Even as tension on the Korean Peninsula is

ratcheted up by strong sanctions that target the Kim regime and SK-US joint

military drills that include “decapitation strikes,” a targeted attack to remove an opponent’s leader, intellectuals in

the North have said that Kim Jong Un will absolutely not resort to war.

Daily NK spoke on March 11 with a North Korean resident

on a personal visa to China who said, “While Kim Jong Un is

making announcements about a potential preemptive nuclear strike and created a

hawkish atmosphere, the intellectuals are discussing one particular topic day

in day out. The result of their deliberations on the present situation? Kim

Jong Un’s war threats are empty talk.”

She added, “In the sensitive political climate of the

moment, the double/triple monitoring system is being adhered to and people are

choosing their words carefully. However, university professors and informed

graduates in North Korea are chatting about the current situation at meetings

and over dinner. The amount of intellectuals that keep abreast of foreign information

by listening to foreign radio broadcasts is on the rise.”

According to the source, the three elements

that have been looked upon as indispensable for victory in combat since the Kim

Il Sung era are 1) Preparing the political thinking of the soldiers, 2)

Expanding war supplies, and 3) The support and solidarity of international

society. The intelligentsia in North Korea is using these three elements as a

gauge to measure the seriousness of Kim Jong Un’s threats.

“By promoting an atmosphere of war, Kim

hopes to strengthen unity and loyalty through using Party propaganda. But the

intellectuals are saying, ‘If a war were to actually break out, I doubt there’d

be many soldiers willing to dedicate their lives to the cause.’ America gives a

salary to their soldiers. There’s talk that if North Korea wants to be able to

be victorious in battle, the regime should pay the soldiers,” she said.

She continued, “If the plan to

engage in war were serious, it would be necessary to stock up on three years’

worth of rice, side dishes, gasoline, diesel, etc. But there are no such

supplies. The rice currently tucked away in the reserve supply should be given

to Korean People’s Army (KPA) soldiers. Right now, they’re forced to eat mixed

grains. Under such conditions, where the soldiers aren’t even properly fed, how

could the country possibly go to war?”

A frequent listener of radio broadcasts

beamed into North Korea from the outside world, another source–this time in North Pyongan

Province–backed up these assertions, noting that in particular, younger

intellectuals are adding an extra consideration to widen the discussion by

asking, “Is China a true ally of North Korea? Or is it merely a country

that shares a border with North Korea?”

He reported that fierce debates raged about

China’s trajectory in the road ahead, with teams divided into those who

believed, “China will stand by us in the end,” and those who insisted, “China

has already allied with South Korea.”

While most agreed that Kim Jong Un is not

free to do as he pleases and China is the determining factor, how the latter will wield its influence was a point of contention. Some said that if a war

breaks out on the peninsula, “China will strike South Korea,” while the others

said, “This time will be different. China will occupy the North,” the

source explained.

Still others predicted that China is going

to team up South Korea and its highly developed market and attempt to monopolize

the global economy. They warned, “Just as his father [Kim Jong Il] cautioned, Kim

Jong Un should not trust the Chinese.”

“The argument reached a fever pitch when

someone suggested that, ‘Kim Jong Un putting his faith in China is so misguided,

he might as well start writing his will,’” he concluded.