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Anyone who thought August might offer a lull in geopolitical crises got a rude awakening when, from the confines of his New Jersey golf resort, Donald Trump essentially foretold a thermonuclear war with North Korea<\/a>. Asked about the north\u2019s recent missile tests, he said Pyongyang had \u201cbest not make any more threats to the US\u201d, or \u201cthey will be met with fire and fury and frankly power the likes of which the world has never seen before\u201d.<\/p>\n Though the relationship between the US and North Korea can hardly be called stable, this so-far-rhetorical escalation is something new. Washington has rarely, if ever, used language infuriating and colourful enough to match Pyongyang\u2019s style, but times have changed. One news outlet has even set up a game called Who said it: Donald Trump or Kim Jong-un?<\/a><\/p>\n While this would all be amusing if it wasn\u2019t for real, the world is facing the real possibility of instability, military escalation, and a potential nuclear conflict that could cause millions of casualties. In an ironic role reversal, many are now pondering<\/a> whether Trump\u2019s US is in fact any more rational than Kim\u2019s North Korea.<\/p>\n Still, it\u2019s easy to forget that the north has been developing nuclear weapons for the better part of the last two decades. While the current situation has been precipitated by a volley of tit-for-tat missile tests, UN sanctions and tweets, Pyongyang\u2019s overall nuclear strategy and propaganda style has hardly changed.<\/p>\n So what should we make of Pyongyang\u2019s current nuclear rhetoric? What does it say about the government \u2013 and where it might lead?<\/p>\n Loud and clear<\/strong><\/p>\n As do most totalitarian governments, North Korea speaks through various spokespeople \u2013 but with one voice. Over the years, its messages have been communicated clearly and without divergence to the rest of the world by foreign ministers, officials from the Korean People\u2019s Army, or the three Kims themselves. To this effect, North Korea\u2019s goals have been articulated clearly and publicly. At the Seventh Workers\u2019 Party Congress<\/a> in 2016, Kim Jong-Un put it very bluntly<\/a>: These messages are disseminated within the north by official press outlets, such as Rodong Sinmun<\/a>, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers\u2019 Party, and abroad via the English-language Korean Central News Agency. Since these channels are all tightly controlled, the Kim government usually communicates quite consistently, its stock-in-trade being a high daily dose of anti-US and anti-Japan rhetoric laced with acerbic takes on South Korea and self-aggrandising reports on its own policies and accomplishments. Kim Jong-un spreads the news. KCNA\/EPA<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Pyongyang\u2019s claims about its nuclear programme have followed a similar pattern. Take this piece, from July 1, 2017<\/a>:<\/p>\n [North Korea] has towered as a world\u2019s power with military strength and self-fortitude based on the single-minded unity and nuclear force which no other country and nation have achieved.<\/em><\/p>\n The claims made have also been remarkably consistent over the years, centring on the need to develop nuclear weapons to avoid a potential American preemptive strike and mentioned in more than 400 similar articles by the KCNA over the past two decades. On May 31, 2017, it had this to say<\/a>:<\/p>\n [North Korea] had access to the nuclear deterrent for self-defence, according to its independent decision as it was badly needed for preserving its dignity and vital rights from the nuclear threat posed by the US.<\/em><\/p>\n The north is also adamant that its nuclear arsenal is not intended for use as a bargaining chip (though it has been in the past, especially during the Six-Party Talks when they were functioning). This was most recently reported on August 7 via an official North Korean mission statement at the United Nations, and on the same day by Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho\u2019s message<\/a> at the ASEAN Regional Forum: \u201cWe will, under no circumstances, put the nukes and ballistic rockets on the negotiating table.\u201d<\/p>\n So is the world really closer to a nuclear apocalypse than it was just a week ago?<\/p>\n The nuclear path<\/strong><\/p>\n If we look beyond the propaganda at military reality, perhaps not. Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cfire and fury\u201d statement might have been motivated by reports that the north has finally developed nuclear warheads small enough to fit inside missiles<\/a>, but even if those reports are true, they don\u2019t necessarily change the game. Pyongyang is still trying to develop a reliable delivery system, and has yet to solve<\/a> the complex problem of missile re-entry.<\/p>\n As for the diplomatic side of things, many are calling for renewed negotiations<\/a> \u2013 but an entirely new approach might be needed since the Six-Party Talks<\/a>, meant to deal with the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, have been at a standstill for years. More troublesome at this point is Washington\u2019s blurring of military and diplomatic lines, and the flurry of mixed messages it\u2019s sending.
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\nWe will consistently take hold on the strategic line of simultaneously pushing forward the economic construction and the building of nuclear force and boost self-defensive nuclear force both in quality and quantity as long as the imperialists persist in their nuclear threat and arbitrary practice.<\/em><\/p>\n
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