Dark clouds of war casting over Israel give a lesson to South Korea

Airstrikes by Palestine's militant Hamas left more than 500 lives dead and 3,000 injured in Israel. Firing up to 7,000 rockets, the militant group in control of the Gaza Strip penetrated Israeli defense systems, according to global news agencies. What's worse, Palestinian armed agents wearing parachutes to invade by land, sea, and air have fought in cities, holding Israeli citizens hostage. As Israel declared war to fire back, the bloody clash on both sides has gotten out of control.

News reports of how the conflict is unfolding depict one of the planet's most horrendous, gruesome scenes. Amid monstrous blazes are left buildings fallen into ashes with bodies cruelly torn apart and abandoned on the streets. The large-scale airstrike action secretly taken early on holiday struck down the Iron Dome, the Israeli air defense system. Reportedly, not only Israeli domestic intelligence Mossad but also the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency did not see it coming. Appallingly, this Hamas-planned sudden asymmetric warfare made the systems and agencies that had boasted the world's best levels of intelligence and technological advancement useless in the blink of an eye.

The antagonism-driven military conflict between Israel and Palestine has a long history. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip is generally described as the world's largest open-air prison due to the suffocating Israeli blockade. Presumably, the calculus behind the military action is that the group intends to prevent itself from being isolated as Israel has begun solidifying relationships with its neighboring Arab countries. Nevertheless, the indiscriminate airstrikes that cost many lives must be strongly condemned and cannot be justified for any reason.

The Israel-Palestine conflict that is turning into a full-scale war is indeed of enormous concern in that it affects not only the Middle East but also the landscape of global security. If Iran and other countries join the ongoing war in the powder keg of the Middle East that has just exploded, there is a possibility that the situation will head onto a long downward spiral of war in the recent new Cold War. The Western world is already stretching its military forces to the limit due to the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war. If the United States extends its front lines through Europe to the Middle East, it will unavoidably pay less attention to security issues in other regions, including Asia. Furthermore, political volatility and uncertainties across the Middle East can accelerate the soaring oil prices, a critical blow to the global economy.

In the country that always faces North Korea's threat of invasion, the unfolding war situation in Israel comes across as a palpable risk. The Hamas attacks are just one of the many examples where not only nuclear arms and ballistic missiles but also asymmetric conventional actions can erode national security. That is why the South Korean government and military authorities should beef up their efforts to strengthen the Three-Axis System, including the Kill Chain, and develop the Korean version of the Iron Dome against North Korea's long-range artillery pieces deployed along the military demarcation line. Looking closely at how international affairs are developing, Seoul should also double-check intelligence networks centering on the National Intelligence Service.