N Korea shells S Korean Island

Strategy of tension bullshit all over again. Shit disturbing US Military should get the hell home and stay there.

[url=http://www.ied.info/articles/fabricating-incidents-to-start-wars/the-kor... in Korea Could Not be Permitted[/url] then or now.

DP

It may be that the US thinks now that NATO has Russia in the bag, they can proceed to muscle China more regionally and  also advance with what may be warplans against Iran as well. There are hawks that believe sooner rather than later is the time to go forward with these and other imperial agendas - before their economy completely collapses or China decides to ditch the dollar.

Does anyone really believe these incidents are ever spur of the moment wild west games?

@ Cueball, Ya I think you about have it right. That poster came out and said it, he was in the military. According to him they were just having, you know, a harmless little excersise in the sea right next to their enemy.

Ya, harmeless and all. Just some 70,000 army guys that wanted to know if the guns were working and not rusty. The North had nothing to worry about, cause the drills had nothing to do with them.

voice of the damned wrote:

So just a question while all this academic discussion goes on. Has anybody actually lived and worked in the ROK?

I've lived here since 2001. Was there something you wanted to ask?

I have a question - it's a couple of days after your 1st post, and do you still believe nothing is going to come of this?

I dunno, I like to watch the North Korean situation pretty unceasingly. I have a grim fascination with despotic regimes and the history of Korea in the post-WW2 era plays really, really well into said fascination. I remember speaking to a prof. I had who mentioned that North Korea is a country where you will never know what's going on, where you will have to take either intelligence estimates or internal journalism from the North Korean state. Once in a while journalists will cover big events, but everything is controlled and handled in a way that is unique to pretty much anywhere in the world.

People who say 'the North didn't fire towards the ...' are taking the DPRK's word at face value, same as a lot of people are taking the ROK's statements at face value. Really, it is quite silly, given that most of us are willing to question the far more benign CBC.

So, North Korea's response wasn't some sort of just and fair response - if it were we'd have seen the pictures of North Korean devestation where the ROK had attacked. This was the response of a state that is based entirely on its military. This was a very...masculine response. No recourse to the standard angry rhetoric of North Korea, a terse warning (like the one that gets sent out everyday) regarding a military drill that, historically, would've been openly talked about by both sides through less formal channels. A complicating factor is the election of Lee Myung-Bak whose leadership has been very bellicose and reversed a bit of the good will that had been built up under his predecessors. Not reported in the Western media is a lot of the aggrivating rhetoric of South Korea - I'll find links later. Generally, though, you can just see the diplomatic niceties of the Americans and get a good idea of what the South is about.

The area under question is a sore spot for the North. Remember, Korea is a peninsula and following its demarcation in the post-Korean War world the DPRK's navy is essentially split up into two parts that have no capacity for interoperability. That is a major strategic weakness of the North and one that has been exacerbated by these drills. Holding them on the Eastern seaboard or in the south of the South would have been far less provacative. However, you know, when you have sabres to rattle - it is a party that everyone is more than welcome to join.

The incident won't lead to much though. The North pulls a lot of these sorts of shennanigans and the South likes to show its muscle from time to time as well. This is just prickly brinkmanship between the cynical and unstable North and a smug South.

Anybody interested in the thought of those living in Korea I would suggest an excellent ex-pat site called the Marmot's hole. I found this on the site:

There is a very very small garrison on YP-do. They have very few artillery pieces which are test fired on a regular basis to the West away from NK territory and away from fishing areas. They post notices and make radio broadcasts to enure there are no fishing vessels in the area and that the north Koreans know they will be firing. They also post patrol boats at the edges to further ensure there is no chance of civilians getting injured. They then fire a few rounds per gun to test the systems and then stow them.
http://www.rjkoehler.com/

It seems like some here want to blame the South Koreans for having the audacity to have a military exercise. South Korea has a right to hold military exercises and North Korea does not have the right to stop it. Military exercises have occurred in South Korea since the end of the Korean War. During the 1980s much larger exercises were conducted called "Team Spirit". Of courses North Korea complained but no harm was done to North Korea due to Team Spirit. So, why did North Korea decide to make an attack over something that has occurred year after year for over 50 years?
The live fire exercise at the island was routine and of no significance. Guess what., armies shoot guns. Shooting guns on one's own territory at targets located on one's territory is not being belligerent. The 70,000 troops number pales in size to the size of the North Korean Army.

Evidence is coming out that the attack was premeditated. The rocket artillery used by North Korea is not normally deployed near the islands. Rocket artillery is more suited to attacking large groups of land forces. Using rocket artillery was designed to kill and strike terror not to knock out the supposed threat of hardened military gun emplacements.

Also, North Korea recognizes South Korea's ownership of the islands. But, they make a ridiculous claim over the water that surrounds the islands. That is just absurd.

The bottom line is that North Korea for some reason wants to bully South Korea. South Korea did nothing wrong or nothing new or out of the ordinary. This is just another example of the leadership of North Korea disregard for life. They could have started a war if it was not for South Korean restraint.

Closing for length.

And a note to Bec. You aren't banned for swearing at me, nor are you banned for being a white guy with unexamined racist beliefs. You're not banned at all. But you're on thin ice.