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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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 Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:21 pm Post subject: Pyongyang says it is ready for war |
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Just hours before Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State, arrived in Seoul on Thursday, North Korea capped weeks of increasingly angry rhetoric by announcing it is "full ready" for war.
With tensions at their highest in at least a decade, nuclear-armed North Korea slammed a pending U.S.-South Korean military exercise as "war preparations" and said it was ready to fight.
"If bellicose U.S. forces and South Korean puppets dare wage aggression against us wrapped up in foolish delusion, we will explode our might ... and ruthlessly destroy the invasionary forces," said an official statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency.
"The Lee Myung-Bak [South Korean president] group of traitors should never forget that the Korean People's Army is fully ready for an all-out confrontation."
The outburst came as North Korea is reported to be moving a long-range, nuclear-capable Taepodong-2 ballistic missile into place for a test launch. Two weeks ago, Pyongyang announced it had abrogated all diplomatic and defence agreements with Seoul.
On Thursday, it accused the South of using "nonexistent nuclear and missile threats" from the North as a pretext for an invasion.
Most observers believe this posturing is an effort to grab the attention of the new U.S. administration and put pressure on South Korea to resume shipping foreign aid.
Relations on the Korean peninsula deteriorated dramatically last year after Mr. Bak took office as president and abandoned a decade-old "sunshine policy" of helping North Korea.
Instead, he wants Pyongyang to make progress on promises to abandon its nuclear weapons program, before sending any more aid north.
Ms. Clinton's visit is the next-to-last stop of an Asian tour that winds up on Friday in China. In both countries she is expected to discuss North Korea.
On Thursday, as she flew to Seoul, she told reporters the uncertainties surrounding the health of Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, and the possibility of a power struggle to succeed him made it urgent to find a way to end Pyongyang's secretive nuclear weapons program.
"If there is a succession -- even if it is a peaceful succession -- you know, that creates more uncertainty," she said.
"It also may encourage behaviours that are even more provocative, as a way to consolidate power within the society."
Mr. Kim is rumoured to have suffered a debilitating stroke in August after he was not seen in public for months. He did not appear this week even when his entire country staged massive celebrations for his 67th birthday on Monday.
On Tuesday, the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported he had recently designated his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, 26, as his official successor, saying the leadership of the Korean People's Army received a memo announcing the appointment late last month.
The Swiss-educated Kim Jong Un is virtually unknown, but appears to be ready to raise his profile.
His father plans to appoint him to stand for election March 8 for a seat in the Supreme Peoples' Assembly, a rubber-stamp parliament that meets twice a year to review government plans.
In the meantime, foreigners who visited North Korea recently describe the country as an isolated and impoverished nation where most people are barely surviving.
A report just released by the East-West Center in Hawaii notes North Korea remains at risk of severe food shortages.
"Most observers believe that the recent harvest is the best in years, but even under optimistic scenarios food-related distress is likely to continue," it said.
Last month, the World Food Program predicted up to 40% of North Korea's 23 million people may be in urgent need of food assistance before winter ends.
"It is incorrect to talk about famine, but it is correct to talk about chronic malnutrition, especially among children," said Emmanuel Isch, World Vision's vice-president for international and Canadian programs, who just returned from a five-day trip to North Korea.
"North Korea is not Darfur, its not Niger and it is not Haiti," Mr. Isch said.
"The bottom line, I guess is that it is not getting any better."
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http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1307681 |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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I think we know how this will play out. The DPRK will strike out... but in a very odd and vague way (launch a 'satellite' over Japan), with the hopes that SK, the US or Japan will counter strongly - giving them an excuse to escalate.
My only hope is that the DPRK Fs up so bad, that the intent is clear. |
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Jandar
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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| I would really like them to do something that is retaliation worthy. |
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ManintheMiddle
Joined: 20 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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Call their bluff or ignore them completely? I can never decide which course of action is better. But their international temper tantrums are really getting tiresome.
Diplomacy is useless since they lie and prevaricate and lie some more.
Even the Chinese leadership is thoroughly exasperated with their antics.
This is a failed state looking for attention and we keep giving it to them.
Let them try to launch a war and see what happens. Half their equipment won't work and if you take out their leadership in one fell swoop they'll be running around like headless ants. |
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samcheokguy
Joined: 02 Nov 2008
Location: Samcheok G-do
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:20 am Post subject: |
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| headless ants with VX gas...oh joy. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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Jeff's Cigarettes
Joined: 27 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:18 pm Post subject: |
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"Last month, the World Food Program predicted up to 40% of North Korea's 23 million people may be in urgent need of food assistance before winter ends."
Good! I'm glad and hope they starve. No one believes what the KimberNORKS are saying. Let them fire their crappy rocket...who cares? |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:43 am Post subject: |
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Unfortunately the problem with trying to starve out a country is that the ones you really want to kill are always the last to go hungry.
10million innocent people starving isn't funny. The only good thing is that maybe, just maybe they will be desperate enough to revolt. |
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NAVFC
Joined: 10 May 2006
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:29 am Post subject: |
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| Im surprised no one has examined this.. but in leu of Kim Jung Ils stroke... after strokes people tend to become more stubborn bullheaded and illogical in their demeanor.. I wonder if this is the case with Kim and whether or not it is factoring into his leadership style as well as his command and control of the NKPA. |
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Beeyee
Joined: 29 May 2007
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:54 am Post subject: |
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| Jeff's Cigarettes wrote: |
Good! I'm glad and hope they starve |
WTF?!  |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:14 am Post subject: |
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http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2009/02/23/68/0401000000AEN20090223003600315F.HTML
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Koreas at brink of war, President Lee 'fascist dictator,' says North
SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Monday that inter-Korean relations are now at the brink of war after President Lee Myung-bak's first year in office, criticizing Lee's "confrontational" policy and calling him a "fascist dictator."
Two days before Lee celebrates his first anniversary, North Korean state media stepped up vitriolic denunciations against the conservative president who has set the North's denuclearization as a precondition to any further cross-border investment.
The Lee government has not shipped food or fertilizer aid to North Korea for the first time since 1999. 
After a year of deeply frozen ties, Pyongyang revved up its bellicose rhetoric against Seoul in recent weeks, threatening a naval clash along the western inter-Korean sea border and allegedly preparing to test-launch a missile from its eastern coast.
"The Lee group has pushed the inter-Korean relations to the phase of total collapse and driven the situation to the brink of a war during the first year of its office. This is a thrice-cursed crime against the nation," Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North's Workers' Party, said.
The North made clear it will not accept Seoul's proposal for dialogue as long as the Lee government continues its hardline stance. Pyongyang has cut off official dialogue channels in response to Lee's policy.
"This group can never be the DPRK's dialogue partner as it has persistently escalated the confrontation, not feeling any guilty conscience, utterly indifferent to the fate of the inter-Korean relations," the party newspaper said in an English language commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.
Uriminzokkiri, the North's official website, compared Lee to past military rulers, giving detailed accounts of the use of water cannons, batons and shields by police during street protests last year, mass candlelight vigils against U.S. beef imports and a squatters' protest in a redevelopment area.
"Traitor Lee Myung-bak's first year in office were days of treason against the Korean people marked by his sycophancy toward the United States and the era of darkness notorious for his extreme fascist dictatorial rule," the website said in a commentary titled "Who the Fascist Dictator Is."
South Korea, however, blamed the North's hardline stance for the deterioriating inter-Korean ties and said it will continue to propose dialogue to Pyongyang.
"The South's policy on North Korea is not the cause of the chill in relations. The cause is the North's hardline position towards the South," Unification Minister Hyun In-taek was quoted as saying at a meeting with leaders of the ruling Grand National Party.
North Korea has warned that it will no more respect inter-Korean peace accords and will "thoroughly crush" South Korean troops should they intrude "even one inch" into its western maritime territory.
Amid military tension and economic woes, cross-border trade declined 19.6 percent in January from a year earlier to US$113 million, according to ministry data. |
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NAVFC
Joined: 10 May 2006
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:43 am Post subject: |
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Unlikely. Due to treaties nuclear weapons in space are prohibited. Which is a shame to, given that due to that treaty development was halted on a space ship that if we had developed, would have been capable of speeds up to 10 percent the speed of light, it was called Orion and used nuclear weapon explosions to accelerate. |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:59 am Post subject: |
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| Jandar wrote: |
| I would really like them to do something that is retaliation worthy. |
Armchair warrior? |
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ManintheMiddle
Joined: 20 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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While I feel sorry for the average North Korean, I'm glad the ROK decided to make it clear that aid is not a given in this precarious relationship. The DPRK is like a spoiled little child who thinks he can get something for nothing just by crying, or in this case threatening.
Let them try to skirmish at sea and watch what happens.
Nothing will change substantially until the Communist regime is overthrown. They will not reform themselves, I fear.
Gotta love the flowery manifesto style writing of the North Korean press lackeys. It could be Exhibit A at a George Orwell seminar.
Imagine: not one country in the whole world takes these punks seriously. |
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RJjr
Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Location: Turning on a Lamp
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| Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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Which Korea will invade the other first?
It's conventional wisdom that North Korea is the one that would invade, but is it not outside the realm of possibility that South Korea could end up invading North Korea?
I'm about as anti-war as anyone, but it seems like North Korea is just a monumental tragedy with its people living almost like people in a Nazi POW camp or concentration camp. As sad as we feel about it, you know the South Koreans care more about the people in North Korea than we do.
On top of that, you have Seoul's massive population so close to North Korea that a lot of South Korean lives are at risk if North Korea tries something stupid.
I'm sure the prevailing factor that prevents South Korea from dealing with North Korea is the economy. However, if South Korea's economy collapses in the Great Depression II, do you think they might be like, "Well, we'll have to deal with these phuckers at some point. They don't have nukes yet and our economy is already phucked. There's no time like right now to put some unemployed men to work and free the starving people in the North Korea Concentration Camp. Let's start the attack on our muthaphuckin' terms." |
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