NKorea threatens to attack SKorea over leaflets

[A.Rafay]

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's military threatened Friday to strike a South Korean border area where anti-Pyongyang activists plan to launch leaflets from balloons next week. South Korea immediately vowed to retaliate if attacked.

North Korea has made similar threats without following through. Its latest vow came a day after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak warned against provocation as he made a surprise visit to a front-line island shelled by North Korea in 2010.
"Merciless military strike by the Western Front will be put into practice without warning" if South Korean activists make a move to fly leaflets on Monday, the North's military said in a statement in English. It also warned South Korean residents in the border area to evacuate in advance.
In South Korea, Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said at a parliamentary hearing that his troops would "thoroughly annihilate" any base responsible for the strike if the North attacked.
The exchange of strong warnings came as Glyn Davies, the top U.S. envoy for North Korea, met in Seoul with Lim Sung-nam, South Korea's envoy to stalled six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear arms programs .
Davies did not comment on the North's threat during a meeting with reporters, but urged Pyongyang to follow through with its commitments made in past nuclear agreements with the United States, South Korea, Russia, China and Japan.
North Korean defectors and South Korean activists regularly send up balloons carrying leaflets criticizing North Korean leaders. North Korea accuses South Korea of supporting the activity, but Seoul denies it.
Animosity has run high between the Koreas since the North's 2010 shelling killed two marines and two civilians on South Korea's Yeonpyeong island in the Yellow Sea. Seoul also blames Pyongyang for the sinking of a warship that killed 46 South Korean sailors earlier that year. North Korea denies attacking the ship.
The two Koreas remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.

NKorea threatens to attack SKorea over leaflets - Yahoo! News

 

[anon45]

Just barking, carry on.

 

[HongWu]

Just barking, carry on.

Good the enemy will be caught surprised by chemical weapons.

 

[somebozo]

North Korea should first solve the issue of feeding its citizens.

 

[S_O_C_O_M]

south korea won't retaliate. north korea bombed their islands, sunk their war ships and nothing south korea did.

 

[gambit]

south korea won't retaliate. north korea bombed their islands, sunk their war ships and nothing south korea did.

Please......The South Koreans have been doing do this for how long...??? And what did North Korea done so far...??? Persistent violations of territorial airspace by civilians. This is what the Norks are afraid of. In a real conflict, the Norks will lose -- badly.

 

[veekysingh]

they do this everyday.

 

[S_O_C_O_M]

Please......The South Koreans have been doing do this for how long...??? And what did North Korea done so far...??? Persistent violations of territorial airspace by civilians. This is what the Norks are afraid of. In a real conflict, the Norks will lose -- badly.

one on one north korea will not lose....because of nukes.

 

[IndoUS]

Isn't it the usual rant, they pass a warning every month just to keep the top brass happy.

 

[veekysingh]

one on one north korea will not lose....because of nukes.

nuke not gonna gv them food, if NK keep going in this isolated way they will be done soon. SK dont even need to attack NK.

 

[longyi]

China calls for DPRK, ROK to remain calm, restrained




BEIJING, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday called for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea(ROK) to keep calm and restrained to safeguard the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

"China expects related parties to remain calm and restrained, not to take provocative or radical actions and jointly safeguard the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement.

Hong's comments came as the Western Front Command of the Korean People's Army (KPA) on Friday warned that it might fire on an ROK border area where Seoul plans to scatter anti-DPRK leaflets next week while the ROK defense chief said the ROK would wipe out the attackers.

"China is concerned about the development of the issue," Hong said.

As a neighbor, China supports the DPRK and the ROK to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation, Hong said, stressing China opposes any actions that might escalate the tensions or any military confrontations on the peninsula.

China calls for DPRK, ROK to remain calm, restrained - Xinhua | English.news.cn

 

[Globenim]

Just barking, carry on.

Yeah. South Korea will do nothing as usual even if North Korea shells the whole place.

 

[longyi]

Somehow, I think, the North Koreans got their southern brethren's numbers. They can almost do anything to the south, short of actual invasion, and get away with it.

 

[anon45]

one on one north korea will not lose....because of nukes.

You are in a dreamland if you think any peninsula conflict is going to be one on one, and a nuke is not the super weapon much of the mass media makes it seem to be.

North Korea has not been proven to have nukes, its tests were duds.

Even assuming the tests were a success,
How many nukes do you think North Korea has?

Using nukes signals the end of the Kim regime, and possibly the end of a habitable North Korea. At the very least it would trigger a Chinese invasion of North Korea (yes China has divisions on the North Korean border, and no that isn't to welcome fleeing North Koreans into China)

 

[anon45]

Somehow, I think, the North Koreans got their southern brethren's numbers. They can almost do anything to the south, short of actual invasion, and get away with it.

Looks like South Korea blinked. Demonstration is cancelled as police block the demonstrators from heading to the site, even though they have a permit. According to the #Korea twitter.

Kim wins by default, and I wonder if he'll test his luck in the future.