The 15 April of the 1912 was born Kim Il Sung, the "Great Leader". For the anniversary of birth, North Korea takes sides. And it does so by showing its muscles, with one of the usual spectacular military parades.
It is not the technical details that impress, because the war apparatus shown every time in the world by Pyongyang is carefully chosen many weeks before the events.
To understand the level of tension, more than the ballistic missiles deployed, the official statements are important, arriving on the day when a new ballistic test and possible unilateral American action were feared.
This time it's Choe Ryong Hae, Wansu (marshal, highest rank in the North Korean armed forces) North Korean to speak for all. Put in a corner for a year by the leaders of Pyongyang but returned to the limelight as one of the most influential members of the National Defense Commission (dissolved last year) and of the Workers' Party, he is entrusted with some of the most delicate diplomatic missions.
"We will respond to the war with total war and nuclear with nuclear power".
This is his response to the statements of Washintgon who threaten to intervene militarily in case of further Norcordean provocations. It doesn't seem to leave much room for interpretation.
Actually we are used to the colorful language of Pyongyang that over the years has threatened dozens of times to turn Seoul into a fireball or to cover the Japanese archipelago with ashes.
However, since the death of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il, son of Kim Il Sung, things have changed. The 35enne Kim Jong-Un, current leader of North Korea and the son of Kim Il Sung (therefore the nephew of the "Dear Leader"), seems easier to the sudden changes of direction.
Known as "Great Successor" or "Brilliant Companion", so far it has not discounted anyone, pulling straight with the atomic program and political ping pong with the United States.
It is undeniable that the military and political acceleration desired by the US in the last 10 days has ended up putting the Korean peninsula even more in the spotlight.
The only real factor that still spares the world the crazy direct duel between Trump and Kim Jong-Un is the relationship between Pyongyang and Beijing. As we have often indicated (see article), China considers North Korea to be a foolish brother and is above all the experimental laboratory through which the US reaction capacity is measured. It was like this during the Cold War, when China had no geopolitical weight; it is the greater reason today that the Pacific is back in fashion, especially in the strategic aspects concerning the East and South China Sea.
The link between the two regimes, if it allowed Beijing to delegate the most aggressive forms of political and military provocation, has also often contributed to dampening the tension.
The 90% of Pyongyang's trade balance depends on Beijing: 2,4 billion dollars of exports on 2,83 (OEC data) and 2,95 billion dollars of imports on 3,47.
If China speaks loudly, North Korea cannot pretend not to hear.
In the last telephone conversation between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping (12 April, nda), according to Chinese state television, the Asian leader would have recommended extreme caution in managing the Korean crisis, urging Washington to moderate the tones.
"From a possible war no winner will come out"
Chinese official sources have repeatedly said, referring explicitly to the nuclear threat.
The phone call followed an interview with Trump on Fox with which the US president recalled the deployment of an authentic "Armada" close to the Korean coasts.
The 7 April, the day of the attack on Syria, the two leaders had met and talked in the United States, addressing the Korean issue, for the first time on the agenda of the new tenant of the White House.
It is evident that the current crisis on the Korean peninsula sees Beijing as the absolute protagonist.
It remains to be seen when Beijing's influence over Pyongngyang can cover up any hysteria of Kim Jong-Un. We have said several times about how the Kim dynasty plays for the revival, using the nuclear weapon and its immense military arsenal as a tool of international blackmail to stay alive.
It must also be said, however, that up until now, North Korea has been useful to everyone. It allows China not to suffer a "sudoceaneanizzazione" of the whole peninsula with consequent increase of the American influence in the area; allows the US to maintain a scary military apparatus in the 38 ° and in Japan.
The evolutions of the crisis are continuous and the feeling that the risk of a slip, beyond the propaganda, is concrete is not entirely far-fetched. For now, the hairstyles of the two main actors are among the things that worry less ...
Also read: "Who needs North Korea?"
