- Structural Violence: North Korea/South Korea
- Introduction
The North Korea and South Korea conflict has been in existent since the 1950s. It is crucial to note that the split in the Korean peninsula was after the World War II where the North supported and embraced the communist paradigm whereas the South refuted communism and embraced the capitalistic system (Heo, 2001, p.101). Due to these different systems embedded in the social institutions, both countries could not reunify. This means that both countries had different social institutions that brought division and conflict between both states. Given that North Korea attacked South Korea in the 1950s because of a border conflict, the two countries have been antagonistic for years. North Korea was the first country to attack South Korea by taking over its capital city, which stirred havoc between both countries (Richmond, 2010, p.98). As a result, United Nations had to conduct peace negotiations between both countries to instill peace. In 2010, a South Korean warship sunk mysteriously and the country blames North Korea of allegedly attacking their warship. Due to this incident, both countries no longer trust each other thereby, causing tension to rise between the two neighboring nations (Richmond, 2010, p.103).
- Extent of Structural Violence & its historical background
Given that both countries are signatories to the United Nations, the global community believes in peaceful negotiations to approach a conflict. Peace is important in every country because the civilian’s rights and freedoms are protected (Gerdes, 2007, p.79). The UN advocates for humanitarian rights, which means that the organization is against conflict that endangers the lives of civilians. In addition, countries have to ensure here is peace in the country because a country can be slapped with sanctions such as embargos. Peace is also important to limit the act of deterrence because both countries. Recently, North Korea built some nuclear weapons which brought about tension between both countries (Bae, 2004, p.379). Thus, peace is a crucial component in a country because it gives political and economic stability for both countries. It is also important to note forms of structural violence in North Korea where civilians dies of famine yet, the country injected all the government funds on military to defend equip their military defense. North Korea has also been known for having dictatorial leadership who advocate for war conflicts instead of focusing on economic leadership and prosperity. South Korea is also seen as a threat to North Korea because of their strong ties with the West (Bae, 2004, p.382). This means that both countries are under tension and the global community wants to push for peace among both countries.
- Conclusion & Analysis
The North Korea and South Korea conflict has been an ongoing conflict which has been fueled by the fact both countries have different paradigms governing the country. This means that there are recent scholastic articles that examine the conflict between both states. It is important to look at the past history between both countries to understand the reason why they are not at peace with each other (Wit, 2002, p.111). In addition, there are books and websites that cover the recent trends that have been ongoing in both countries are they negotiate for peace. Given that US is the global super power, they have set military troops in South Korea which indicates that there is a form of awareness in the international community. Through looking into dominant media houses, I can get videos and materials that are recent from both countries.
References
Bae, Jun Sik. "An Empirical Analysis Of The Arms Race Between South And North Korea." Defence and Peace Economics 15.4 (2004): 379-392. Print.
Gerdes, Louise I.. North & South Korea. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Print.
Heo, Uk, and Chong-Min Hyun. "An Analysis Of South Korea's Policy Toward North Korea." Pacific Focus 16.1 (2001): 89-102. Print.
Richmond, Simon. Korea. 8th ed. Footscray, Vic.: Lonely Planet, 2010. Print.
Wit, Joel S.. "The United States, North Korea And South Korea." Korean Journal of Defense Analysis 14.2 (2002): 109-124. Print.
