North Korea's threats should be taken more seriously because we do not know a lot about its new leadership and what he actually wants.The comments came after North Korea confirmed that it has abandoned the 60-year-old Armistice that ended the Korean War, amid rising military tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The statement comes two days after Seoul and Washington launched a week-long annual joint military exercise near the Korean Peninsula despite warnings from Pyongyang. Pyongyang had said a second Korean War would be "unavoidable" if the United States and South Korea refused Pyongyang's calls to cancel their large-scale joint drill.
Press TV has conducted an interview with William Jones, Executive Intelligence Review from Washington, to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Mr. Jones, do you think that when North Korea does make a threat earlier on for instance about even a nuclear war or preemptive war on the United States, that those threats should be taken seriously?
Jones: I think they should. In ordinary circumstances I would tend to think that this is the usual bluster coming out of North Korea that is threats which are not made seriously but are made for other regions.
But given the fact that you have a new leadership there which we do not know a lot about what he actually wants, I think we should take this a bit more seriously than we otherwise would have done.
It may indeed be a braggadocio being done for internal reasons but I think because we do not have a very good picture of where he is going, I think that should be taken seriously.
Press TV: But who do you think is provoking this? Well North Korea is of course saying it is the US, it is South Korea with the provocations, would you agree with that?
Jones: Well obviously they are having their exercises and prior to the exercises North Korea had warned them not to do them.
As far as I can see the exercises which were planned a long time ahead of time, are a part of the normal military relation between South Korea and the United States, although they are being used in this particular instance I think as a kind of a warning to North Korea but I think there is a reason for it but I do not know that that is really the real reason.