Maria Zakharova on the escalation of tension in the Korean Peninsula (Updated with a Brian Berletic comment)

Comment (https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1975982/) by Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the escalation of tension in the #KoreanPeninsula

💬 In recent days, tensions on the Korean Peninsula has markedly escalated. According to official statements from Pyongyang, the territory of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), including its capital, has experienced unprecedented incursions by unmanned aerial vehicles originating from the Republic of Korea, which have been disseminating propaganda materials.

⚠️ Such actions by Seoul can only be interpreted as a flagrant violation of the DPRK’s sovereignty and interference in its internal affairs, aimed at undermining the legitimate political and government system of an independent state and depriving it of its right to sovereign development.

The South Korean authorities should take Pyongyang’s warnings very seriously and cease further escalation on the peninsula through their reckless and provocative campaign, which exacerbates tension and could lead to actual armed confrontations.

It is imperative for Seoul to recognise that the propagation of a concept of the merger of the two Koreas by South Korea via the imposition of pseudo-liberal values and the expansion of certain ‘freedoms’ constitutes a security risk, primarily to its own citizens.

❗️ Only political and diplomatic measures, grounded in the principle of indivisible security, can ensure enduring peace and stability in the subregion.

There is no alternative course, unless military aggression is indeed the ultimate aim of South Korea and its ‘senior’ ally, the United States.

☝️ Russia remains committed to playing a constructive role on the Korean Peninsula, striving to avert dangerous developments and guide the situation back towards a positive trajectory, including through the framework of the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the DPRK.

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Brian Berletic comments on the tension:

If you live in a country where Sputnik is blocked, I am reposting my comments regarding North Korea’s warning against using drones to spread subversive information across its territory…

🇰🇵🇰🇷🇺🇸 Washington-provoked Korea tensions a ruse to justify US military presence – analyst

The latest exchange of bellicose rhetoric between Pyongyang and Seoul is the result of “another US-backed provocation geared to escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” geopolitical analyst and former US Marine Brian Berletic told Sputnik.

It is also a ruse to maintain “a justification for the long-standing US military presence on the peninsula not only to continuously threaten peace there, but to also allow the US military to continue threatening nearby China,” he said.

North Korea put its army “on standby to open fire” after South Korean drones flew over its capital, prompting South Korea’s National Security Director Shin Won-sik to warn it would be “suicidal” for North Korea to “start a war.”

“The drones allegedly dropping propaganda over the capital of North Korea is a continuation of a US State Department-funded project called ‘thumb drives for freedom,’ conducted by the New York-based Human Rights Foundation,” Berletic said.

Earlier this year the US State Department supported efforts to spread propaganda using balloons over North Korea, Berletic noted, and using drones with longer ranges and better accuracy would be the next logical step.

The soaring tensions demonstrate “how the US is driving some of the most dangerous tensions and potential conflicts on Earth – not only in Ukraine and across the Middle East, but in East Asia as well, including on the Korean Peninsula,” he argued.

The analyst recalled Washington’s hysterical reaction to the “benign Chinese weather balloon” that flew over the continental US in February 2023, when jet fighters were scrambled to shoot it down and confrontational rhetoric was aimed at Beijing “to justify a more aggressive policy toward China.”

“With this in mind, North Korea’s reaction seems to fit into the ‘norms’ the US itself has established,” Berletic stressed.

Pyongyang, despite its rhetoric, deserves praise for displaying “infinite restraint in response to serial US provocations including US state-sponsored sedition aimed at destabilizing and overthrowing the North Korean government,” the analyst said.