Article Link: Analysis: N.Korea threatens to upstage S.Korea defence expo with duelling military show | Reuters
Next week South Korea is holding a defense fair that occurs every two years. North Korea has also started a military exhibition this week. These fairs are happening amid the growing arms race in the region. Kim Jong Un justifies North Korea’s growing military by pointing out that South Korea also has a growing military. The South Korean fair is aimed to sell their current technologies abroad to foreign militaries and companies. The North Korean exhibition is meant just for officials in the country to see the recent developments and prototype weapons that are now a part of North Korea’s arsenal.
The growing arms race between North and South Korea is caused due to tensions between the countries. These tensions have been around for a long time and were exactrabeted in the Korean War. The South Koreans are allied with the United States and the North Koreans are allied with the Chinese. The United States and China will not likely go to war as it would most likely result in mutually assured destruction. This causes proxy wars and inflamed relations in areas both countries have interest in to occur. The arms race is unlikely to stop anytime soon since it would require the situation to de-escalate. North Korea has justified their growing military by South Korea also having a growing military. Since this is happening it will most likely continue until another Korean War breaks out.
In the past there was an IGO in place that consisted of South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The purpose of this pact was to gather military intelligence on North Korea and share it between the three countries. This pact has since been disbanded. North and South Korea are both members of the United Nations however they are somewhat disputed countries since both have one country that will not recognize them. The countries are themselves. Both of the Koreas claim to be the sole legitimate government of the Korean Peninsula. This causes them to not recognize each other.