Young Kim won’t allow South Korea and US to embarrass his country: Analyst

Young North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will not allow South Korea and the United States to embarrass his country in a military confrontation, a political analyst in New York says.

Michael Burns made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday, after General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Friday that the US will defend its close ally South Korea amid heightening tensions between the South and North Korea.

On Friday, North Korea warned its southern neighbor to halt the "provocations" and its propaganda broadcasts against Pyongyang or pay the price.

The South Korean Defense Ministry has rejected North Korea’s ultimatum, with a spokesman insisting the country would “continue operating the loudspeakers.” The South also placed its military on high alert.

“This dustup between North Korea and South Korea has three elements that make it a little more dangerous than usual,” Burns said.

“First is the new leadership under Kim Jong-un, who is a young man, he has not been tested in the subtleties of brinkmanship that his other relatives, going back to Kim Il-sung, who were very skilled at doing, between the North and South. That’s one problem,” he stated.

“Number two is the US and South Korea are in the middle of war games which they do every year at this time of the year. So if ever South Korea was in a position to battle effectively, this is the time to do it, particularly when aligned with the comments of the American military, which have been very specific,” he added.

“Those are the two big reasons but the third one is that South Korea as well as its American allies have very, very modern technology, North Korea does not. So this could end up in real embarrassment for North Korea. And overhanging this whole thing is the fact this young man as a member of the Kim family simply does not want to be embarrassed. So you don’t know what’s going to happen this time around,” the analyst continued.

“I suspect he had a number of purges in his army and his military, and there has been dustups going in the political machinery of North Korea over the past year or so. So this has to be watched very carefully,” Burns noted.

“I think it will go away, but it has got those three elements I mentioned.  To repeat quickly, the armed presence of the US in South Korea – doing war games – the immaturity of this new leader, and the fact that he has been purging many of his wiser counsels and leadership, so you don’t know what kind of advice he is going to be getting. So it’s a tricky situation right now, no question about that,” the political commenter stated.

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