vice president of the asia society. jamie, welcome. thank you. how close do you think we came to just an all out explosion between the two koreas? we came close in some ways and not close in others. obviously, this was a big, big deal. the attack in march and then the attack on yeon-pyeong island in november were big, big deals. north korea knows how far they can push and both sides have a real reason to not want this to head to full scale war because the south knows how easily seoul can be destroyed and because the north knows ultimately how weak they are. and so they can escalate to a point and then they need to pull back. and we ve seen that over and over.
jamie, welcome. thank you. how close do you think we came to just an all out explosion between the two koreas? we came close in some ways and not close in others. obviously, this was a big, big deal. the attack in march and then the attack on yeon-pyeong island in november were big, big deals. north korea knows how far they can push and both sides have a real reason to not want this to head to full scale war because the south knows how easily seoul can be destroyed and because the north knows ultimately how weak they are. and so they can escalate to a point and then they need to pull back. and we ve seen that over and over. we re seeing it again now i think. it is nerve-racking to our entire world. is this our future with the koreas back and forth? it is our future and our past. these guys have an incredible ability to negotiate from nothing. they are incredibly weak, starving, their economy is collapsing so they come right to the brink of war and then they say all right. we
has been averted for now. were korean tensions another cuban missile crisis in the works? it was an unusually tense and busy sunday night at the pentagon. not often the joint heads of the chief of staff worked at the pentagon on sunday night. that s how seriously concerned america was that the situation might escalate out of control. the conflict reignited last year when the north shelled yeon-pyeong island the first attack on civilian areas in the south since the 1950-1953 korean war. two south korean citizens and two marines were killed. the u.s. s 27,000 troops and 50 ships in the region and satellites overhead watching for any north korean troops or weapons movements. tensions rose after south korea announced its intention to stage military drills in the yellow sea. at 10:00 p.m. sunday night admiral mike mullen chairman of the joint chiefs of staff went to work at the high security national military command center deep inside the pentagon. he had two of his most trusted senior
what we do know is that a crisis has been averted for now. were korean tensions another cuban missile crisis in the works? it was an unusually tense and busy sunday night at the pentagon. not often the joint heads of the chief of staff worked at the pentagon on sunday night. that s how seriously concerned america was that the situation might escalate out of control. the conflict reignited last year when the north shelled yeon-pyeong island the first attack on civilian areas in the south since the 1950-1953 korean war. two south korean citizens and two marines were killed. the u.s. s 27,000 troops and 50 ships in the region and satellites overhead watching for any north korean troops or weapons movements. tensions rose after south korea announced its intention to stage military drills in the yellow sea. at 10:00 p.m. sunday night admiral mike mullen chairman of the joint chiefs of staff went to work at the high security national military command center deep inside the pentagon. he h