North Korea Attacks South Korea - Latest Update

[Evil Flare]

North Korea has a a point ....

 

[Vajra_Yuddh]

Originally Posted by Nomenclature
one may also question SK's policy of kicking a maddog in its face by conducting such exercises during a leadership transition in the North.

Exercises are conducted by all countries which is a bilateral matter. China and Pakistan conduct exercises, India and Russia conduct exercises, but you don't see these 4 countries lunging for each others' throats despite enmity. This was a very pathetic excuse for such uncalled aggression.

@Developereo

But this is a dispute created unilaterally. North Korea doesn't accept anything and doesn't even recognize its southern neighbour. You cannot say that it has any justification to even ask for more territorial rights since it considers entire Korea as one and not just north.

Dispute comes when there is a formal acceptance of another country's existence born out of one's country. So this refusal to accept Yeonpyong Island as South Korean itself is contradictory to the stand of not recognizing South.

That's a typical failure of democratic system, especially when there are strong foreign influences and weak domestic capabilities.

@gpit
You want South to go berserk and declare war on north? That would have been possible had DPRK not been a nuclear weapons state thanks to nuke black market. Most people think that those who use diplomacy are weak, little realizing that war is also on their cards if they are forced to.

I will however agree with you that South Korea is not sufficiently armed in quantity to crush the North despite having qualitative advantage. This is the disadvantage of being a US ally. One gets latest development infrastructure-wise but remains a dependent lackey in defence.

North will never release its KIA figures during the ROK retaliatory firing correctly to show itself superior; denial and being secretive is the biggest weapon for absolutist regimes which is why even though they might not be strong enough but their secrecy keeps people guessing. This is the logic that North uses against South and the rest of the world.

 

[gambit]

It's a question of perspective.

The maritime border between North and South Korea is disputed. South Korea did indeed fire into the disputed area despite North's warnings.

From the SK perspective they're only firing into their own waters but NK of course looks upon it very differently.

Anyway, even if the shelling from the North is just a reaction to the South Korean exercises, they went clearly too far by attacking civilian facilities. Although one may also question SK's policy of kicking a maddog in its face by conducting such exercises during a leadership transition in the North.

War games are saber rattling events. Lobbing artillery shells is the actual kicking. Of course, I fully expect the Chinese fanboys here willing to reverse the meanings of the acts to make NKR the victim. Might as well go and argue that SKR and its people being prosperous and much more free than NKR qualifies as 'kicking'...

 

[Maghrebi]

Two explosions have been heard off Yeonpyeong Island near the disputed border in the Yellow Sea, South Korea's military says.


"We're checking the origin of the sounds," a Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman told AFP on Friday.

On Tuesday, Seoul and Pyongyang exchanged artillery fire on the Yellow Sea border island of Yeonpyeong and each blamed the other side for starting the skirmish.

South Korea says it returned fire after North Korean forces shelled one of its islands. But the North says the South fired first. Two South Korean Marines were killed in the clashes.

US President Barack Obama has promised "unshakeable support" for South Korea following Seoul's exchange of artillery fire with North Korea on its western sea border.

In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Obama called North Korea "a serious and ongoing threat that needs to be dealt with."

The US president meanwhile described South Korea as an important ally and "a cornerstone of US security in the Pacific region."

However, he reportedly ruled out any US military action against North Korea at this stage.

MA/MGH/HRF

 

[Laughing Buddha]

This report may be serious... we need to find out the other side of the story as well.... was CIA or Korean Intelligance Agency involved in provoking North...

Why the Shelling started all of a sudden when there was a warning send to south on Telephone...

Was CIA and other intelligance agency trying to assign Kim Jong Il & his son and successor Jong Un when they visited the location and no one can confirm that when they left, this lead to flare up....

More question need to be asked....

Any Comments on my question

 

[Nan Yang]

War games are saber rattling events. Lobbing artillery shells is the actual kicking. Of course, I fully expect the Chinese fanboys here willing to reverse the meanings of the acts to make NKR the victim. Might as well go and argue that SKR and its people being prosperous and much more free than NKR qualifies as 'kicking'...

Nobody is making NKorea to be the victim. Like Nomenclature put it very vividly, if you keep poking at a maddog and the maddog bites off your finger, most people would just say "SERVE YOU RIGHT".

 

[Solomon2]

I wonder if the North Korean soldiery are provoking a war, hoping that they will lose it and their current rulers in the process. They are dirt poor, and a sizable fraction of the populace must realize that the West or China have more to offer. What have they got to lose?

 

[below_freezing]

I wonder if the North Korean soldiery are provoking a war, hoping that they will lose it and their current rulers in the process. They are dirt poor, and a sizable fraction of the populace must realize that the West or China have more to offer. What have they got to lose?

people in japan asked in WW2, why don't the chinese just give up. they're dirt poor and starving. mr. jiang is a ruthless military dictator. why don't they just submit to our imperial rule.

the germans asked the jews, why resist. why not just go die. resistance is useless anyways, why make it more bothersome for both? if the jews didn't resist, there'd be no need for torture squads, just an orderly line to the gas chambers.

im sure you know the answer.

 

[Developereo]

Setting aside who provoked whom, I think China needs to reel in North Korea. The issue is not so much South Korea or the US but, if Japan feels that North Korea is getting out of control, it may reverse its pacifist stance and become more warlike.

That would not be good for anybody, including China.

 

[below_freezing]

Setting aside who provoked whom, I think China needs to reel in North Korea. The issue is not so much South Korea or the US but, if Japan feels that North Korea is getting out of control, it may reverse its pacifist stance and become more warlike.

That would not be good for anybody, including China.

but it'll be the worst of all for japan. they can go warlike right this minute if they wanted to. the question is, are they constrained by certain arrangements regarding this or not.

 

[gpit]

...

You want South to go berserk and declare war on north? That would have been possible had DPRK not been a nuclear weapons state thanks to nuke black market. Most people think that those who use diplomacy are weak, little realizing that war is also on their cards if they are forced to.

I will however agree with you that South Korea is not sufficiently armed in quantity to crush the North despite having qualitative advantage. This is the disadvantage of being a US ally. One gets latest development infrastructure-wise but remains a dependent lackey in defence.

North will never release its KIA figures during the ROK retaliatory firing correctly to show itself superior; denial and being secretive is the biggest weapon for absolutist regimes which is why even though they might not be strong enough but their secrecy keeps people guessing. This is the logic that North uses against South and the rest of the world.

You obviously haven't studies the history and the people of the peninsular.

SK can have all sorts of intestines but lack the guts to declare war against the North.

In military (and other aspects in slightly lesser sense) SK is a puppet of US. Period. They had their boat sunk, they had their island shelled. The most SK can do is whining. (But the best they can do is to stop provoking or appear to provoke the NK.)

On the peninsular, it is not SK vs NK, but China (and, to a lesser extent, Russia) vs US. You must always bear this in your mind when talking about anything on the peninsular. Otherwise, you'll be lost. The difference on the two sides of the 38 parallel is that, after the Korea War, the Chinese have withdrawn from the North in 1958, leaving only a military treaty behind Treaty of Friendship. Thus, NK is not an occupied country and can act like a sovereign country. Whereas SK is still an occupied country, has no say on its own affairs, and can only act like a puppet.

Why would NK be so foolish as to reveal its casualty to the world? That doesn't do NK any good. They don't want to show their fantasies. They just want to be left alone and to survive. The weaker should always act in secrete ways to bewilder his stronger opponent. Sun Tzu's law.

As a follow up, I believe NK leaders must have broken into such as ecstasy upon hearing US sending AC battle group into the region, a foolish decision can only be made by ideological fanatic bvffoons in the military.

Just a homework: why the US is played into NK's hand by sending the AC into the region?

 

[gpit]

It is confirmed that S. Korea fired first, and that is why its defense minister resigns.

Who is the culprit? It's South Korea!

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Setting aside who provoked whom, I think China needs to reel in North Korea. The issue is not so much South Korea or the US but, if Japan feels that North Korea is getting out of control, it may reverse its pacifist stance and become more warlike.

That would not be good for anybody, including China.

It would be nearly impossible for Japan to change its "pacifist constitution" now. The way it was written (by the Americans), makes it very difficult to change it.

Same with Taiwan. Trying to change their constitution now would be a bureaucratic nightmare, there is no way they will be able to pass it without some kind of miracle.

 

[S.U.R.B.]

And meanwhile:

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea plans to sharply increase spending on defense next year, local media reported, as regional tensions mount following a North Korean artillery attack and differences between China and the United States.

The Korea Economic Daily said the government had proposed a 5.8 percent increase in the 2011 defense budget to about $27 billion to buy more self-propelled artillery and fighter-bombers, far more than the 3.6 percent rise this year.

South Korea to up defense budget | Reuters

 

[Developereo]

but it'll be the worst of all for japan. they can go warlike right this minute if they wanted to. the question is, are they constrained by certain arrangements regarding this or not.

and

It would be nearly impossible for Japan to change its "pacifist constitution" now. The way it was written (by the Americans), makes it very difficult to change it.

I'll admit I don't know much about Japan's constitutional process but is it really that hard to change?

What if NK fired some shells and a couple hundred Japanese civilians died? There would be massive public outcry to take charge of their own defence rather than rely on the US.