N. Korean leaders ‘behaving themselves’ to ensure food aid, Air Force general says

While South Korea and some defense experts expect provocational attacks from the North with a succession of power to the son of the country’s former leader, the deputy commander of U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii said he doesn’t think that will be the case.

"Our thought is, we don’t anticipate much in terms of provocations because this is a year of prosperity that North Korea wants to declare in the year 2012, and, quite frankly, food aid is their biggest requirement right now," said Air Force Lt. Gen. Daniel Darnell. "So they are working diligently — I’ll characterize it as they are behaving themselves — to ensure that there’s no disruption of delivery of that food aid."

Darnell made the remarks last week at the annual Hawaii Military Partnership Conference held by the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. The U.S. Pacific Command controls military forces in a region that includes half the globe.

South Korea is bracing for a show of force that would symbolize new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s firm control.

"I will tell you our biggest concern with respect to this succession is, there was very little preparation time to prepare Kim Jong Un, the son, for succession," Darnell said.

Kim is a third-generation leader of secretive North Korea. The succession of power to his father, Kim Jong Il, from the younger Kim’s grandfather Kim Il Sung, took 20 years, Darnell said. Kim Jong Il died Dec. 17 of a heart attack at age 69.

"This succession to the youngest son … has been a period of a couple of years at the most," Darnell added.

Darnell described North Korea’s new leader as "a very young man that has taken control of a very unpredictable military, a very unpredictable country. He’s 28 years old, soon to be 29, and our biggest concern is the unpredictability associated with that."

Kim Jong Un is thought to have marked a birthday last weekend.

Thus far there has been no change in North Korea’s military relationship with the South, Darnell said. The North has often referred to the South as a "puppet to the United States," he said.

The U.S. maintains about 28,500 American troops in South Korea. Darnell described North Korea as U.S. Pacific Command’s "most immediate security threat." The nuclear-armed North has 1.2 million military members.

"Kim Jong Il’s death, quite frankly, (was) unexpected," Darnell said. "Their closest ally is China, and we think (that was) also a surprise to China as well."

North Korea shelled a South Korean island in 2010. The same year it was blamed for the sinking of a South Korean warship, killing 46. In 2009 the North conducted a failed long-range missile test with a trajectory in the direction of Hawaii.

Any conflict on the Korean peninsula could draw in China, Russia, the United States and Japan, Darnell said.

"So any conflict in North Korea, which could expand into something much bigger, is a real concern to us, and that is part of the reason why we are postured (militarily) in the way we are," he said.

Darnell said there are about 80,000 U.S. troops in Japan, South Korea and Northeast Asia.