TWO KOREAS

A TALE OF TWO KOREAS

Sarah Barmak

The Toronto Star, December 18, 2010

All eyes are on North Korea’s military, which has vowed to launch an attack “of intensity and range” on South Korean much greater than recent skirmishes if the country goes through with a live-fire drill on a border island, planned to take place by Tuesday.

North Korea has made hyperbolic threats against its neighbour to the south in the past. But the international community has been on heightened alert after the North Korean military shelled Yeonpyeong Island, the front-line site of the upcoming drill, last month. Two civilians and two marines were killed in the exchange, and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon joined with world leaders to condemn the attack.

The two Koreas have engaged in a series of skirmishes over the past decade, most instigated by the North, but not all. In 2002, a North Korean patrol ship fired on a South Korean ship, killing four civilians; around 30 Northern sailors were then killed or injured when the South retaliated. In March of this year, a Northern submarine torpedoed and sank a Southern naval corvette, killing 46 — although Pyongyang has continued to deny any responsibility for the attack.

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