboring states .... including us.