Is Kim Jong Un, the most infamous dictator in the world, a madman, a genius, or just a puppet of his advisors? No one really knows, except for maybe the highest in the North Korean government.

The current state of North Korea, at least from a western perspective, is that they are a threat, especially with their development of an ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile), which is said to be capable of hitting the west coast of the USA as well as being able to fit a hydrogen bomb on to the top of the missile.

North Korea’s government has recently come under scrutiny from the US ambassador who said “they are begging for war.” Furthermore, Trump recently said that any advances on US territory would be met with “fire and fury.” These skirmishes of words are reminiscent of the cold war and events such as the Cuban missile crisis, so we got some opinions from teachers who had lived during the Cold war, and what they think about the threat of North Korea.

History teachers, Mr. Sweeney and Mrs. Clover, shared their thoughts of the Cold War compared to the threat of North Korea today and what parallels could be drawn between them. They seemed to come to an agreement that at this point in time, they do not believe North Korea poses nearly as much of a threat as the Soviet Union did, and they believe that North Korea is realistically a blip on the radar, compared to the Soviets, who had thousands of nuclear missiles pointed at the West for every second of every day over the course of 40 years. So, if you think North Korea currently poses a big threat, think about the world your parents lived in for the entirety of their younger lives.

After this we sat down with Mr. Albert, who has lived the majority of his life with the looming threat of the Soviet Union. He grew up in California, a likely target that would be hit by Soviet Missiles during the peak of the war. He believes that there is a high chance of a nuclear catastrophe, and thinks that taking away the weapons from North Korea may not be a possibility.

I think that right now, if you are scared of Kim Jong-Un, or “Rocket Man” as Trump called him, you should know that the world has been through worse very recently. And even though the US has “declared war” according to  North Korea, your parents have been through far worse. As of this moment, North Korea does not realistically pose the biggest threat, especially to those of us living in Bangkok.

What is your opinion? Let us know in the comments below.

Jonathan Tostevin