Korean Job Discussion Forums

[big_fella1]

[coralreefer_1]

Actually I have been researching the idea that as the GDP of a nation increases, it will eventually be running trade deficits as manufacturing jobs are exported to countries that can provide that cheap labor that the nation cannot enjoy anymore as a result of increasing wealth and education of its own citizens. Even if a country is producing its own products in other countries, it is still recorded in the balance of payments as imports when those products come home.

However, can you imagine the protests that would literally tear the south apart if a reunification did in fact happen and S. Korean companies began taking advantage of the cheap labor abundant in the North by either bringing those workers into the country of work permits, or moving production activities into the North?

It would make the beef protests look like a humble university campus sit-in.

[nautilus]

...so back to the topic in hand.

The enemy has torpedoed and sunk a south korean warship and will not face any repercussions.

Is this a first in world history? Most countries would be at war already...

[Manner of Speaking]

It's not enough. At least not yet.

An "external explosion" destroyed the ship. On the one hand, it could have been:

1. a torpedo fired from a NK submarine
2. a NK mine
3. an old SK mine left over from the Korean War (although the latter seems
increasingly unlikely)

But how do you prove it was 1 or 2? I think the forensic experts may eventually be able to prove it was 1 or 2, but it may take months or even years to do so.

North Korea has been much more nonchalant about the whole incident than I expected. Assuming an errant sub captain did decide to take on the destroyer, against official orders, you'd see more of a paranoid response from the DPRK. But they've been much more laid back about the whole issue than I expected. That could mean one of two things:

1. they didn't do it.
2. they did do it and it was a deliberate decision that came from the very top.

Let's assume the worst: a NK sub did sink the destroyer, but there is no way for South Korea to prove it. And NK got away with conducting a test of their latest torpedo with no consequences. In which case, the best and most obvious response would be for South Korea to ramp up its ASW capabilities, INTENSELY, and ensure that a similar sneak attack will never again be successful. And if they do detect a NK sub in SK waters, depth-charge the living daylights out of it to make sure a similar attack doesn't happen again.
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[Manner of Speaking]

This whole thing is starting to remind me of an episode of Star Trek: TOS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_Terror

[nautilus]

[tiger fancini]

[nautilus]

[mises]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63L08W20100422

[Steelrails]

If it was deliberate, why are we choosing to believe that the North is doing to provoke the South and are not the ones trying not to look weak?

The North is more scared of the South than the South is of them. I've said it before on multiple threads, if you look at things and how the two sides stack up you realize that the North should be terrified of the South, not the other way around.

Now thinking more about it, I'm almost willing to bet that this was arranged. Probably to either ensure stability OR to strengthen a sympathetic North Korean faction by making them 'look strong'. South Koreans offer up an outdated corvette and 46 sailors in return for strengthening those sympathetic to them in the North.

Probably the military is the beneficiary of this and out of all the factions in North Korea, I think the military is probably one of the more moderate and sympathetic ones.

[Steelrails]

Stick close to your desks and never go to sea and you all may be rulers of the Korean Navy.

[TL]

Even though it has been confirmed that a torpedo sank the ship, I don't see SK doing anything as long as China and the US remain uninterested in going to war with each other.

[blackjack]

[TL]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/18/AR2010051803094.html?hpid=topnews

[TheUrbanMyth]