Photo: CFR

Tensions have escalated sharply on the Korean peninsula in recent days. The Security Council was expected to adopt a resolution later march 07 highlighting the UN sanctions screws on North Korea after it's widely condemned nuclear test on 12 February. This was the third nuclear test of North Korea in defiance of UN resolution. It is declared it had achieved progress in securing a functioning atomic arsenal. However, it is widely believed the North does not have the capacity to deliver a nuclear strike on the mainland US.
A foreign ministry spokesperson of North Korea also warned that a second Korean war with both the United States and South Korea was unavoidable referring to Pyongyang's demands to cancel a large-scale joint military exercise next week.  "Our revolutionary armed forces will exercise the right to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors," the spokesperson said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency. The latest threat came two days after the North Korean military announced it would rip up the 1953 armistice agreement ending the Korean armistice. The spokesman stressed that the decision to nullify the 1953 armistice would come into effect when the US-South Korean military drill would begin. This means that from that moment the revolutionary armed forces will take military action for self-defense against any target any moment. Meanwhile, North Korean state television showed a massive military and civilian rally held on March 07 in Pyong Yong's  giant Kim-II Sung Square. The rally was addressed by senior military and party officials. They denounced the US and warned that Washington would reap the consequences of its 'aggression.  North Korea is renowned for its bellicose rhetoric but the tone has reached a frenzied pitch in recent days, fuelling concerns of a border clash with both North and South planning major military exercises on March 11.
It is the latest in an escalation of tough words from both sides of the armed Koran border  as the UN Security Council deliberates a resolution to tighten financial sanctions and a naval blockade against the North. North Korea has protested against the UN censures of its rocket launches which it says are a part of peaceful space program, as an exercise of double standard mastermind by the UN. But North Korea's shrill rhetoric rarely goes beyond just that. Its latest armed aggression against the South Korea in 2010 came without any announcement. It bombed South Korean island killing two civilians. It is widely accused of sinking a South Korean navy ship earlier in the year killing 46 soldiers.
North Korea is conducting a series of military drills and is getting ready for state-wide war practice of an unusual scale, South Korea's defense ministry says. South Korea and US will closely observe North's activities .They turn from an exercise to an actual attack, a South Korean official said. "It hasn't been frequent that the North Korea conducted military exercises at the state level." South Korean defense ministry spokesman, Kim Min-seok said. The North is currently conducting various drills on land, at sea and aerially. "We are watching  North's activities and stepping up readiness under the assumption that these drills can lead to a provocation at any time. "Kim declared to confirm news reports that the North has imposed no-fly zones off its coasts in a possible move to fire missiles , but he said any flight ban limited to near the coast would not be for weapons  with meaningful ranges.
State television, meanwhile, showed North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un laying preparations for 'all-out war' as he visited a frontline military unit involved  in the shelling of a South Korean island in 2010. "To me this feels the most dangerous situation since the Korean war."  Pak Hak-Soon, a North Korean analyst at the Sejong Institute in Seoul.
"They increase North Korea's isolation and raise the cost to North Korea's leader of defying the international community." China wants full implementation of the resolution as its UN envoy Li Baodong nods. While stressing those efforts must be made to bring North Korea back to negotiations. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spoksman Hua Chuying urged relevant parties to exercise calm and restraint and avoid actions that might further escalate tension describing the situation as "highly complex and sensitive."
"As the saying goes, a new-born puppy knows no fear of a tiger. South Korea's erratic behaviour would only herald its final destruction," North Korean diplomat Jon Yong Ryong told the meeting. Without specifically referring to the nuclear test, Jon said North Korea had recently taken a "resolute step for self-defense", which he described as "strong counter-actions to a foreign aggressor". He added that if the US takes a hostile approach towards North Korea, Pyongyang "would be left with no option but to take the second and third stronger steps in succession". His comments drew immediate criticism from other nations, including South Korea and Britain, whose ambassador Joanne Adamson said such language was "completely inappropriate". She added that the discussion with North Korea was heading in the wrong direction. "It cannot be allowed that we have expressions which refer to the possible destruction of UN member states," she said.
The Korean Peninsula is going to become a practice battlefield next, with both North and south staging large scale military drills escalating tensions keep their armies on hair trigger. South Korea usually shrugs of Pyongyang's fierce rhetoric but this time it has responded promising to retaliate against any provocation with a precision strike on the North's leadership command. Such is the background for the upcoming military maneuver "emboldened by its successful rocket launch in December and its third nuclear test, North Korea is heaping the pressure on- Yoo Ho- Yeol,"  a political science professor at Korea University passed his comments. US ambassador Laura Kennedy said she found North Korea's statement profoundly disturbing. North Korea wants a formal peace treaty, security guarantees and other concessions, as well as the removal of 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea. Still, South Korean and US officials have been closely monitoring Pyongyang's actions and parsing the torrent of recent rhetoric from the North, which has been more warlike than usual.

The writer is Program Manager,BRAC Education Program and Vice- President,Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA). Email: [email protected]