Kim Jong-un stops nuclear Testing

John from East Invercargill

This announcement accredited to Trump and the pressure mounted against the North Korean regime. Has everyone forgotten so soon that after the last test one of the tunnels under the mountain where the test are carried out collapsed killing 200 people there. That the mountain after several tests was at the point of imploding and releasing the contamination into the atmosphere. China with its border very close to the mountain was begging Kim to stop as they didn't want the contamination . When was that ? Sept / October last year. Can anyone put 2 and 2 together and come up with that the cost of building a new testing site , the time it will take too achieve that and the delay in testing adversely affecting Kim's position has resulted in him taking a pragmatic path scoring political points along the way.. Did not anyone think when he made overtures to South Korea before the Olympics that this was the cause and it was being used as a delaying operation. If this is the reason Kim has called for a stop to his testing then this is a step back from the brink of millions of people being killed can be applauded with relief. Does this mean Kim will give up his nuclear weapons , most likely not as afterall the whole reason for building them is their memory of what America ( NZ included ) did to them before China saved them at Chosun. The cost of that battle too America was high , the cost too China was horrendous where the cause of most casualties on both sides was frostbite and freezing to death as they lay or sleep in their trenches. The Americans that escaped and were evacuated were called the Chosun Few for good and apt reason.
However understanding the reasons for the Norths position doesn't excuse it from it's despotic , totally brainwashed population and the extreme authoritarian position it has placed itself in. America and the South in particular must find a way too encompass the North in a mutually acceptable way so that the North is assured of free from attack which negates their need for threatening the use of nuclear weapons which will impact much much more than the Korean peninsular .
I have been to South Korea 15 times , mostly early 1980's , I think and always enjoyed my visits and the people . I am sure the North could be much the same if they had a chance to be normal.
ANZAC day is upon us and a time too reflect on those that sacrificed the most anyone ever can and those that returned changed forever so those that followed didn't have to do what they did at the whim of someone's game of Thrones.