Report: Shots Volleyed Between North and South Korea

[Elphaba]

Fran, South Korea is one of our allies and we already have military there. I do not want this to get ugly either!

Yeah.. got a friend in the Army that was just stationed there, in SKorea. If this escalates, I have a feeling that we (the U.S.) will be pulled in to help protect SK, almost by default. And honestly: I think a fight with the US is what they are really looking for, given how NK brain washes their citizens in believing that the US is pure evil and must be hated...

 

[fran]

North Korea and developing missles - frightening.
North Korea's leaders - frightening.

However, if Cuba, for example, decided to conduct military maneuvers with 70,000 men just 6 miles from the US coast, what do you think would happen? This is what S Korea did.

N Korea told them to stop. S Korea did not stop, so N Korea bombed the island.

Was there no other place for S Korea to conduct military maneuvers? And, this something the US should get involved with?

I totally didn't understand what you were saying this morning. Now I get it. So Korea was doing exorcises first. I thought S Korea shot in response.

Thanks for the info. I HOPE we just sit back and shut up! I don't think anything else will come of it. As long as everyone keeps their kool.

JMHO
fran



http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE6AM05P20101123
S.Korea says it test-fired in area before N.Korea firing

<<<<<<<<<<<<article at link>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[angela]

I have a bad feeling about this.

 

[Nova]

Presumeably, everyone knows there was never a peace treaty between these nations, only an armistice, which is an agreement to stop fighting.

Years ago the US had this idea that to solve a problem, just divide the land, hence E/W Germany, N/S Vietnam, and N/S Korea. It realy goes back to the Cold War, with the Soviets occupying the North, and the US occupying the South. This hasn't really worked. Makes you wonder what would have happened if the philosophy would have been to somehow keep Korea as one country. Vietnam is communist, but somehow we get along with them.

Then, too, the US was/is very interested in maintaining bases in S Korea. Today we have about 28,000 troops there.

Germany, Austria and Korea were divided into sectors at the end of WWII at, I believe, the insistence of Stalin.

Vietnam's history is different. It was split because Communist forces gained control of the north after the country won its independence from France. The U.S. may have been involved in the negotiations, but I don't believe it was an American idea. (I could be wrong.)

 

[Nova]

Yeah.. got a friend in the Army that was just stationed there, in SKorea. If this escalates, I have a feeling that we (the U.S.) will be pulled in to help protect SK, almost by default. And honestly: I think a fight with the US is what they are really looking for, given how NK brain washes their citizens in believing that the US is pure evil and must be hated...

I don't think we have any choice but to aid S. Korea. We've had a mutual defense pact with them since the last 1940s.

It's hard to imagine the North wanting to take on the U.S., but with our forces stretched so thin in the Middle East, maybe you are right and the North Koreans have decided the time is right.

 

[Steely Dan]

I don't think we have any choice but to aid S. Korea. We've had a mutual defense pact with them since the last 1940s.

It's hard to imagine the North wanting to take on the U.S., but with our forces stretched so thin in the Middle East, maybe you are right and the North Koreans have decided the time is right.

David Letterman used to joke that Kim Jong Il had a brother named Menta Lee Il.

IMO, the only part of that joke that isn't true is the guy with that name doesn't exist but otherwise it's spot on.

Some of these guys (i.e. Hitler) believe they are unbeatable and will do things that are extremely stupid with the confidence they will prevail anyway.

As I mentioned before I am extremely anti-war and only see it as a final option but it's time for the world to get together and go in and clean house and turn control of North Korea over to the south.

They're actively pursuing nuclear capability, the leadership is mentally unstable and the people are being oppressed. It would have to be done with wide world support but IMO, it has to be done soon.

Here's a sixty minutes transcript about a U.S. soldier who defected to N. Korea and what his life was like.

(CBS) This segment was originally broadcast on Oct. 23, 2005.

In 1965, Charles "Robert" Jenkins, an American soldier, did something impossible to understand. He deserted to North Korea and got stuck there.

For 39 years, six months and four days, he was trapped in a bizarre Stalinist state — hungry, suffering, told by the government how to live, what to read, and even when to have sex. Never before has an American lived among the secretive North Koreans so long and escaped to tell the tale.

Correspondent Scott Pelley reports....

 

[Trino]

Germany, Austria and Korea were divided into sectors at the end of WWII at, I believe, the insistence of Stalin.

Vietnam's history is different. It was split because Communist forces gained control of the north after the country won its independence from France. The U.S. may have been involved in the negotiations, but I don't believe it was an American idea. (I could be wrong.)

The Potsdam Agreement between the Allies divided Germany into four sectors, administered by the US, France, Britain, and the USSR. France and Britain eventually left, but because the US/USSR capitalist/communist rift, both countries hung on to their sectors, dividing Germany into two parts. I believe you're correct re: Stalin because the Soviets wanted to extract as much "economic recovery" for themselves as they could, plus extend Soviet influence.

The US was unofficially involved in Vietnam prior to the Vietnam War, although the US refused to sign the Geneva Accords, meaning we certainly were unofficially involved. In September 1950, the United States Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), Vietnam, was established in Saigon. Its mission was to supervise the issuance and employment of $10 million of military equipment to support French legionnaires in their effort to combat Viet Minh forces. Again, the US involvement was a communist factor.

Korea was united until 1948, then divided by the UN. After the Korean War, the 38th parallel was suggested by Dean Rusk and Charles bonesteel, using a map to divide the country. This, too, was a communist reason - China and the Soviet Union.

Austria was divided in the same way Germany was divided but re-united because of the more liberal policies of Khrushchev - something which seems a bit lost to history.

 

[essies]

U.S. Carrier Heads For War Games In Korean Waters
snipped-
The U.S. and South Korea prepared to hold joint war games this weekend following North Korea's shelling of a South-held island near their disputed border that ratcheted tensions on the peninsula to new highs.

The aircraft carrier George Washington was headed to Korean waters to join U.S. and South Korean vessels for previously scheduled military exercises to begin Sunday. The carrier left Japan and streamed toward the Yellow Sea, between the Korean peninsula and the Chinese coast.


The attack &#8212; just days after North Korea unveiled a stunning new uranium plant &#8212; had specific political and strategic aims: mainly securing talks with the U.S, said Kim Tae-joon of the National Defence University's department of military strategy in Seoul.

"After unveiling uranium facilities, South Korea and the U.S. maintained their hardline position, rather than paying attention to the change in circumstances," Kim said. "Relations are deadlocked, so by creating tension it's demanding attention and it wants to get an upper hand in negotiations. It's a kind of brinkmanship."
more at link-
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/23/131556642/u-s-carrier-heads-for-wargames-in-korean-waters
[video=youtube;o0cZI9rLSS4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0cZI9rLSS4[/video]
War games, military excercises, brinksmanship, uranium facilities-My gosh everyone needs to pray level heads prevail!!:twocents:

 

[nomoresorrow]

Is it just me or is does the timing of this seem a little coincidental considering President Obama's recent trip to Asia/G20 summit? Although Obama was unsuccessful in getting China to change its currency policies which artificially build up the dollar and hold down the Chinese currency (reason why it's so much cheaper to manufacture in China) and, despite trying, he wasn't able to get the needed support from the other G20 leaders to speak up/out against China manipulating their currency. Regardless, the issue is getting alot of media attention and I'm sure alot of pressure is being applied behind the scenes about this - which I'm guessing China isn't very happy about. I mean they're not going to come right out and make an unprovoked attack on us so what better way to draw us into a fight...hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[Trino]

The headline news has been Obama's 12 stitches, yet we're nearing a war with N Korea. Priorities please, Media...

Seems China is concerned, is proposing talks.

 

[Herding Cats]

Apparently, NK has put some missiles on pads...

http://www.zeenews.com/news670858.html

"North Korea has placed surface-to-surface missiles on launch pads in the Yellow Sea, Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday, as the United States and South Korea began military exercises."

And...

"Yonhap also said North Korea had moved surface-to-air missiles to frontline areas, days after it shelled a tiny South Korean island killing four people. The North's official KCNA news agency warned of retaliatory action if its territory is violated."

I've heard a bit about this in the MSM, but most of my info has come from message boards, who know of some interesting links. It appears that NK is set and ready to take down anything flying into "their" airspace...

6 party talks are set for early December, as well...China is calling for them. Problem is, a lot can happen between now and the talks, and there could be an all-out shooting war pretty quick.

In the past, I've been quick to dismiss Kim Jong-Il, as I've seen this pattern of agitate/negotiate/relax; this happens with dispairing frequency, but there is usually a long time between the agitation phase. Now, however, with the sinking of the SK ship in March, and the shelling of the island last week...well, the agitation phase has occurred twice without the negotiation/relax phase...and this is not good.

Further, add into this that the mood itself in SK has changed. The defense minister offered to resign last March, with the sinking of the ship. His offer was declined - then. But this time, his offer was accepted. That says a lot to me...things've changed, and it will be "interesting" to see how the change takes shape.

I will be watching this carefully...it could turn into a bad, bad mess very quickly.

Best-
Herding Cats

 

[sherbetjello]

I can't help but want to connect the "mystery missile/plane trails" outside of Los Angeles to the G20 summit, tied in with NK, tied in with "war by proxy" (China) - but, I hope I am wrong and my Alex Jones side is trying to break loose.

*swallows socks*


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8164060/US-says-joint-South-Korea-war-games-not-directed-at-China.html

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-res&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsankei.jp.msn.com%2Fworld%2Fkorea%2F101128%2Fkor1011282325017-n1.htm&lp=ja_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704008704575638420698918004.html?mod=wsj_share_twitter

 

[Herding Cats]

Sherbertjello, I, too have had that thought (on more than 1 occasion...). I am of the firm opinion that I do not channel Alex Jones and am not paranoid, although others may say differently. But I do see the time proximitry and wonder...

Best-
Herding Cats