April 16, 2026: In 1994 a North Korean official declared, during a meeting with his South Korean counterpart at the North Korean capital Panmunjom, that the South Korean capital is not far from here. In wartime Seoul will become a sea of fire. This is what passes for North Korean diplomacy, subtle but brutal.

It began with a minor border war along the DMZ between 1966 and 1969. This was sometimes referred to as the Second Korean War and involved skirmishes and infiltrations that resulted in hundreds of casualties. This period coincided with South Korea’s military involvement in Vietnam, during which both the White Horse and Tiger divisions were sent to Vietnam.

In early 1968, North Korean commandos attempted to assassinate President Park Chung-hee. A few days later, they seized the USS Pueblo, capturing its crew and igniting an international crisis that would drag on for the rest of the year.

Many wondered if North Korea’s objective was to cause a breakdown in relations between the U.S. and South Korea These two actions, coming just days before North Vietnam's Tet Offensive, serve as a kind of opening event for what was to come at the end of the month? A way to catch the U.S. off guard, maybe even shift its attention back toward the Korean Peninsula? Was it all just a coincidence? Or something more deliberate. Was it an understanding between Kim Il-sung and Ho Chi Minh to stretch America’s resolve across two widely separated wars?

There was more to come. In early 1969, North Korea escalated tensions by downing an American Navy reconnaissance plane over the East China Sea, killing all 31 aboard, the largest loss of life aboard an American aircraft during the Cold War. That same year, President Nixon announced the Guam Doctrine, revealing a shift in U.S. foreign policy and a gradual withdrawal of troops abroad, including the withdrawal of the 7th Infantry Division from South Korea.

While the Americans were retreating, North Korea advanced with shovels. During the 1970s, South Korean forces discovered three infiltration tunnels running beneath the DMZ. Each was large enough to move thousands of troops an hour. This demonstrated that if diplomacy worked, the North had a more direct route planned. A fourth tunnel was discovered in 1990.

Then there was the infamous axe murder incident of 1976, when two U.S. Army officers were killed while trimming a tree in the Joint Security Area.

That moment marked a turning point. North Korea began to change its approach, from direct confrontation to terrorism. There was a failed assassination attempt on President Chun Doo-hwan in Myanmar in 1983, a bombing at Kimpo International Airport in 1986 and the downing of Korean Air Flight 858 in 1987. This was a deliberate and brutal effort to derail the Seoul Olympics before the torch was lit.

South Korea has sought to resolve its problems with North Korea and their nuclear weapons as well as plans to develop South Korean nuclear missiles. These weapons are the primary threat to South Korea, which currently has a per-capita GDP more than 50 times that of the North. South Korea is one of the top ten industrial powers and a major manufacturer and exporters of conventional weapons to allied nations. South Korean armored vehicles to Poland will give that country the largest tank force in the world. These achievements are what provides South Korea with serenity.