New York times on Korean water control

here is another article from the New York Times, it describes the burst of water flow that came out of North Korea’s Hwanggang Dam in September. The water came rushing into South Korea killing a handful of civilians who were camping near-by a river. The article covers South Korea’s response, in which it has demanded an apology from the North and a full explanation. Apparently they have already received an explanation saying that the dam workers had to act quickly because the water behind the dam was building up to fast but the South doesn’t buy into that and wants a more detailed response. One reason that the article points out is that North Korea has built many dams controlling rivers that head into South Korea and they believe one motive could be the ability to wage a “flood war” by releasing large amounts of water and sending it down stream all at one time. Personally this doesn’t seem to me to be far beyond possibility. North Korea has been very devious in the past and it would surprise me even if I found out that this flash flood has been on purpose, possibly to test their ability to inflict damage with this strategy. The control of water can be extremely hazardous to bi-lateral relations between political entities, as we have seen in many places around the world and even in our own back yard, in a few states surrounding us. This type of issue could become one of serious significance specifically because of the flowing tension that the two Korea’s have been trading for so long. The political implications are obvious and the article references them directly; President Lee Myung-bak in South Korea is keeping a hard line on Pyongyang even though it could undermine North Korea’s recent diplomatic acceptance. I believe that this is the best way to handle it. We have seen time and time again that North Korea responds to international pressure by rebelling, as secretary of state Hillary Clinton put it, like an attention seeking teenager. However, that is no reason to back down, North Korea may not weigh their international credibility at the top of their priorities list but the fact remains that Mrs. Clinton was exactly right and North Korea deserves the actions that are constantly taken against them. As for social implications, I believe there will be none in the North, mainly because I doubt that the majority of the population will even hear about the incident, and if they do it will certainly be a calculated release in Pyongyang’s favor. Economically though, North Korea’s control over water resources flowing into South Korea could most certainly create chaos. Before reading this article my thoughts would have surrounded a possible shut off of the water which could ruin crops and lower South Koreas available drinking water reservoirs but now, I could also invasion a “water attack” which could also wash away crops and fill drinking water reservoirs with thick sediment but also create civilian devastation by tearing away homes and businesses and killing mass numbers of South Koreans near the border and even downstream. This could easily have been an accident, and mostly likely it was, but either way it is a testament to the irresponsibility that we find in North Korea.