What was the true intention behind Secretary Kerry's trip to China?

President Bush under Condoleezza Rice's advice urged US participation in six party talks with North Korea involving China, Japan, Russia, and both North, and South Korea. These talks led to North Korea blowing up the Yongbyon cooling tower as proof that no uranium enrichment would take place.

Then in 2008 when Barak Obama was running for US President and promised that his administration would talk to both Iran and North Korea, there was some hope in Pyongyang that the steady peace process may continue. However upon Obama taking office this hope was quickly dashed with the new Secretary of State Hilary Clinton adopting the doctrine of "strategic patience" waiting for Kim Jong-Il to die and see a regime collapse through internal power struggles. Both Obama and Clinton made it clear to North Korea that there would be no more talks until the North would denounce nuclear weapons and open up the country. Kim Jong-Il soon died passing on leadership to his son Kim Jong-un, without any change in policy or outlook.

In addition South Korea's then President Lee Myung-bak also took a harder line on North Korea, dismantling the "sunshine policies" of his predecessors.

In 2010 the Obama Administration sent a delegation of former high ranking officials to Pyongyang who met with senior officials of Kim Jong-Il's Government. It was reported that even though North Korea was willing to ship out all nuclear fuel rods to a third country in exchange for a US pledge that it has no hostile intent towards North Korea, the Obama Administration wasn't interested.

Then in March 2010, North-South relations deteriorated with the torpedoing of the ROKS Cheonan, a South Korean Warship, killing 46 South Korean sailors. Although the North has denied responsibility for this act, an investigation in the South put the blame on the North. However China, Russia and the United Nations Security Council all did not concur with the conclusion of that report.

Then the North warned the South if any shells during a South Korean military exercise landed across the disputed border, they would retaliate with shelling of their own, which they did, killing seven civilians on the Island of Yeonpyeong. South Korea appalled with the North's retaliation continued the exercises scaling up tensions in the area. These tensions only subsided when the South stopped the exercises upon US warnings.

These current tensions were started by the North launching a satellite into orbit, which many countries have done before. Then in February, the North carried out another nuclear test and the UN placed further sanctions upon North Korea. Tensions continued to rise with escalations of talk and "sabre rattling" as the world has been watching over the last month.

From the North's perspective, the United States literally bombed North Korean into the ground during the Korean War, and they showed again during the Iraq war that they are fully capable of doing it again. Kaesong Industrial Zone is something that is very symbolic of Korean unity and its closure could be viewed as a display of the North's anger towards the South's rhetoric. Finally, with China's change in direction over the last few years, Pyongyang could be a little uncertain about China's support if a war with the US eventuated.

The North talks of annihilating the US, while the US talks about bringing down the current regime in Pyongyang.

Administration rhetoric and media reporting about this "reckless regime bent on nuclear war" according to US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel presents what he called "a real and clear danger and threat". The build-up of US defensive missile systems on Guam, Alaska and on the West Coast of the United States to counter this "grave threat" will require funding. One wonders how much did the issue of future military funding come into the administration's calculations? Media reports indicate a change in many congress members' attitudes to funding cuts since these tensions started.

Then last Thursday, President Obama and his spokespeople sought to calm down the situation through winding back the military exercises with South Korea to lower tensions. Then came Secretary of State John Kerry's trip to the region on Friday.

The United States cannot really afford military action against Korea, it's not in their interest. North Korea is a "good enemy" to have, and can be "managed" through upping and downing tensions on the peninsula. Korea is a good excuse to place military hardware close to China in the East Asian region. A collapsing North would be a disaster for the US, which would result either in a united Korea where there would no longer be any excuse for a strong military presence, or there could be some conflict between China and the US to install some other form of order in the vacuum.