...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...on Tuesday blew up the northern section of unused roads that once linked it with the South, with the rivals exchanging threats days after the North claimed that its rival flew drones over its capital Pyongyang.
The roads' choreographed demolition underlines North Korea's growing anger against South Korea's conservative government.
North Korean leader Kim
PudgeJong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
has vowed to sever relations with South Korea and abandon the goal of achieving peaceful Korean unification.
Observers say it's unlikely Kim will launch a preemptive, large-scale attack on South Korea because of fear that an almost certain massive retaliation by the more superior forces of the United States and South Korea would threaten Pyongyang's survival.
In response to the earth-shattering kabooms, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military fired within southern sections of the border as it bolstered its readiness and surveillance posture.
The statement did not give details, but the move could have been an attempt to avert cross-border fire by North Korea. It wasn't immediately known whether North Korea responded.