{"id":45821,"date":"2018-04-23T13:19:51","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T17:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=45821"},"modified":"2020-08-06T13:20:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T17:20:00","slug":"more-skeptical-than-optimistic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=45821","title":{"rendered":"More skeptical than optimistic"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When news breaks<\/a> about how North Korea and South Korea are considering a peace treaty, there are a myriad of thoughts that swirl through my head.\u00a0 Considering when I was born as well as the vast majority of the people I know, we have pretty much only known a world where the Koreas are at war.\u00a0 Sometimes, I\u2019m surprised how many people don\u2019t actually know that the Korean War never technically ended, and that it\u2019s only through the Armistice Agreement in the 50\u2019s that they aren\u2019t physically fighting to this day, but then again considering this isn\u2019t information so readily available on Reddit, Facebook or Twitter, I can\u2019t really say that I should be that surprised.<\/span><\/p>\n

But although peace is ultimately a worthy end goal for warring nations, I can\u2019t help but be skeptical about it instead of as optimistic as I probably should be, especially as a person with Korean blood running through my veins.\u00a0 I attribute it to a lifetime raised by television, movies, video games, comic books and professional wrestling that I\u2019m quicker to question the legitimacy of two parties willing to come to a truce, than be pleased to see the progression towards peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

Frankly, the most dubious of factors is the fact that it wasn\u2019t even a full year ago that tyrannical Kim Jong-Un was basically mouthing off about how he could blow up the United States any time he wanted to, successfully baiting the cheeto-in-chief into a childish Twitter war.\u00a0 I have a hard time believing that a guy who is one, well known for his general instability, that must be genetic, considering who his dad was, and two, someone who has been vocal about his disdain for the United States, to be so suddenly willing and accommodating towards the progression towards a peace treaty with a South Korea that is pretty comfortable with their positive relationship with the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

I get that North is in a precarious position where they\u2019re basically disliked by most other countries in the world, and would probably be a unanimous public enemy #1 if the Middle East didn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 And as a result, life is kind of difficult for them on a regular basis, what with the country routinely not having nearly enough food for their people, and a laughably inadequate distribution of resources between regular people and those controlled by the government.\u00a0 From an outsider perspective, it looks like to me that North\u2019s biggest reasons to strive for peace is so that they can possibly get in on the global trade market that might make life in North Korea not quite as hard as it seems to be on a routine basis.\u00a0 As it stands now, it\u2019s my understanding that the vast majority of their trade comes almost solely from China, and putting all their eggs into few baskets can\u2019t possibly be as fruitful as putting them into more and bigger ones, in this instance.\u00a0 Even if it means dismantling their nuclear program, a peace treaty would undoubtedly unlock many doors in order for them to start being able to get resources from South Korea as well as possibly even the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

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But that\u2019s really the only reason why I can see why North would even entertain the idea of signing a peace treaty; and even if they did, I\u2019m not going to believe that they\u2019re going to suddenly be a contributing, positive member of the United Nations or anything, willing and capable of trying to maintain peace in the world.\u00a0 No, I just figure they\u2019ll do whatever it takes to prevent their entire country from starving, and with essentially time being purchased, who knows what nefarious bullshit they\u2019ll be plotting in the shadows.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bottom line is that I hope a peace treaty can be achieved, but I can\u2019t say that I really believe that the animosity is going to simply vanish.\u00a0 As great as it would be for the Koreas to basically be united, I just feel like there\u2019s a big evil swerve waiting to happen if all of this goes through like a dream scenario.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s immediate, or years later, with their safety somewhat secured for a little bit longer, who\u2019s to say that this feint of peace is just one giant ruse in order to get their adversaries to drop their guard and leave themselves open to attack?<\/span><\/p>\n

The thought of a United Korea, and the implied global safety that a unification seems like something of a pipe dream, especially those who are Korean, and I\u2019m having a hard time believing that it may actually be on the cusp of reality right now.\u00a0 If it actually happens, I\u2019m inclined to believe that South Korean president Moon Jae-in should get a Nobel Peace Prize, considering that he hasn\u2019t even been in office in a full calendar year, and he\u2019s on the verge of successfully brokering peace with the North.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, I hope that peace can be attained, but a lifetime of various influences that breed skepticism make me dubious, and considering all the players in play on the sidelines, I\u2019m very cautious that one way or another, this most certainly won\u2019t be an easy feat, regardless of how much progress has already been made to this point.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When news breaks about how North Korea and South Korea are considering a peace treaty, there are a myriad of thoughts that swirl through my head.\u00a0 Considering when I was born as well as the vast majority of the people I know, we have pretty much only known a world where the Koreas are at … Continue reading More skeptical than optimistic<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[103,83],"class_list":["post-45821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-motherland","tag-observations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45823,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45821\/revisions\/45823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}