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"Dictator" Kim Jong Un posing with militants in front of nuclear weapon.

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Historical Context and Introduction: Step 1

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Historical Context and Introduction: Step 1

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The United States has been aiding the South Korean troops and society for years (even dating back to the 1950s) in the hopes to end the communist powers that include but are not limited to North Korea. Many thousands of United States troops are stationed just on the South Korean peninsula, as a defense mechanism in case, North Korea and their communist leader Kim Jong Un ever decide to attack. The problem is... North Korea has been violating the United Nations resolutions to withdraw from mass nuclear bomb testing and production. NPR and the Associated Press state, "North Korea has been speeding its development of nuclear-capable, short-range missiles that can target South Korea since 2019." (Associated Press, 2022) This is fairly a fairly important claim to dissect as the United States is an ally of South Korea and the loss of South Korea could be devastating.

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This picture represents the United States and North Korea, "head to head" with their nuclear armory being backed by their threats.

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What Role Does America Play in This Conflict?: Step 2

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What Role Does America Play in This Conflict?: Step 2

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America is an ally of South Korea. This means that North Korea's continued instigation of nuclear weaponry and its increase in the deadly armory is detrimental to our national defense and public safety. That being said, this form of arms race is incredibly dangerous to the American situation and could put us in a very critical condition. We have tried to reason with North Korea regarding foreign policy but have not seen much of an outcome. This theory can be supported by this quote that states, "Efforts to address North Korea’s nuclear weapons program through various combinations of diplomacy and pressure have at times slowed or temporarily halted Pyongyang’s progress, but have failed to roll it back or to fundamentally change the dynamics of conflict on the Peninsula." (Wertz, 2018) Understanding this quote means understanding that even with the political reinforcements, and economic pressure such as sanctions placed on North Korea, they are still continuing the conflicting activities on the peninsula. This means they will not back down easily, and Americans should be on alert but not scared.

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A picture of a nuclear weapon being tied down represents the need for more nuclear arms control. 

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What is the Significance of This Conflict?: Step 3

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What is the Significance of This Conflict?: Step 3

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If North Korea were to carry out any demonstration which hit South Korea or another country with nuclear weapons, the whole world could possibly end. We have seen this problem in the Cold War and times before, in which the ideology of Mutually Assured Destruction aka M.A.D comes into play. This concept means that if one country were to deem nuclear war, the world could quite literally end due to the amount of nuclear weaponry in stockpiles around the world. This is important to note because this is now becoming less of a South Korean problem and more of a global issue. We also see a major increase in unneeded escalation that can be supported by the text here, "North Korea has argued its recent weapons tests were meant to issue a warning to Washington and Seoul over their series of joint military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, including this week’s exercises involving about 240 warplanes" (Associated Press, 2022), This simple piece of the text shows the extent North Korea claims it is willing to go when minorly threatened and that should be a warning to the world.

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North Korea Launches "Nuclear Capable" Missile Over Japan

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North Korea Launches "Nuclear Capable" Missile Over Japan

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This video outlines a missile launch from October this year that was launched over Japan, and the fears associated with the major nuclear exercise. Japanese nuclear warnings were associated and citizens were told to evacuate areas. This shows that North Korea is capable of making long and short-range missiles that can do damage. But the real question is... why are they doing these tests if they don't intend on using the weapons? or do they want to? That is what people all over the world want to know.

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North Korea launches nuclear-capable missile over Japan

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What will happen next is truly an unknown factor. I am certainly sitting on the edge of my seat and looking more into the conflict. This is something people should wake up and look more into as this could become a bigger threat.

What do YOU think will happen?