Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Captain Corea]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Jandar]

More on the posturing.

Has anyone noticed any increased activity near the airbases?


North�s military may be taking a grip on power

JoongANg Daily January 20, 2009


Though North Korea�s military has long played a crucial role in inter-Korean political tensions, today it is making unusually dramatic moves.

Political observers say recent actions and rhetoric have become more intense than ever. Analysts expressed concern that North Korea�s military may be wielding little-checked power while its leader, Kim Jong-il, is still recovering from a stroke he reportedly suffered last summer.

On Dec. 17, groups of South Korean entrepreneurs and a handful of government officials from Seoul met with government and military officials from the North to discuss the effects of Pyongyang�s restrictions on the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

As the meeting was about to start, Kim Yong-chul, a North Korean lieutenant general, suddenly stood up and yelled: �All of the non-military officials are to leave!�

Kim is the North�s senior official in charge of military talks with the South.

His demand sent the bureaucrats scampering out of the room, according to the South Korean businessmen who attended the meeting.

�Some of the North�s non-military government officials had to come to us and asked what was discussed in the meeting,� said one of the South Korean attendees who refused to be named. �I could clearly sense the power of the North�s military.�

And last week, the head of the general staff of the North�s Korean People�s Army said the country was willing to risk a possible skirmish with the South to �preserve� the sea border line in the Yellow Sea.

The North also declared it would take an �all-out confrontational posture to shatter� the administration of South Korea�s President Lee Myung-bak.

The North�s state-run media reported yesterday that last week�s announcement from its army general staff �made headlines in many countries� wire agencies, newspapers and the broadcast news.�

But while this was on the front page of the North�s Rodong Shinmun, news that Dear Leader Kim Jong-il sent New Year�s messages to leaders around the world was relegated to the second page.

That the news about Kim�s message was downplayed is �very unusual,� according to South Korea�s intelligence officials.

�People in North Korea would probably believe that the latest statement may be tantamount to launching a war, since most of them believe that the general staff of the army is directly controlled by Kim,� said Chung Young-tae, a researcher at Korea Institute for National Unification.

�The North�s military may be trying to control other social and economic aspects of North Korean society by creating political tensions with the South.�

Baek Seung-joo, chief of the Defense Policy Studies Division at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, also said that Jang Sung-taek, Kim�s brother in law, may have taken a firmer grip on Pyongyang�s political hierarchy while Kim is away from the political center because of illness.

�The military, relatively on the sidelines of political power, may be trying to retain its power by creating military tension,� he said.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2900058

[Captain Corea]

Yup, all signs are pointing towards them trying something slick in the upcoming few days...


ooohh, aren't we giddy with excitement?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

"despite the opinion of some critics that Lee�s so-called �Denuclearization, Openness, 3000� campaign is humiliating for Pyongyang"

Anyone who thinks the Pyongyang regime deserves anything less that utter humiliation either knows nothing of their inhumanity or cares nothing of it.

Quite frankly enough another famine is preferable to another four decades of NK's murderous, dehumanising bullshit.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[On the other hand]

[samcheokguy]

although it's a long shot...imagine if North Korea actually decides to start the 2nd korean war while I'm working in Gangwon-do.
It would be a great story...
...if I lived.

[Jandar]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I hear that a collander for draining spaghetti turned upside down will substitute for a helmet.

On the other hand, my source in the ex-government is taking this threat more seriously than others in the past. The reason: it appears the Nork military has taken more control than in the past.

[Yu_Bum_suk]