The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, has recently threatened to strike with nuclear weapons due to perceived provocations from the United States. Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez responded by calling such a threat "suicidal" with all its implications. Indeed, a nuclear strike would provoke its own swift international reaction, likely ending in a total and immediate overthrow of the Hermet Kingdom. Yet even the remote possibility of Kim unleashing a nuclear weapon is disconcerting, if it is even remote at all.
Kim's bellicose statement harkens back to the Cold War between Western Bloc powers led by the U.S. against Eastern Bloc powers led by the former Soviet Union. One of its most tense standoffs - or at least most memorable - was the Cuban Missile Crisis, which turned out to be a highlight in President Kennedy's tragically short career as Commander-in-Chief. During that crisis, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had placed Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba with the permission of Fidel Castro. The tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets built up to a fever pitch before President Kennedy and UN Secretary General U Thant reached an agreement with Khrushchev to remove the missiles with the stipulation that the U.S. never invade Cuba.
Defusing the Cuban Missile Crisis was one of Kennedy's greatest achievements, but it also demonstrated how fragile and unpredictable international relations and politics can be. The crisis was memorable not only because of the unimaginable stakes, but also the very real specter of both countries' leaders losing control of the situation. Mount Holyoke historian Joseph Ellis has said that presidents are not really in control, but are "much more the playthings of historical conditions." The same could be said of any world leader.
Kim Jong Un is called the "supreme leader" of North Korea, but in actuality his hand would be forced if some perceived threats should come together to set off alarms within his regime. The U.S. has moved missile interceptors closer to North Korea in order to meet this threat, but this is no guarantee of safety. If anything, at least South Korea would be a short missile-firing distance away from a nuclear launch and severe loss of life.
World leaders should tread cautiously and consider all solutions. North Korea's threat could quickly escalate beyond any man's caution, including that of Kim Jong Un.
