N. Korea Crisis - Updated as News come to hand

Well now the US is angry...

USFK Corrects the Record

The information being reported by some South Korean press that alleges the U.S prevented the Republic of Korea from responding to the Nov. 23 attack on Yonpyeong Island using their military aircraft is not true. The Republic of Korea did not ask Gen. Walter L. Sharp, commander, United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and United States Forces Korea for permission to strike North Korean targets.

Yeah sure. Even if true, the response was utter fail.

EDIT : The US government has made a poor attempt at humor :
N.Korea '2nd Largest Security Threat to U.S. After al-Qaeda'

Yeah sure. Al-CIAda... we're all scared! And Al-CIAda sure can take out Seoul and kill a million people in an hour... WITHOUT using nukes... also Al-CIAda got thousands of tons of chemical weapons... and is also backed by China... totally UNLIKE North Korea...

US government humor... they are such a hoot.

So the US wants to play the blame game - not sure I want to hear the response from SK on this one!

More China news.....

Snippet from story by "NPR"....


"Pyongyang has a habit of not listening to advice if they feel pressured by China or in the past by the United States," he says. "As often as not, North Korea's response to pressure is to do the opposite of what you're asking and to escalate."

"Lieberthal says the chances of escalation on the Korean peninsula are very real, in part, because Kim Jong Il is trying to arrange for his youngest son to succeed him. The younger Kim will have to show he is tough enough to take over the reins from his father".










www.npr.org...

reply to post by freetree64


if it is that simple, then maybe some equally simple reverse psychology could change the course of this conflict?

you know, China, the US, SK, Russia all shouting at NK to attack, kill as many as possible, take over SK and the entire peninsula, nobody is gonna stop you, or help you...use as many nuclear weapons as possible, incinerate existence on the southern tip...burn it and take it alll.

then NK would start shouting that we're all genocidal madmen to its citizens, and then NK will have to change their stance to that of peace as the world is begging for war, and the world can never be trusted.

whats the worst that could happen? They attack? fine, it will happen anyways, except Nk would actually have made the first move and so youd have an excuse to fight back.

reply to post by InvisibleAlbatross


haha, My bad. (:
Thanks for correcting me

N.Korea says they will use Nukes to defend themselves

Pyongyang will rely on nuclear might to defend itself against the United States and South Korea, North Korea's Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun told Russia's Interfax news agency Friday.

www.breitbart.com...

I think they're backed far enough into a corner now that they would use Nukes.

Lee says ‘change’ coming to North

Analysts say president is rejecting dialogue, promoting regime change

Yeah that'll help tensions...NOT. And as NKorea just said... we'll defend ourselves with nukes... yeah.

Analysts think that the only way NKorea will use nukes is if there is a threat of a regime change... and what is that tard Lee saying? Exactly that! Is he trying to force NKorea into a nuclear corner or what?

Seoul to reinforce China diplomacy in new budget

Funding to increase eight-fold, staffing to be beefed up

Well that's good news. Hopefully the money is not wasted...

Myanmar, North, nukes in cables on WikiLeaks

Well duh. Known that for years.... and who's allowing this once again? Ah yes, CHINA. China LOVES Myanmar's dictatorship. They have invested tens of billions in Myanmar...

Gee China allowing two of his puppets to be nuclear powers... yeah that's hopeful for the future... NOT.

reply to post by fltcui


Thing is the only way they can deliver a nuke for now is to put it in a sub and blow the sub up.

MAYBE, just MAYBE they can put it into an artillery tube... this is like 50/50...

And they haven't mastered the miniature technology for the warhead yet to fit on a missile... that we know of.

And of course they could dig a tunnel under the DMZ and blow up Seoul from underground... but this is unlikely since the technology to detect tunnels is quite awesome.

reply to post by Vitchilo


They are fond of tunnels.

wouldn't put it past them to draw our forces north into a trap, set of a couple of nukes under the advance.

And any subsequent retreat.

What do you guys think the chances are for war?

reply to post by naraku
Pretty high.

The Korean War never technically ended. There was just a truce called.

I know what you mean. It is scary, all we can do is wait.

We shall see.

-- Cyber attacks on Web sites against N. Korea increase: report (Kookmin Daily)
Little Kim will be pissed! No more porn for you!

U.S. hopes to discuss with China ways to rein in N. Korea: State Dept.

The United States Friday said it wants to discuss with China ways to dissuade North Korea from going nuclear and making provocations.

That's funny... at least they get a point in effort.

How Sunshine Policy Fueled N.Korea's Nuclear Development

North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities grew substantially under the Sunshine Policy during the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, and the North now reportedly has about a dozen nuclear weapons. Pyongyang is also operating hundreds or even thousands of uranium enrichment centrifuges, whose existence South Korean leftwingers denied.

"As a result of the former administrations' deliberate disregard under a decade of the Sunshine Policy, the crisis is now coming to a head," a Cheong Wa Dae staffer said Monday.

Yep.

And in the article, there's this :

When Kim Jong-un officially emerged as heir to Kim Jong-il on Oct. 10 in a military parade on the anniversary of the Workers Party, an intermediate-range ballistic missile was shown to the international press for the first time. Dubbed "Musudan" by the U.S. intelligence services, it has a range of 3,000 to 4,000 km, making it capable of reaching the strategic U.S. military base in Guam.

Apparently it's a copy of the Soviet missile R-27 and it can have a nuke. At least it's a LIQUID fuel missile... so you have time (hours, possibly days) to bomb it before it's ready to launch... unless they fuel it underground... and apparently according to other sources, they have a solid-fuel version... not good.

But it seems they have not tested it yet.... so is it more reliable than their crappy other missiles? Hopefully not.

Me thinks they could test this missile real soon as a provocation...

UPDATE :

Pyongyang 0100UTC radio news reiterates US-ROK alliance preparing for an "aggressive war at any moment." (But no new threat from #DPRK)

Reading KCNA & monitoring Pyongyang radio give indications of #DPRK intent, as like Al Qaeda, they try to justify actions before strikes. 1 minute ago via TweetDeck

What he said...

So basically NKorea is preparing another provocation... Because of that stupid SKorean president Lee saying REUNIFICATION IS NEAR... WE MUST DO A REGIME CHANGE... that kind of talk... VERY DANGEROUS.

Another NKorean provocation could be very close... I wouldn't be surprised if they do another provocation within 48 hours. We'll see then if the South is full of hot air or not.

China is pissed...

China: U.S. legislators are 'arrogant'

U.S. legislators should "change their rude and arrogant attitude" toward China over the Nobel Peace Prize issue, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

China condemned the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the "convicted Chinese criminal" Liu Xiaobo and more than 100 countries and international organizations support China on the issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular news briefing.

The U.S. House of Representatives, by a vote of 401-1, this week passed a resolution congratulating Liu on winning the Peace Prize.

"The so-called resolution approved by the U.S. House of Representatives disregards facts and distorts truth and is flagrant interference in China's internal affairs. We urge relevant U.S. lawmakers to stop their wrongdoing on this issue, change their arrogant and rude attitude and show due respect for the Chinese people and China's judicial sovereignty," Jiang said.

Do not play with China's honor or you're playing with trouble.

US not helping Taiwan cruise missile program

The United States has not provided any help to Taiwan in its bid to mass produce cruise missiles, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday, as a Chinese military delegation held talks here.

Preemptive propaganda strike?

South Korea eyes F-16 upgrades

Northrop Grumman is wooing South Korean support for a proposal to upgrade its F-16 jet fighter program with mechanically scanned radar system.

That's it for now I think... so much news for a Saturday ain't good...

Call me a skeptic, but I still wondering if all of this on S. Korea's end is still just to please their people.

Why?

Because of SK's recent trade agreement with the US that they had proclaimed to their people they would never do...

Red Herring way over-board?

reply to post by sonjah1


Well workers are protesting because of that free trade deal. The opposition parties are also calling for the party in power to resign since they rushed through the 2011 budget.

The PM is in trouble politically.... and when people in power are in trouble... they start trouble to divert attention... hopefully it's not a war diversion...

N. Korean FM defends Pyongyang's decision to bolster nuclear arsenal

Minister Pak Ui-chun made the remark in an interview with Russia's Interfax news agency Friday ahead of his planned trip to Moscow, set for Dec. 12-15. The visit comes amid a flurry of diplomacy to deal with high tensions over North Korea's artillery attack on a South Korean island.

So... a meeting in Moscow uh? Hopefully it's not a repeat of 1950... Stalin gave NKorea the go ahead to invade the South.

Of course the situation is different now... but Russia still gave nuclear technology to NKorea in 2006...so Russia is probably on NKorea side like China... they don't want US bases on their eastern border.

And of course... even if war doesn't break out if NKorea does another provocation... will this push Japan to change their military policies? Hopefully not.

reply to post by Vitchilo


On my reply above, trying trying to be an optimist... But you're probably right; never that simple...

Thank you for your continous updates/insight/knowledge on this thread Mr./Ms. Vitchilo

I, too, have feared the triangulation of Rus/China/NK and have been watching this thread as much as I can...

I wasn't aware of the Dec. meetings with Russia...err..

Tomorrow is an important day for SKorea...

Dec. 12 1948 -- The U.N. General Assembly recognizes the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea, as the legal government of Korea.

Wouldn't surprise me if that is the day North Korea does it's provocation.

Also..

U.S. Prods Tepid Tokyo on Seoul Ties

Japan reacted coolly to pressure from the U.S. to strengthen military cooperation with South Korea, suggesting that historical tensions and domestic political challenges will limit its ability to work directly with Seoul on efforts to prevent further aggression from North Korea.

Well yeah... the history between Korea and Japan... people have not forgotten what they've done... Especially when Japan refuses to teach the truth in their history books.

I check back on this thread almost daily, and it surprises me how many small here and there petty quotes we get from SK, NK, US, and CHN leaders....et nothing seems tom be escalating out of this?

Who here thinks we could see war before Spring of 2011?

There will be no war with korea.

Its a distraction from other more important things.

Media blitz anyone?

reply to post by Vitchilo


Couldn't they theoretically adapt a commercial airliner with a large bomb bay and drop a Hiroshima style device?

Just reroute it out to sea first so it looks as though it's heading on a genuine flight path, then redirect it towards the American fleet, or the South.