That would have been a likely scenario during the Cold War, when people on both sides were really afraid of a nuclear attack. But neither a ship, nor an island, looks like an incoming nuclear attack; nor is South Korea supposed to have nuclear weapons AFAIK; and if the North Korean soldiers have any sense they would be much more afraid of their own superiors than of South Korea. And in a dictatorship where you need permission for just about everything you do, I doubt that a low-ranking military commander could sink a ship, or start an artillery barrage on another country, on his (her? any women in the N Korean military?) own initiative.
If they have standing orders like “If you’re shot at, shoot back” then there’s still potential for trouble. I think that, in the recent incident, South Korea was holding military exercises in or around places that North Korea claims are part of its territory (claims which the rest of the world doesn’t recognize), and the exercises included things like shooting at targets. So it doesn’t seem that weird for some North Korean guy to go “OMG, they’re shooting at us!” when the South Korea military is nearby and shooting.
That would have been a likely scenario during the Cold War, when people on both sides were really afraid of a nuclear attack. But neither a ship, nor an island, looks like an incoming nuclear attack; nor is South Korea supposed to have nuclear weapons AFAIK; and if the North Korean soldiers have any sense they would be much more afraid of their own superiors than of South Korea. And in a dictatorship where you need permission for just about everything you do, I doubt that a low-ranking military commander could sink a ship, or start an artillery barrage on another country, on his (her? any women in the N Korean military?) own initiative.
If they have standing orders like “If you’re shot at, shoot back” then there’s still potential for trouble. I think that, in the recent incident, South Korea was holding military exercises in or around places that North Korea claims are part of its territory (claims which the rest of the world doesn’t recognize), and the exercises included things like shooting at targets. So it doesn’t seem that weird for some North Korean guy to go “OMG, they’re shooting at us!” when the South Korea military is nearby and shooting.