Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Here is the specific ultimatum from yesterday, note they are finally writing in a "off ramp" in paragraph 3

[QUOTE]KPA Supreme Command Sends Ultimatum to S. Korean Puppet Forces



The supreme command of the Korean People's Army issued the following ultimatum to the south Korean puppet forces on April 16:

The world is in a festive mood on the auspicious Day of the Sun.

Even though an acute situation is prevailing in the DPRK, all the people are celebrating the Day of the Sun as the greatest national holiday.

It is only the south Korean puppet forces who hurled a group of anti-communist gangsters into a rally against the DPRK in the heart of Seoul in broad daylight at which they set fire to the portraits, the symbols of its supreme dignity, the thrice-cursed crime.

All the service personnel and people of the DPRK are simmering with towering resentment at this monstrous criminal act.

In view of this situation the Supreme Command of the KPA sends the following ultimatum to the south Korean puppet forces:

1. Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now as such thrice-cursed criminal act of hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK is being openly committed in the heart of Seoul under the patronage of the puppet authorities.

To be included in the targets of retaliation are those directly or indirectly involved in the operation to hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and those who instigated the perpetrators and connived their crime and the relevant organs and departments of the authorities involved.

2. The DPRK's revolutionary armed forces will start immediately their just military actions to show how the service personnel and people of the DPRK value and protect the dignity of the supreme leadership.

The military demonstration of the DPRK's revolutionary armed forces will be powerful sledge-hammer blows at all hostile forces hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK.

3. If the puppet authorities truly want dialogue and negotiations, they should apologize for all anti-DPRK hostile acts, big and small, and show the compatriots their will to stop all these acts in practice.

Rodong Sinmun[/QUOTE]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

I do feel like 5 o'clock Charlie:

[QUOTE=Rodong Sinmun(NK newspaper)]Don't Misjudge Our Will



Now the south Korean puppets say, "the North will not start an all-out war", "It is a brinkmanship for more negotiations" and "people of the North now live in peace as usual" while branding our toughest measures as "high-pitched psychological warfare" and "propaganda".

By final decisive battle we mean a practical military action to defend the nation's sovereignty and supreme dignity. What we said is not for bluff nor just for show of power.

We cannot sit idly by when a robber comes at us with a dagger. We will show the robber no mercy, let alone anyone infringing upon our sovereignty and debasing our supreme dignity, dearer than our own lives.

Our enemies misjudge us and the reality we live in. They say we live in peace as usual and we would dare not do as we said. It is their wishful thinking. Life is for us a do-or-die battle. We live, work and fight, rifle in one hand and hammer or sickle in the other, always ready to crush our enemies. We keep all our machines rumbling to the last moment of war breaking out in this land.

Our revolutionary army is in full combat readiness, awaiting an order.

Once ordered, our Army men and the people will all come out in an all-out action against the U.S. and fight through to victory to open up a broad avenue to lasting peace and national prosperity.

Pok Un Hui[/QUOTE]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

The sad thing is, if it weren't for Kim Jong Un, his millitary would take control and actually start a real war, instead of just making annoying idle threats.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Before the 5 o'clock Charlie report, just want to say a flash point may be coming at Kaesong. NK has refused to allow resupplies of food and toiletries to the approximately 200 SKorean workers still in the plants, and [URL="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/04/18/2013041800774.html"]SK media and some politicians are talking about rescue operations[/URL]. The shutdown is now at the end of the 2nd week, when the only other shutdown lasted 3 days.

Other reports from SKorean media have said that Chinese investors in NK are not able to recover their money and some are even being deported. What this says to me is an isolated country is NK is effectively isolating itself into an us against the world mentality, which is part of the basis for their juche and songun mentality.

And now, without further ado, today's 5 o'clock Charlie report:

[quote]DPRK NDC Policy Department Issues Statement

The Policy Department of the National Defence Commission (NDC) of the DPRK released the following statement on April 18:

An acute situation that has persisted on the Korean Peninsula since the end of last year is now putting the peninsula on the verge of war.

Much upset by the development, U.S. President Obama on April 11 reportedly stated in public of his intention to seek a negotiated and diplomatic settlement of the situation, saying that he does not want a war on the Korean Peninsula.

The chief of Chongwadae of south Korea, who is accustomed to currying favor with her master, let the "minister of Unification" make public a "statement". She even loudly spoke of "the authorities' proposal for dialogue to tide over the situation", a U-turn from her previous attitude of stoking confrontation. She used to say that there can be neither dialogue nor dispatch of a special envoy at present.

The rhetoric about dialogue raised by the master and the stooge almost at the same time is a political decision made by them out of their calculation that they can never bring the DPRK into submission with military threats and "sanctions".

It will be very much gratifying if they took a proper political decision to bring under control the grave situation prevailing on the Korean Peninsula with true interest in dialogue and negotiations.

But matter is that the U.S. and the south Korean puppet regime cried out for starting dialogue in an appropriate environment, in an appropriate time and under appropriate condition despite their loud claim that the U.S. and south Korea made a U-turn toward dialogue and negotiations. The preconditions for dialogue raised by them include a stop to "provocative" remarks which the DPRK has so far been engaged in and demonstration of its intention to realize denuclearization and suspend missile launch. These are absurd ones.

The U.S. and south Korea are opt-repeating "provocation" and "threats" from the DPRK, describing them as a stumbling block in the way of dialogue hoped for by them, while making the story of "north-south dialogue first and north Korea-U.S. dialogue next" an established fact as if the north had agreed to it.

In this regard, the Policy Department of the National Defence Commission (NDC) of the DPRK brings to light the nature of the prevailing situation and clarifies once again the principled stand of the DPRK.

There is a Korean saying which goes "Thief calls stop thief".

The U.S. and all kinds of hostile forces following it are the very ones who pushed the situation on the Korean Peninsula to such a grave phase as now.

But the masterminds of the tense situation are portraying the DPRK as "provoker", while describing them as victims. It appears that they are not afraid of divine punishment.

The "provocation" charge brought against the DPRK by the U.S. has become undisguised since they called the DPRK's legitimate and peaceful satellite launch as a "missile launch".

The DPRK's working satellite Kwangmyongsong 3-2 was confirmed to be going around its orbit by the North American Aero-space Defense Command. Russia and several other countries also admitted this and shortly ago a scientific and research institute of south Korea photographed the DPRK's satellite and made it public. But with their eyes shut to this stark fact, the U.S. and the south Korean puppet regime are stepping up provocations against the DPRK.

No wonder, the world public has now become increasingly vocal, condemning the U.S. and its allies' vicious provocation of getting the UN Security Council pass the "resolution on sanctions" and calling the satellite launch a "missile launch" as a "deception that disgraced justice and conscience" and an "act of blind men unable to discern skirt from trousers".

The UNSC's "resolution on sanctions" following the DPRK's legitimate satellite launch was a prelude to an open provocation by the U.S. and the south Korean puppet regime to inveigle all the forces following it to the worldwide campaign for isolating and stifling the DPRK. The nuclear war exercises being staged against the DPRK for nearly two months is a vicious, all-out military provocation.

The U.S. even brought to south Korea and to waters off it super-large nuclear-powered carrier task force equipped with nuclear warheads, B-52, B-2 and other nuclear strategic bombers, nuclear-powered submarines capable of launching cruise guided shells and guided shell destroyers and even F-22 Stealth fighter formation to be used for making maiden strikes at the targets of the DPRK's army in the early days of war. They have stepped up the military provocation in an all-round way which now has reached the most dangerous phase of nuclear blackmail.

The DPRK has never termed the U.S. satellite launches missile launches and attempted to urge the UN to adopt resolutions on sanctions under that pretext. It has never threatened and blackmailed the U.S. by deploying its elite armed forces in waters off the U.S.

If the U.S. and south Korean puppet forces are not wolves in human form, they should properly understand the word provocation and feel ashamed of their brigandish behaviors.

It is another provocation against the DPRK that the U.S. urged the former to show the "will for denuclearization" as a precondition for dialogue.

Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula remains the unshakable will of the army and people of the DPRK.

The joint declaration on denuclearization adopted by the north and the south early in the 1990s was a gain common to the nation as it was initiated by the DPRK with such will.

The U.S., however, introduced nuclear weapons into south Korea and its vicinity in league with puppet forces and began to escalate threat and blackmail against the DPRK, bringing this precious gain to naught.

In order to cope with the U.S. escalating hostile policy and nuclear blackmail against the DPRK, it was compelled to have access to just nuclear force for self-defence.

Accordingly, nothing is more foolish and brigandish than pressurizing the DPRK to show its "will for denuclearization" first.

The nuclear force of the DPRK will always remain in the hands of its army and people as the most powerful means to protect the sovereignty of the country and its supreme interests and deal a retaliatory blow at the strongholds of aggression against it till the world including the U.S. is denuclearized.

Not content with terming the DPRK's toughest countermeasures "provocations", the U.S. and south Korean puppet regime went the lengths of ceaselessly hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and its social system.

The army and people of the DPRK are demonstrating their just will to stand up against the enemies' moves to isolate and stifle it and nuclear war moves against it. They are, however, describing this will as one for "consolidating the heir's system", "enhancing image" and "rallying unstable ranks". This is the thrice-cursed politically-motivated provocation.

This is nothing but rigmarole let loose by the imbeciles who know nothing about the DPRK.

The bad-tempered U.S. and south Korean puppet regime can never imagine the tears of emotion shed by artillery women when the Supreme Commander took them to his arms and the warm feelings of service personnel and people shouting "hurrah" after jumping into cold sea waters.

As long as they persist in all sorts of provocations against the DPRK, its army and the people will steadily escalate the tough political and military counteractions as the days go by.

The U.S. and the south Korean puppet regime should make a bold decision to take the following practical measures if they want to shirk off the historical responsibility for the prevailing grave situation on the Korean Peninsula, escape sledge-hammer retaliatory blows of the army and people of the DPRK and if they truly stand for dialogue and negotiations:

First, they should immediately stop all their provocative acts against the DPRK and apologize for all of them.

As the first phase, they should take the measure of retracting the UNSC's "resolutions on sanctions" cooked up under absurd pretexts.

They should bear in mind that doing so would be a token of good will towards the DPRK.

The south Korean puppet forces should promptly halt all their anti-DPRK rackets, not linking their own mishaps such as Cheonan warship sinking incident and the "March 20 hacking case" to the north.

Second, they should give formal assurances before the world that they would not stage again such nuclear war drills to threaten or blackmail the DPRK.

Dialogue can never go with war actions.

Frequent nuclear war maneuvers will only strain the situation and totally block the way of dialogue.

The army and people of the DPRK will not be taken in by sophism that the nuclear war drills being staged under its very nose are annual and defensive military actions for defending the U.S. and guaranteeing the security of south Korea.

Third, they should make a decision to withdraw all nuclear war means from south Korea and its vicinity and give up their attempt to reintroduce them as their immediate duty.

They should bear in mind that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula can begin with the pullout of the nuclear war means introduced by the U.S. and this may lead to the global denuclearization.

The chief of Chongwadae should not forget that the prospect of south Korea may be rosy when the north's nukes are considered as a property common to the nation but south Korea is bound to go to ruin when it remains under the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

The situation on the peninsula is directly linked with peace and security in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world.

The army and people of the DPRK together with the world peace-loving people who sympathize with justice and value conscience will closely follow the future behavior of the U.S. and its followers.

Rodong Sinmun[/quote]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Honest I have no clue what the article title even means:

5o'clock charlie says:

[QUOTE]Believe in God Rather than Curios



South Korean war maniacs seem utterly ignorant of the present situation, as tense as on the eve of the Korean War in the 1950s, as some experts commented.

They are too foolish to estimate their own military capacity and to know their miserable lot as a war servant of the US.

A fatal defect was detected in the US air-to-ground cruise missiles (Slam-ER) loaded aboard south Korean fighters, reported a south Korean paper recently. The Slam-ER has been so much vaunted by the puppets as one of their basic means of accurate strikes at the "bases of challenge and their supporting and commanding forces."

Meanwhile, the US, afraid of their cruise missiles being imitated for local production, didn't deliver any technical data to the buyer, and took care that the cruise missile should never be dissembled.

The US Defense Department provided cruise missiles at 800 million south Korean Won per unit to the US Army, but the per unit price jumped up to 2000 million Won when they were sold to south Korea. Washington just despised south Korea. Despite all this, the puppets boast of their "alliance sealed in blood with the US".

How long will it take south Korea to correct the defect in the missile engine even with the help of the US? This nobody knows.

South Korea bought US cruise missiles, only a few scores in number, because of the exorbitant price, but those few scores have all come into disuse now.

According to south Korean press, 20 percent of all missiles in possession of the puppet troops are soon out of use. In 2011 the south Korean puppet army bought many thousand anti-tank missiles from abroad, and the last two years of test firing proved some 60 percent of them turned out to be snaps or certain jams.

How ridiculous that the puppets boast so much of their foreign made missiles, all out of date or out of use now, with which to "give blows to our command through its windows".

If they think that the US nuclear umbrella will protect them from the shower of our nuclear storm, it will be a foolish dream. Upset by our toughest counter-measures, the US is busy with the defense of its mainland; it is too busy to take care of its local servants.

Sim Chol Yong
Copyright @ 2010-2013 by The Rodong Sinmun. All rights reserved.
[/QUOTE]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Pyongyang at night:
[IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/3963728437_d919df2a80.jpg[/IMG]

Seoul at night:
[IMG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8459/8008844316_9dafa36237_z.jpg[/IMG]

And you wonder why the South Koreans are realizing which each passing day why reunification MIGHT be a bad idea. Anyway it's my understanding that North Koreas newest tanks were built in the 1950's and used in the Korean War. Compare that to Iraq who got steam rolled with using equipment from the 70's. The only reason China is "protecting" North Korea is they don't want to deal with the potential of 24 million refugees fleeing to China in what would probably be one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern times.

It's also my understanding that North Korea doesn't have a nuclear missile, nor are they close but they do have dirty bombs using the refuse from their nuclear plant. Keep in mind this is a government famous for hyperbole.

[url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/from-fashion-icon-to-golf-pro-mind-boggling-facts-about-kim-jong-il/story-e6frf7lf-1226226100974]Cookies must be enabled | Herald Sun[/url]
[quote]In 1994, Pyongyang media reported that Kim Jong-il shot an amazing 11 holes-in-one to achieve an unprecedented 38-under-par game on a regulation 18-hole golf course - on his first try at golf.

Reports say each of his 17 bodyguards verified the record-breaking feat.
[/quote]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

[QUOTE]S. Korean Puppet Regime Accused of
Hurting Dignity of Supreme Leadership of the DPRK



The North Side Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration issued a statement on April 20 slamming the south Korean puppet regime for misleading public opinion after hurling gangsters into such thrice-cursed act as daring hurt again the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK.

The regime brought together such human scum as elders more dead than alive and reckless villains for an anti-DPRK meeting in downtown Seoul in broad daylight to hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK.

The statement went on:

This shuddering hideous provocation staged at a time when the situation is inching close to the brink of a war has driven the inter-Korean relations into an unpredictable dangerous phase.

What matters is that the south Korean puppet regime is playing a petty trick to mislead the public opinion in a foolish attempt to evade the responsibility for the prevailing grave situation.

Even a mere child knows the fact that the contents of small literature used not only at a meeting held by a few people but at a rally taking place in south Korea under the reign of fascism and dictatorship should get a prior strict permission by the puppet authorities.

The recent serious provocation was not an accidental racket kicked up by a few hooligans but part of the premeditated anti-DPRK confrontation campaign staged under the scenario carefully worked out by the authorities including the puppet military gangsters.

All facts go to clearly prove that the puppet authorities were the arch criminal who orchestrated the provocation.

The North Side Committee for Implementing the June 15 Joint Declaration vehemently denounces in the name of all Koreans the group of traitors for its thrice-cursed confrontation racket, branding it as a deliberate and premeditated provocation to incite extreme enmity toward compatriots and push the situation to the brink of a war.

It is the final conclusion made by all the compatriots desirous of peace and reunification that no talking to the confrontation and war maniacs would help solve anything and the only solution is to make a clean sweep of them.

The puppet group will come to bitterly experience what disastrous consequences will be entailed by its foolish act of beating the air.

Rodong Sinmun[/QUOTE]

Dr. Wong from Law and Order SVU would have serious concerns about the stability of these writers.

As for the tanks and nukes, neither are the worrisome part about Korea. They could, in minutes, launch enough scuds to wipe out SK, and while I am sure we would win in the end, the damage they could inflict would be immense. If it came to a land war, it would be much more like Afghanistan, soldiers in mountainous terrain with helicopter support taking out position by position, than Iraq, with tank columns pushing forward.

As it stands now, they have moved more [URL="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/21/us-korea-north-idUSBRE93K01Z20130421"]short range missile launchers[/URL], along with the midrange ones, and are playing hide and seek with US satellite coverage, and hopefully they will launch a test flight to the middle of the pacific (possibly with a nuclear warhead), declare victory and go back to their village.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

[quote=CRedskinsRule;1004839]Dr. Wong from Law and Order SVU would have serious concerns about the stability of these writers.

As for the tanks and nukes, neither are the worrisome part about Korea. They could, in minutes, launch enough scuds to wipe out SK, and while I am sure we would win in the end, the damage they could inflict would be immense. If it came to a land war, it would be much more like Afghanistan, soldiers in mountainous terrain with helicopter support taking out position by position, than Iraq, with tank columns pushing forward.

As it stands now, they have moved more [URL="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/21/us-korea-north-idUSBRE93K01Z20130421"]short range missile launchers[/URL], along with the midrange ones, and are playing hide and seek with US satellite coverage, and hopefully they will launch a test flight to the middle of the pacific (possibly with a nuclear warhead), declare victory and go back to their village.[/quote]

They can't wipe out South Korea. What they can do according to experts is launch an assault at the boarder and kill as many as 100,000 South Koreans before getting wiped off the map by the US and South Korean military. Little food and fuel combined with equipment that was old during the cold war gives them little chance to win.

Also consider the 1 million strong NK army could have a large amount of deserters who would view war as a chance to finally escape the country. Many people join the military in North Korea because its one of the few means of being employed and not starving to death. Not because they're dedicated to defending North Korea.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

I'd be of the opinion that they can do a helluva lot more damage than most say.
People talk about how we could kill them and push them back.
We would need to mobilize a lot of aircraft, carrier battle groups, and most of our Marines and a metric feckload of supplies half way around the world.
That will take some time.
I think Seoul will be overrun by then.
I'm sure we could liberate Seoul but the city would be trashed by then.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

[quote=Alvin Walton;1004842]I'd be of the opinion that they can do a helluva lot more damage than most say.
People talk about how we could kill them and push them back.
We would need to mobilize a lot of aircraft, carrier battle groups, and most of our Marines and a metric feckload of supplies half way around the world.
That will take some time.
I think Seoul will be overrun by then.
I'm sure we could liberate Seoul but the city would be trashed by then.[/quote]

Seoul is uncomfortably close to the border. If NK troops some how snuck over the border (to where they couldnt just be taken out by an air strike), there is little that could be done to stop them without bringing in land forces.

However, id propose that, if NK invade and took Seoul, all you'd have to do to stop them is bomb the crap out of NK's military bases and supply centers. Cut off from central command and without food/ammo, they'd surrender pretty quickly.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

It really depends a lot on how serious the NK's first surge would be. IF the military got the ok, their goal would have to be capturing the SK supply depots. It is only 200 miles from Seoul to Busan (south end of SK).

We would win because we have a lot more overall resources, but it would be painful.

And ultimately, it just depends on how stable K-Un and his advisors are, I worry about him, because, although he did grow up with some western training, most of his life has been indoctrination to his grandfather and father's beliefs. And when the NK press continues talking about being thrice cursed for disrespecting the grandfather and father, it just sounds like a bad episode of SVU where the criminal goes off the deep end.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

The good thing is that China would be highly unlikely to take up for the NK's like they did in the Korean War. They have a heavy trading dependency with SK now, and I am sure they want to keep the status quo. Let's hope they are getting that through to NK.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

[quote=CRedskinsRule;1004877]It really depends a lot on how serious the NK's first surge would be. IF the military got the ok, their goal would have to be capturing the SK supply depots. It is only 200 miles from Seoul to Busan (south end of SK).

We would win because we have a lot more overall resources, but it would be painful.

And ultimately, it just depends on how stable K-Un and his advisors are, I worry about him, because, although he did grow up with some western training, most of his life has been indoctrination to his grandfather and father's beliefs. And when the NK press continues talking about being thrice cursed for disrespecting the grandfather and father, it just sounds like a bad episode of SVU where the criminal goes off the deep end.[/quote]

You been watching alot of SVU lately, too?

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

I honestly believe the "plan" is to hurry up and wait for North Korea to collapse from the inside so the process of re-unification can begin without a bloody war, which technically we would easily win but not without a good amount of property damage and casualties to South Korea civilians, which as I mentioned before could easily be over 100,000 during an initial assault.

Obvious problems with reunification among others are that North Korea is decades behind in terms of technology and education. You also have a large portion of people who genuinely believe that the Kim dynasty are God like figures and have been indoctrinated beyond repair. You also could easily have a power vacuum where someone just as bad as the Kim's could take over and keep the status quo. In short, its a mess.

Usually I consider myself an isolationist. I look at countries like Israel and find myself frustrated with all the trouble we have to go through with keeping them safe in a part of the world that will likely never find peace. However then I look at South Korea and I can't help but hope that if an invasion from the North ever took place our military would give them nothing less then our full support.

I don't know, I guess that I feel like that part of the world has a lot to offer and if we're going to serve as the world police we might as well pay special attention to protecting countries like South Korea.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

I dont see a runification happening.
Its been over 50 years.
They are totally different countries.
I doubt the south would want it, they would have to pay a lot to feed and prop up the north.
On the other hand if it came to blows...we win....Kim is gone.....we may inherit another Iraq style country full of Kim-heads. We may as well let China annex the north. Let them deal with it.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

[quote=Alvin Walton;1005110]I dont see a runification happening.
Its been over 50 years.
They are totally different countries.
I doubt the south would want it, they would have to pay a lot to feed and prop up the north.
On the other hand if it came to blows...we win....Kim is gone.....we may inherit another Iraq style country full of Kim-heads. We may as well let China annex the north. Let them deal with it.[/quote]

China doesn't want them. One thing I wonder, is how strong the re-unification feeling is in SK. When E/W Germany re-united, there was a lot of support at first from West Germans. But when they started having to incorporate the failed economy and infrastructure they were very quickly frustrated. So i wonder if SK would have that same "Yay" moment, or if they view themselves as two separate entities. I don't know, but I don't get the feeling that they really want to be re-unified.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Just so you know why SK will lose :cheeky-sm

[QUOTE]Army Devoid of Right of Operational Command (1)



Operational command is essential to an army. The right is as good as its life and soul.

But, the south Korean puppet army was deprived of the right of operational command by its foreign master and serves as cannon fodder and bullet-shield for it.



Right of Operational Command Lost to U.S.

On June 25, 1950 the U.S. and the Syngman Rhee puppet clique of south Korea launched an all-out surprise armed attack on the DPRK.

The invaders were so foolish as to brag that they would take breakfast in Haeju, lunch in Pyongyang and supper in Sinuiju. But, the result turned out contrary.

The Korean People's Army immediately went over to counterattack, liberating Seoul in three days and advancing on southward.

Much upset, on July 7th, 1950 the U.S. prodded the UNSC to pass a resolution on dispatching armed forces of UN member states to the Korean war and attaching them to the U.S.-led combined command.

According to the resolution, the U.S. hurried to conclude an agreement on putting the right of operational command of the south Korean puppet army under its control.

On July 14th, 1950 MacArthur, the then commander of the U.S. Far East Command, had talks with traitor Syngman Rhee in Taejon.

At the talks, traitor Rhee signed an agreement to hand the right of operational command of the south Korean puppet army over to the U.S.-led combined command.

The conclusion of the "Taejon Agreement" enabled the U.S. to use the south Korean puppet army as its war servant at will.

As a result, the south Korean puppet army was reduced to a jackstraw army that cannot use even a single shell without the U.S. approval and a bullet-shield army that must go into the jaws of death if the U.S. army orders.

Of course, even when the south Korean puppet army had the right of operational command, its position had been little different.

U.S. military advisers attached to corps, divisions and regiments of the puppet army controlled the puppet army with absolute authority.

The conclusion of the "Taejon Agreement" transferred the seeming right of operational command of the puppet army openly to the hands of the U.S.

So Nam Il[/QUOTE]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

interesting article

[url=http://news.yahoo.com/us-military-chief-beijing-warns-north-korea-miscalculation-192123559.html]US military chief in Beijing warns of North Korea 'miscalculation'[/url]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

[quote=CRedskinsRule;1005120]China doesn't want them. One thing I wonder, is how strong the re-unification feeling is in SK. When E/W Germany re-united, there was a lot of support at first from West Germans. But when they started having to incorporate the failed economy and infrastructure they were very quickly frustrated. So i wonder if SK would have that same "Yay" moment, or if they view themselves as two separate entities. I don't know, but I don't get the feeling that they really want to be re-unified.[/quote]

The more people that pass away from the Korean War generation the less the desire for reunification. A big part of the desire for reunification has been bringing families back together. Among the younger generations these family ties are detached, consisting of relatives they never knew (aunts/uncles and cousins if that). In the 80's and 90's you had brothers and sisters, even parents reuniting with Children. Now the only people left with such close ties would be among defectors who have family back in North Korea.

Of course as mentioned previously theres the fact that North Koreas economy is stuck in 1972 while South Korea has evolved with the rest of the modern world.

Ironically theres a reunification memorial called the Statue of Brothers in South Korea consisting of a North and South Korean embracing each other. In this memorial the North Korean was purposely made shorter then his Southern counterpart as this is now a reality after years of famine and malnutrition in the North that has produced a stunted generation, emotionally, intelectually, and most of all physically.

[I][quote]South Koreans are typically taller and weigh more than North Koreans, with the average North Korean adult being as much as 5 inches (about 12.7 cm) shorter and about 14 to 27 pounds (about 6 to 12.5 kg) lighter than their South Korean counterparts. [/quote][/I]

BREAKING: South Korea warns of "grave measure" if North Korea rejects talks on shuttered inter-Korean factory park (via @AP)

Korean newspapers phrase it as serious measures. There are 180 SKs in Kaesong still and no supplies have been allowed to go from SK to NK for a while, although apparently they aren't being kept there as about 4-8 people leave every day.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

1) SK is pulling all its workers out of Kaesong. The North apparently is letting them leave. That's a good thing.

2) [URL="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/04/26/2013042600683.html"]China is increasing it's military presence along the NK border[/URL] to prevent floods of refugees if war breaks out. That's a bad thing, because if anyone at all knows NK's plans it is the Chinese, and if they are doing this because they don't know what NK is going to do, then that's bad too. Also, NK could easily mistake China's increased air sorties as a wink and a nod that China will come to their aid like they did in the last war.

3) NK has miracle doctors:
[quote]Seriously Burned Soldiers Completely Cured

Yun Kwang Jin and Kim Un Hyok, soldiers of the Korean People's Army, who had gotten serious burns on their bodies, were completely cured and left the Kangwon Provincial People's Hospital thanks to the sincere devotion of its medical staff and people of Wonsan City.

They were admitted to the hospital on February 20 after getting two or three degree burns on 15 percent of their bodies.

They threw themselves into the house in raising flames to safely retrieve the portraits of smiling great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and rescue its several family members.
...
[/quote]

4) Don't forget that their army is invincible
[quote] KPA Is Invincible Thanks to Kim Jong Un: Papers
Pyongyang, April 25 (KCNA) --
...

The KPA is an invincible army which has recorded ever-victorious feats in its sacred colors for a long period since it was founded under the outstanding military idea and Songun leadership of the peerlessly great persons of Mt. Paektu, Rodong Sinmun says, and goes on:

The KPA has covered the road of victory and glory under the leadership of the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Its tremendous power is being fully demonstrated under the leadership of the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un.

It is the army strong in ideology, faith and will that devotedly defends its leader, idea and social system and a revolutionary army equipped with ever-victorious strategy and tactics of Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un and great capabilities for fighting an actual war.

It, grown under the care of the Generalissimos and firmly armed with Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, has performed heroic feats in firmly defending the socialist system.

The DPRK remains unfazed as there is the powerful revolutionary Paektusan army with strong mental power.

The great war for national reunification to be waged by the KPA with Kim Jong Un's strategy and tactics will not be a three-day war but a blitz war to occupy the whole of south Korea and Jeju Island at one go before the U.S. and south Korean puppet warmongers even come to their senses, and three-dimensional war simultaneously fought in the sky, land and seas. The powerful firepower strike plan defined and ratified by Kim Jong Un, Juche-based military method and Korean-style original strategy and tactics by high-precision strike means have put the military might of the KPA on the highest level.

It is the revolutionary disposition and fighting tradition of the army and people of the DPRK to keep following the road chosen by themselves, with conviction of the validity of their cause and victory, no matter how desperately the imperialists try to invade it.

...
[/quote]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

As crazy as the NK's are, this part is basically true:

[QUOTE]Nuke, Most Powerful War Deterrent



It is nearly 70 years since the first nuclear weapon made its appearance.

The period witnessed the complicated and chaotic situation.

Cold war persisted long and wars, big and small, were incessant in different areas.

There were more than 100 wars in 50 years after WWII.

Most of them were wars of aggression ignited by the imperialists to infringe upon other countries' sovereignty.

But the highhanded imperialists didn't dare kick off war against nuclear weapons states. Nuclear powers, big or small, have not undergone a military aggression.

It shows that no aggressor can pounce upon nuclear weapons state.

An evidence of it is the nuclear confrontation between the former Soviet Union and the U.S. during the cold war.

Toward the end of WWII, the U.S. was possessed of nuke for the first time in the world.

In August 1948 the former Soviet Union succeeded in an A-bomb test, thereby bursting the nuclear monopoly of the U.S. that was desirous of global hegemony.

After that, both the Soviet Union and the U.S. boosted their nuclear forces strong enough to retaliate against each other with nukes.

Therefore, they could not be the first to use nukes. The same is the case with China, a strategic rival of the U.S.

China had made strenuous efforts to be a military power and economic giant suitable to its position as a power in population and territory.

Its success in A-bomb test in October 1964 made China a country that no one can defy.

Contrary is the case with the countries on the Balkan Peninsula and the Middle East that fell victims to the aggression of imperialists. In the past, they didn’t strengthen their own defense capabilities, depending on great powers or even scrapped their war deterrent under the appeasement and pressure of the U.S.

As a result, they failed to defend their national dignity and sovereignty, let alone happiness and prosperity.

The reality shows that one can defend oneself only by countering nukes with nukes.

The U.S. is not the only country that is possessed of nuke.

But, no one inflicted so terrible nuclear disasters upon humanity as the U.S. that brandished nukes the moment it possessed A-bomb.

Now that the U.S. threatens us with nukes, a diplomatic way or call cannot ensure national sovereignty and safety and the socialist system from the U.S. nukes.

Our nuclear weapon is an out-and-out self-defensive war deterrent.

Jon Yong Hui
Copyright @ 2010-2013 by The Rodong Sinmun. All rights reserved.
[/QUOTE]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

We know that they have moved LR missiles into launching areas a few weeks ago. Next we heard that they had moved short range missile batteries into place. And now this?

[QUOTE]NK may conduct large-scale drills
By Kang Seung-woo

North Korea is reportedly getting ready for a large-scale combined military exercise off the west coast amid tensions re-emerging on the Korean Peninsula due to the South’s pullout from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.

The North, which has kept the world on its toes over an expected missile launch, may carry out an exercise around Nampo, South Pyongan Province, involving its aircraft and field artillery units, Yonhap News reported Sunday.

[B]“The South’s intelligence detected a sign of the North’s preparations for combined live-fire drills and its scale is likely to be quite large,” a government source was quoted as saying.[/B]

Meanwhile, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said it does not have information regarding such an exercise.

The source also said there is a chance the North may opt to launch short-range projectiles as part of its show of force, but no timing for the drill was given.

The North has been expected to launch a mid-range Musudan missile or shorter Rodong or Scud rockets during key anniversaries in April after moving them to the east coast, because of its past cycle of military actions on those days, but there is no sign of any imminent launch.

“A large part of the North’s military is currently being used to help spring farming,” a military official said.

However, the South’s military has been put on alert against possible provocations after the complete withdrawal from the joint industrial zone.

[email]ksw@koreatimes.co.kr[/email][/QUOTE]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Why Kaesong closed:

[QUOTE]S. Korea Denounced for Making Public Decision to Do Away with KIZ



A spokesman for the General Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Special Zone gave an answer to a question put by KCNA on April 27 as the puppet south Korean regime made public a "decision" of withdrawing all the personnel of the south side remaining in the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ).

He said:

The south Korean conservatives held a meeting of ministers for diplomacy and security in Chongwadae with the presence of the chief executive. After the meeting they let the minister of Unification make public a "government statement".

The statement clarified the "decision" to withdraw all the south side's personnel remaining in the KIZ, citing "difficulty" and "protection of people" while shifting the blame for the KIZ situation on to the DPRK.

This is sheer sophism and hideous provocation of confrontation maniacs.

It is a well known fact that the puppet conservative group has persistently tried to do away with the KIZ, a product of the June 15 joint declaration.

Kim Kwan Jin, "minister of Defense", revealed a dangerous attempt to request the U.S. forces to hurl their commando into the KIZ for a military operation, crying out for "hostages" and "detention". Under such situation the DPRK blocked personnel of the south from entering the KIZ and made sure that those personnel who had already entered there went back according to their will.

After taking issue with this, the puppet group made a mockery of the DPRK, proposing dialogue without any sincere intention. In the long run, it, proposing working-level talks between the authorities, went the lengths of demanding the DPRK respond to the proposal till next morning and threatening to take "a crucial step" in case it refuses to accept the proposal.

There were many proposals for dialogue in the history of inter-Korean relations but there has never been such precedent that the present puppet group arrogantly proposed dialogue with threat of "crucial step" after setting a deadline and this is unprecedented in the history of world diplomacy either.

It is self-evident that such unheard-of strange farce is not to have dialogue with sincerity but to totally derail it.

When the DPRK took a resolute stand on the arrogant proposal for dialogue made by the puppet group, it lost no time to hold an emergency confab, as if it had been waiting for this, and went over to the next phase of bringing the KIZ to a collapse.

All facts go to clearly prove that the group's proposal for dialogue and decision to withdraw personnel are pursuant to the already worked out scenario to lead the KIZ to a collapse.

This is fully evidenced by the confession made by an official concerned of Chongwadae, when explaining the "crucial step," that it has worked out diverse scenarios against the north and is carrying them out after closely examining them.

The puppet group prattled that the step for withdrawing personnel was taken for the lack of food and materials in the KIZ but there is not lack of food and materials there in fact.

Nevertheless, the group perpetrated a provocation painting food and materials as humanitarian issues. This only indicates that it is running the whole gamut of intrigues to bring down the KIZ.

The KIZ at last ceased to operate due to the vicious moves of the group though it has been successful over the last nearly decade thanks to the compatriots' blessing and concern of the whole world. It may be completely closed any time.

The DPRK sets store by the KIZ, a product of the June 15 joint declaration, but it has no idea of continuing to confer a favor on those who abuse it, not feeling grateful to the DPRK.

The closure of the KIZ would only bring enormous losses and damage to the south side, not to the north.

On the contrary, it would create more favorable conditions for the great war for national reunification as it would be possible to reoccupy the vast area of the KIZ as a military theatre, level at Seoul at closer distance and pave a wide road for southward advance.

The DPRK does not care at all about the group's pullback of its personnel and the like.

It has never detained any of them in the KIZ but allowed them to go out of it.

It is ridiculous, indeed, for the group to try to browbeat the DPRK with such "crucial measure." One cannot but express concern over to what catastrophe the stupid and reckless confrontation maniacs will push the inter-Korean relations.

The present chief executive of south Korea, in particular, is now crying out for "the north's dismantlement of its nukes," "right option" and "change," bringing into bolder relief her confrontational intention towards the DPRK.

It is closely following whether or not the chief of Chongwadae intends to make the KIZ, the only undertaking for cooperation common to the nation, fall victim to the policy of confrontation, dancing to the tune of confrontation maniacs.

The responsibility for the total closure of the KIZ will entirely rest with the puppet group.

Rodong Sinmun[/QUOTE]

Interesting thought that Kaesong would be a very good staging area to launch a move into Seoul, given that it has a very wide paved and heavy load road straight through the DMZ. Earlier, someone had mentioned that the NK's wouldn't be so stupid as to be broadcasting their plans. I just wonder if they really are just that dumb though.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Love reading the 5:00 Charlie reports. So many puppets. It's like the Onion but for real.

Of course, as you pointed out earlier, the sobering fact is that, for most - if not all - North Koreans, this is the what is fed them as truth and they have no way to check it and probably have been so indoctrinated that they have no desire to do so. It is all truth to them.

I thought when the boy dictator took power that the NK situation could descend into a bad bad deal. Not quite the Balkans of the early 20th century but not all that far off either.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Not only is it the truth to the NK masses, but it is what the ruling elite [U]want[/U] the truth to be. The articles are Onion like on the face, but when an 8 million person army is reading consistently about the US military losing in Afghanistan, their medical personnel making miracle cures, and the invincibility of the NK Army, you see a disturbing message being planted.

I continue to hope this is all about getting the nations of the world to accept them as a nuclear state, and the rest is all just elite bluster, but there is the very real fact that they can't feed their population, and that the South has both more fertile land, and better infrastructure that could be occupied quickly by a blitzkrieg attack. No one believes the north would really do that, but with US troops rotating out after a long deployment and the North ramping up for large scale military maneuvers, it makes me watch curiously.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

coming home from Kaesong, packing for a little more than a day trip

[IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/67294000/jpg/_67294550_c4123c09-1e3c-462b-9ba2-56c6a020131a.jpg[/IMG]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Serious question. At what point do you just pull an Israeli moment and level their nuclear facilities/launch sites? In this next article, they claim that their rockets are nuclear tipped. We have said we cannot accept a nuclear NK. One of these two things obviously cannot stand with the other as both being true.

[QUOTE]Truth about Nuclear Crisis in Korea



The world first nuclear war may break out in the Korean Peninsula.

Missiles carrying nuke warheads are mounted on the launching pads, ready to fire any moment at the enemy bases. For the first time in human history two opponent parts both owning nukes are ready to go in for a war.

The world attention focuses on Korean Peninsula.

The focal point of argument on the international political arena is: when a nuclear war may break out, today or tomorrow; how to evaluate this critical situation; and who is guilty of this crisis and who is to be held responsible for it.

Now, experts are divided in their opinions on this serious issue.

Some ascribe the motive and the origin to our Republic. This assertion is something that cannot be overlooked.

Their explanation is this: Having gone against international order, we put up a tough resistance to the U.S. pressure, and this led to an extreme aggravation of tension in the Korean Peninsula. This sort of assertion can only be compared to a sophistry that turns black and white.

Geographically, the Korean Peninsula is located at a strategic key point where the interests of some big powers are interwoven complicatedly and many historically impending issues still await solution.

The present nuclear war crisis in this peninsula is a global issue now because it involves very complex problems. Korean issue is neither inter-Korean relations nor a regional dispute within a country. The Korean issue originates in the U.S. occupation of south Korea, an issue that remains unsettled for over 60 years now, an impending international issue still awaiting solution today. The U.S. is the aggressor and south Korea is a colony under U.S. occupation. Therefore, the Korean issue is in essence a face-to-face controversy between our Republic, the non-aggressor, and the U.S., the aggressor.

The strategic design of the U.S. policy-makers is to invade our Republic, push the MDL up to the Rivers of Amnok and Tuman and build a bridgehead there to squeeze China and Russia and finally grab the Eurasian continent. In the eye of the U.S. strategists, our Republic and south Korea are no more than their advance posts for invading the Eurasian continent.

Our nation's enemy is the U.S. and those of the south Korean authorities are but executors of U.S. colonial policy and cheap cannon fodder.

Today in the Korean Peninsula goes on a do-or-die battle of nuclear confrontation between our Republic representing the justice and the U..S representing the injustice.

The criterion for humanity to distinguish justice from injustice is only one, and that will never change.

There has been no change in the revolutionary stand of our Party and the people to remain true to their international obligations as they go along the road of independence, Songun and socialism. And also nothing has ever changed in the U.S. policy for invasion of our Republic to expand the scope of its domination.

In the period of last Korean War the U.S. attempted to drop an A-bomb on the heads of the Korean people, but failed in their attempt. And in the post-war days, the U.S. began shipping in nuclear weapons to south Korea en masse.

To make the Korean Peninsula a nuke-free zone -- this the government of our Republic regarded as an issue vital for the future of the nation and urgent demand for world peace and security, and made all possible efforts to prevent the U.S. shipment of nuclear weapons into south Korea.

But the U.S. did quite the contrary. Soon south Korea turned into a biggest nuclear arsenal in the Far East and a U.S. advance post for aggression on the Asian continent.

If between two hostile countries one is nuclear power and the other not, danger of nuclear war will certainly grow further.

To foil the U.S. nuclear war machinations and defend Korean and Asian peace we had to take our own choice: to possess nuclear weapons.

Recall the 1960s when there was a big howling among the U.S. ruling circles as the news came about the missile deployment in Cuba.

A reasonable man should not forget his own misfortunes and should also not impose misfortunes on others. The final conclusion we have drawn is nuke for nuke.

Since the U.S. tries to deprive us of our nukes and overthrow our system, our Party had to put forward a new line on parallel growth in the economy and nuclear arms build-up and legalized this line by law.

Some say we use nukes for high-handed attitude in negotiation. No, that is not true. Whoever says so is a liar.

Our all-out confrontation with the U.S. is to put an end to half century long U.S. policy of hostility toward our Republic and its nuclear blackmail and achieve Korea’s national reunification.

The conclusion is clear.

The U.S. is to blame for the nuclear war crisis now sweeping the whole of Korean Peninsula.

Nuke for nuke -- this is our stand, and this stand is just.

The U.S. must cool its head and be sober-minded, and make a bold decision to remove the present nuclear crisis in the Korean Peninsula.

[/QUOTE]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Nothing but fear mongering. NK doesn't have the ability to fire a nuclear weapon at this point. They are still in the testing phases.


Also, the people of NK may be blind and pumped full of indoctrination, but why do you think their leaders are? The leaders of NK know the reality of it. They've seen us slap other people around in the world via our military and KNOW without a doubt that a war is a losing battle. Now, that's not what they are telling their countrymen, but they know the truth. People in power want to stay in power, and they certainly will lose their power (and lives) by invading or attacking. To stay in power, they thump their chests, show their people how mighty they are and invigorate the populace once again. NK history at its finest.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Remember Saddam's rhetoric before the Allied invasion? Same shit, different dictator.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

[quote=NC_Skins;1007095]Nothing but fear mongering. NK doesn't have the ability to fire a nuclear weapon at this point. They are still in the testing phases.


Also, the people of NK may be blind and pumped full of indoctrination, but why do you think their leaders are? The leaders of NK know the reality of it. They've seen us slap other people around in the world via our military and KNOW without a doubt that a war is a losing battle. Now, that's not what they are telling their countrymen, but they know the truth. People in power want to stay in power, and they certainly will lose their power (and lives) by invading or attacking. To stay in power, they thump their chests, show their people how mighty they are and invigorate the populace once again. NK history at its finest.[/quote]

1st, we know they can attach a warhead to a missile. We found their last launch vehicle, and the connections were correct for that. I am sure that's in a link somewhere in here, if you need it again, I will try to find it.

2nd, we didn't know the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki would work, but we dropped them anyway. If they want to test it out on Guam, I would rather knock it out on the launchers.

3rd, when a dictator is desparate, they do desparate things. NK is starving it's people beyond the point of the famous "let them eat cake" quote, and at the same time building a false luxury for the elite in Pyongyang. The US hasn't demonstrated great staying power in battles. Look at Iraq/Afghanistan, yeah we stayed a long time, but a little blood, and our population wants out. They may do the calculus (wrong I believe) that a blitz attack, plus a nuke launch successful or not will, will give them enough standing with China that we wouldn't dare do more than get back to the DMZ point, with them recognized as a nuclear power. The elite doesn't care if they sacrifice 2,000,000 NK's or 1,000,000 SK's, they want to maintain their power.

4. it could all be talk, but this is the longest, most sustained talk in decades, and they are giving themselves very little wiggle room to back out.

The question remains, do you accept NK as a nuclear state, and if not, what steps, what price are you willing to pay in order to prevent it?

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

[quote=NC_Skins;1007095]Nothing but fear mongering. NK doesn't have the ability to fire a nuclear weapon at this point. They are still in the testing phases.


Also, the people of NK may be blind and pumped full of indoctrination, but why do you think their leaders are? The leaders of NK know the reality of it. They've seen us slap other people around in the world via our military and KNOW without a doubt that a war is a losing battle. Now, that's not what they are telling their countrymen, but they know the truth. People in power want to stay in power, and they certainly will lose their power (and lives) by invading or attacking. To stay in power, they thump their chests, show their people how mighty they are and invigorate the populace once again. NK history at its finest.[/quote]

One other point, wars mainly come about through miscalculations by people in power. Do you think the British thought they were going to lose a war with rabble rousing colonists? When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, do you think they thought, oh, now we will lose? Even Korea, when Kim Il-sung attacked SKorea do you think he expected that the US and UN would stand up to them?

Wars are not started by people who are making rational decisions, but most often by people who either feel they cannot lose, or have no other choice but to. Sadly, I think the NK elite is composed by mainly those two beliefs.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

The Foal Eagle joint exercises are over. We will see if it was all talk, if so the rhetoric should slow down. A simple question in my mind is did our sheepish exit embolden NK leadership, or did it show appropriate restraint and open the way for discussions. It could play out either way.

from yesterday:
[QUOTE]Military Adventure for Nuclear War

A few days ago the United States massed seven nuclear submarines around Guam, strategic point of its forces and hurled Osprey, latest vertical takeoff and landing transporter, into the Foal Eagle joint military rehearsal in south Korea.

Dialogue and negotiation are prerequisite to détente and peaceful environment. But the United States is loudly talking about dialogue and negotiation on the one hand and, on the other hand, is very keen on war exercises and deployment of nuclear striking means.

This clearly shows that it is clinging to a two-faced trick.

In fact, it is not interested in dialogue and negotiation.

The U.S. ruling quarters' noisy advertisement about dialogue and negotiation is aimed at relaxing our confrontation will and guards against the United States and hastening the preparations for provoking a nuclear war.

As the world knows, a danger of nuclear war gravest ever since the Second World War has been created on the Korean peninsula.

It is intensifying nuclear blackmail against us while unprecedentedly opening to the public the drills of strategic nuclear striking means for a real war. It has thus brought the danger of nuclear war to the pitch.

Under this situation, the United States deployed in full earnest the latest vertical takeoff and landing transport planes and nuclear submarines in south Korea and the west Pacific.

Such military movement has nothing to do with dialogue and only leads the situation to the worst crisis.

The United States has never opened its mouth without saying that we perpetrated "provocations". The ballad led by the United States is chorused by all sorts of riffraff. However, the reality goes to prove that the United States is the very "provoker" who is aggravating the situation of the Korean Peninsula to the extreme and trying to unleash a nuclear war there.

It is escalating the nuclear confrontation racket, nuclear blackmail beyond the limit, enraging us.

If the United States starts a nuclear war, it will be crushed by the war. It'd better be mindful that the nukes arsenals in the mainland and the Pacific might be the root-cause of plunging it into the most terrible nuclear holocaust.

Ri Kyong Su[/QUOTE]
sorry there are no puppets :(

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

They have been very quiet for a while.
I'm wondering if China told them to stfu.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

An interesting take on how NK did all this as an excuse to shutdown Kaesong:

[url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=10532]Daily NK - Kim Issued 'Close Kaesong' Order[/url]

The source kind of looks like a national enquirer type publication only about NK, but the concept is interesting.

and Alvin, China pulled some serious military maneuvers on the NK border, that may have been more like STFU!!!

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

Kaesong is now void of SK's and how it happened sounds like an appeasement strategy to me:
[QUOTE]The last seven South Koreans remaining in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex returned home Friday evening, bringing the symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation to a complete close.
...
However, Seoul has reportedly decided not to sever electricity and water supplies to the area, according to government sources. They said that it was a decision aimed at preventing the facilities from becoming obsolete and at the same time not to goad the North.
...
It was a barter resembling the cold war-era swap of American and Soviet spies. South Korea sent two trucks full of cash to the tune of $13 million, according to the ministry. [/QUOTE]

Originally the discussion was about 7.2Million, instead the SK's paid 13. They are also going to keep servicing the electric/water. It may be the right strategy as you wait it out till dialogue can restart, but I can't help but think that there is some faction in NK that sees these type of decisions as weakness, and proof that the SK's/US wouldn't stand up to a true provocation.

Finally, anyone who thinks that they have reduced their belligerent tone, is listening to our media/government not their press releases. ie from today's [URL="http://www.rodong.rep.kp/InterEn/index.php?strPageID=SF01_02_01&newsID=2013-05-03-0009&chAction=T"]5 oclock charlie report[/URL]:

[QUOTE]NRI Makes Public White Paper on
Response for Danger for Nuclear War on Korean Peninsula

The National Reunification Institute (NRI) on May 1 made public a white paper accusing the U.S. and south Korean puppet forces of pushing the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war.

The white paper said:

The U.S. and its lackeys, south Korean warmongers have been responsible for all incidents of military confrontation that pushed the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a war and stunned the world for several decades. To cite a few examples, they provoked the Korean War in the 1950s and there were the incidents of the U.S. spy warship Pueblo and the U.S. spy plane EC-121 in the 1960s, the Panmunjom incident in the 1970s, the armed skirmishes in the West Sea of Korea and the Yonphyong Island shelling incident in the subsequent period.

The U.S.-led hostile forces prodded the UN Security Council into fabricating an unreasonable "resolution on sanctions" against the DPRK over its legitimate satellite launch for peaceful purposes at the end of last year. This was a heinous provocation perpetrated in wanton violation of its dignity and sovereignty.

To cope with this, the DPRK, as it had already warned, decisively countered the provocation of the U.S., the south Korean puppet group and other hostile forces by conducting the third underground nuclear test.

Much upset by it, the U.S. and south Korean puppet group got frantic in their moves to cook up additional UN "resolution on sanctions" against the DPRK.

By putting in motion its hand-raising machine, the U.S. cooked up the UN "resolution on sanctions" 2094 against the DPRK in March, 2013.

This was more provocative than the last UN "resolution" 2087. [B]It was nothing but a vicious document of blackmail and a de facto declaration of war as it calls for isolating and stifling the DPRK by totally blockading its sky, land and seas.[/B]

Timed to coincide with the fabrication of the UN "resolution on sanctions", the U.S. and the south Korean warmongers staged the large-scale Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises in south Korea since March last.

These drills were staged according to such extremely dangerous war scenarios as OPLAN 5027 and OPLAN 5029 which are aimed to mount a surprise attack upon the DPRK and occupy it.

The U.S. and the south Korean warmongers didn't conceal that the main aim of such saber-rattling was to mount a preemptive nuclear attack upon the DPRK and a precision strike upon its headquarters.

They went the lengths of staging mock drills to destroy the symbols of the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK after working out a vicious plan for the operations.

The spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, the commander of the U.S. forces in south Korea and the south Korean military openly blustered that the drills were aimed "to demonstrate the capability for a nuclear attack upon the DPRK", and "to mount a preemptive strike upon the strategic bases of the north and to strike its bases of counteractions, supporting forces and even commanding forces in case it launches counterattacks" and "they were staged under the simulated conditions of not only a local war but a total war".

Meanwhile, the south Korean puppet forces and the U.S. inked "the plan for jointly countering the provocation of a local war," making the U.S. forces' involvement in the inter-Korean military conflicts an established fact. They staged drills for implementing the plan for a local war and an all-out war and various war scenarios for provocation in five islands in the West Sea of Korea, widely opening them to public.

The U.S. military and the brass-hats of the south Korean puppet army let loose a spate of such outbursts that "they are simulating the worst scenarios and getting ready to cope with them", "the drills might go over to the phase of actual punishment" and "there is no limit to the scope of retaliatory punishment". They went the lengths of crying out for "wiping out the north government from the surface of the earth".

[B]All facts go to clearly prove that the U.S. and the south Korean warmongers are the arch criminals who escalated the tension and brought the danger of a nuclear war to the Korean Peninsula[/B].

Rodong Sinmun[/QUOTE]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

[B][COLOR="Red"] brought the danger of a nuclear war to the Korean Peninsula[/COLOR][/B]
Thats quite amusing coming from the only guy holding nukes in that area.....

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

[url=http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2013/05/03/92/0401000000AEN20130503008400315F.HTML]China will not accept N. Korea as 'nuclear-armed state': official | YONHAP NEWS[/url]

China says....."Not going to happen bro."




[quote] The remarks come amid signs that recent tensions might hurt ties between Beijing and Pyongyang, highlighting China's waning tolerance for its neighbor's provocations.

"During the talks, Wu made it clear that China will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"With regard to the issue, I think that we, the U.S. and China have shared a united stance," the official said, adding he "sensed" a growing impatience by China with North Korea's increasing saber-rattling, particularly after the North's December rocket launch and its third nuclear test in February.[/quote]

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

One more thing about people who say that they know they would lose. They continually present historical facts (accurate but skewed to their perspective) that show governments losing their power to acquiescing to US demands. IF they view the gap of their military capabilities and SK's capabilities widening to quickly at some point in the future (ie drones, upgraded jets, and missile defense), the military elite may push k-un to believe that now is the time to act, while China is still more on their side than not, while their numerical superiority lets them take the southern half quicker and their missiles are safe from missile defense systems.

Again, their economy is failing, their defense won't keep up, and unlike the USSR of the late 80's, they don't have the option to reunite the split country(germany) and still remain substantially intact.

A cornered beast will lash out before it tamely lies down to die.

Re: North Korea: Threat or Blackmailer?
 

What the heck is "slapdash confrontation policy"?

[QUOTE]Foolish Act Precipitating Ruin



Now, the inter-Korean relations are in a state of war due to vicious hostile acts against the DPRK by the south Korean authorities hand in glove with the U.S. and their nuclear war rackets.

Their confrontation maneuvers are an unpardonable repeat of the crimes of the former treacherous regime.

They are, in essence, little different from the rash acts of the Lee Myung Bak regime as a revelation of criminal intent to disarm the DPRK and realize their deep-rooted ambition to invade it.

The present south Korean puppet regime is the same with the Lee regime in human rights ruckus against the DPRK.

While working hard to adopt a "law on human rights in the north" at the national assembly, it played the leading role in cooking up an international machinery to breed plot against the DPRK under the pretext of "investigation".

Finding fault with our satellite launch for peaceful purposes and measures to boost the self-defensive nuclear deterrent, the south Korean puppets in collusion with the U.S. are hell-bent on kicking up the rackets of sanction and war games against the DPRK.

It is a culmination of the confrontation act to lead the tension of the Korean Peninsula to the worst pitch and extremely key up the crisis of nuclear war.

The Korean Peninsula has never been faced with such an imminent nuclear war crisis as today.

The responsibility for it rests with the present south Korean puppet authorities who, regarding our satellite launch and nuclear test as the best chance to realize their scheme to attack the DPRK, went crazy with brigandish sanctions and preemptive nuclear attack rehearsals to do harm to the DPRK together with the U.S.

Nevertheless, the puppet trigger-happy elements are vilifying our legitimate countermeasures for self-defense and further exasperating the situation with foolhardy utterances such as "resolute punishment".

The reality clearly proves that as long as south Korea is ruled by traitors to the nation who pursue an anachronistic confrontation policy, the inter-Korean relations can never be improved and the destiny of the Korean nation is to suffer an irretrievable calamity.

Now, the south Korean puppets are calling for dialogue in a bid to evade the blame for today’s grave situation caused by their confrontation policy and veil their treacherous nature.

If the tension of the Korean Peninsula is to be relaxed, it is necessary, above all, to put an end to the confrontation policy in south Korea.

If the south Korean authorities are really interested in dialogue, they should draw a lesson from the catastrophic situation incurred by their slapdash confrontation policy and make an all-out apology for that.

Sim Chol Yong[/QUOTE]