You might be thinking whats new or used to north koreas leader kim jong own being presented either as a super villain or last task and dictate or jokes. But now some north korea watchers are sounding the alarm. St. Can might actually want a war. How big when done know can seems to be 6 of trying to make peace and things are working out in his favor these days kim is very involved in thats a threat, especially for south korea, which is backed by the us. So is the frozen conflict between north korea and south korea . Heating back up. And is kim more dangerous than ever the these days kim jonathan seems to be pretty and to maps. And when dictators start focusing a lot on the borders, thats always a bit worry. And here he is inspecting a model of the south korean capital soul and warning that his country is ready to completely annihilate his neighbor to the south. If provoked whatever that means, and this is the border, he particularly has his eye on the disputed maritime border between north and south korea, known as the northern limit line or n o l. Instead of just extending the land border out into the seats, look at how the boundary is drawn here. Coming up over these islands. Theyve remained under de facto south korean control, put north korea claims these waters, which is why its not surprising that they dont appreciate us and south korean nate. The drills here in 2010, north korea attacked one of the islands, killing several people there. Now, north korea has repeatedly fired artillery into the waters around the islands as a threat. North korea has been unhappy about this border for decades now can seems done with tolerating it. He called it illegal. It seems to me he wants that clash for some reason. He wants that to happen and hes preparing for it. This is robert carlin. Hes been working on north korea for over 50 years and has been there at least 30 times, including as a Us Intelligence officer. Carland things came down on this talk of illegal borders. Might only be the 1st step to white or military action. Another worry and development came recently declared that south korea is now the north principal enemy. Before peaceful re unification was the official call. Tim was effectively saying south korea is no longer part of the traditional core of the korean people. And the implication is therefore its a target. And kim has the military might to back up his rhetoric. He has Nuclear Weapons and hes in charge of one of the largest armies in the world. The tensions between the 2 sides extend from the sea over on the land, into the dmc. Its the most militarized, Demilitarized Zone in the world. And its where the war between north and south korea has been frozen for 70 years. And where the Korean Peninsula is basically still split along cold war lines. How did we get here . At the end of world war 2, the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese Occupation the winners of the war, the soviet union, and the united states, decided that they would each occupy half of the peninsula. They agreed on this latitude as the dividing line. In 1950 north korean troops invaded the south and the south pushed back. It was a brutal war. At least 2 and a half 1000000 people were killed. The north was backed by the soviet union and later also by china, both communist states. The south was backed by you and troops led by the us. And youll see the cold war super powers never really went away. In 1953 and arms disagreement was signed. Freezing the front line of the war, roughly back along the same line again. It ended the fighting and created the buffer zone. We already saw the dmc, but it left many things unresolved, like that maritime border. That wasnt in the agreement, the un led by the us through that later without actually asking north koreas permission. And it was in a peace treaty. So the war between north and south korea never officially ended the, the same family, the launch, the war is still in charge. Now how the kids family is currently the only communist dynasty, the jim jones own rules just like his father and grand father before him with a to tell a terry and cult of personality and an iron fist using intimidation and violence. North koreans dont have access to the outside world, leaving the country is illegal without permission. And then came the pandemic. North korea had some of the strictest border controls in the world. And kim started building hundreds of kilometers of fencing and walls along north koreas border with russia and china. Or like here, satellite images show that a double fence pops up. After the pandemic shut down, north korea even introduced to shoot to kill order along the chinese border. So kim has pretty much sealed off his country and locked in his people, but hes open for business with his authoritarian neighbors. North korea shares a 1400 kilometer long border with china without its nor their neighbor. The country wouldnt survive. Almost all of its very limited trade happens with the china, which brings us to russ on a north korean region right on the border with both china and russia. Its a special economic so which means this is where the communist country has been letting a bit of capitalism happen since the 1990s. Now something new is happening here. Just look at how close north koreas to me on guns station and rushes across on station are this satellite image from october 2023. Analyzed by the center for strategic and International Studies shows an unprecedented number of rail cars at the north korean train station. Some of these rail cars seem to end up in russia. The crates are covered, so no one really knows whats inside. But the c s i s experts say its likely north korean munitions for russia, which is 2 years into its full scale war against ukraine. Ukraine says it has found north korean artillery shells and missiles on the battlefield. The u. N. Is confirmed, the use of messiah north korea, russia to neither claims. Whats kim john own getting out of it . Well, reportedly a lot of the money and foods and may be given can oil and Raw Materials and parts to make more weapons, potentially including band missile technology. Some of this stuff has been hard for kim to come by. So far. North korea is under international sanctions. For building and testing Nuclear Weapons and ballistic missiles, oil deliveries, for example, violate the sanctions t. C o 2 children visible on the beach a these days kim is very involved in jenny town is the director of a program devoted to north korea analysis at the simpson center. Think time shes been working on north korea for almost 20 years. This is a big win. Hutchins, on he bet on he bet on the war. And so far that bass now is paying off for him. This russian made the luxury limousine is an example of that. It was a fancy gift from fulton, took him on his recent trip to russia. Luxury items are also section. So this gift is put in showing how little he cares about all that. Because both kim and putin are under sanctions. Tiers to a growing friendship. The 2 also share a passion for showing off their weapons and its more than just showing off. Now, no, it creates getting fields. Experience for their missiles. Theres been evidence of them in the ukrainian battlefields and as they improve the quality of good, be a cheap choice for others in the future. What this means improve north korean weapons on the illegal market. Potential buyers include syria and iran on his trip to russia. Kim jones own also toward a spaceport in the far east of the country. South korean intelligence has said it probably was Russian Health that enables north korea to launch its 1st spice satellite into orbit right now. What north korea gas from russia is a level of military cooperation. It has not had since the cold war since the soviet union. Right. And that is a huge, huge wind for kims on line. It might also be a win for kens Nuclear Weapons, even though no one knows for sure if russia is helping him develop that. What we do know is that kim is carried out an unprecedented number of messiah launches since 2022. People call them provocations. If theyre just intended to get under our skin, theyre not, theyre testing new systems. And i found that almost all of them seem to work. These missed the launch is used to have a differential purpose. The idea that they were always so dangerous was mistaken to north page, did not want to go to work for the whole purpose of their policy was to engage the americans not to go to war with. In other words, wessons testing was kind of part of their diplomatic policy. A way to make sure south korea and more importantly, its super power back or the us kept talking to them. That takes us back to the d. N z. It looks pretty good when these meetings were happening there. A few years ago. South korean president moved j in and conjunction and were taking steps to try and finally end the war. Because remember, the 2 koreans never officially made peace and us President Donald Trump made a surprise appearance. He also came to visit the dmc and was actually the 1st us president ever to set foot into north korean territory. Many didnt take the meetings between the 2 seriously, but actually there were clear signs that kings on really was willing to do something right. Age and something on this Nuclear Weapons program. And so can, may have been willing to give them a lot in return for sanctions relief. But at their summit in hanoi, the talks collapsed. I know i was a terrific failure, a personal failure for tim john. And from that point on he began thinking how he was going to change the policy. We dont believe they can get anything from the us. I think theyve given up right now. The idea that the sanctions will be listed or could be listed if they just did that. Right . Right. Kim seems to have abandoned the hope for peace. And all this isnt happening in a vacuum. We see china, russia and north korea working more closely together. And iran is in the mix as well. You know, came down on was one of the 1st World Leaders to talk about and embrace the idea of a new cold war layer politically aligned with no rush and trying to get into the west kens allies. Russia and china are back to thinking about spheres of influence and territorial ambitions. Russia is trying to take over ukraine, and china is zine, taiwan. Thats the context for kens, talk about the maritime border. It could just be rhetoric or he could be planning to take over one of these little islands. So will he really start a war . This could be a long fuse and a long term plan. While he prepares him his own people, well he, he gathers together the equipment he needs while he convinces his allies that they need to support him. I dont know where he thinks he is in this, and therefore were a close use of pulling that. Theres definitely a reason on to reason for concern and a reason why we should be trying to rebuild diplomacy with the north koreans in order to, you know, pull them back into the international community. As weve seen at the moment, kim doesnt really seem interested in that. Instead he started looking elsewhere for support. So is that enough to give him what he wants . Or does he have more dangerous options . The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal court has said he seeking arrest warrants for his really need is including Prime Minister method. Yahoo, so that comes out to the war in gaza, is rarely politicians across the spectrum of condemned to move. The prosecutor is also applied for warrants for key leaders of how much widely designated a terrorist organizations. My guess this week from kind of leave is dennis ross form especially the system to president barack obama. And for more than 12 years, a keep flat and shaping us policy in the middle east. Hes not optimistic about what he sees now. I can tell you this is worse between israelis and palestinians and at any point