S. Korea responds to ship attack report

[Jigs]

this is sad no doubt ...but you cant go down to the level of sadists..

I don't think it is going down to their level. N/S Korea are technically still at war. The North wants to take it to the next level. If the South doesn't respond that gives North Korea a green light as to what exactly they can get away with.

 

[notsuperstitious]

This is a difficult choice, as we know from the past, threat of military retaliation against already failed countries does not produce desired results.

Being China's lapdog has its advantages.

 

[Thomas]

Idiots abound.

Didn't you guys noticed the "torpedo" was all rusted and had corals grown all over it??? How long did you think that "torpedo" as sitting on the ocean floor??? Decades perhaps.

I don't see coral there. I see nicks in the aluminum and salt corrosion. In the steel part of the body I see rust and blast damage. Also don't forget South Korea and the U.S. were not the only countries to examine the evidence and come to the same conclusion.

Politically China has a chance here to exert it's influence with North Korea. By doing so it would show the world it's ready to take a more pro-active role in maintaining peace in Asia. If North Korea will not listen to it then maybe they should take the advice of one of it's own Communist party cadre.

"Zhang Liangui, an expert on North Korea at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said, "Sanctions should be in position if North Korea is proved to be behind the attack. Without sanctions, the North could get the wrong impression that it's safe to do whatever it likes."

 

[Parashuram1]

N. Korea and its nuclear blackmail. What difference does it have from that of a bank robber or a militant who holds people for ransom and demands economic and monetary ransom from the entire world? Targeting S. Korean cities, the state demands its annual rations to be filled up. Now this will get uglier under the guise of nuclear blackmail, since Pyongyang will use its nuclear card.

Seoul must do something if it has to not bow to its northern foe.

 

[below_freezing]

why doesn't seoul ask washington for permission to start thinking about taking "stronger measures"

oh wait its because a USN sub sank their ship and they dare not make a sound.

 

[Thomas]

why doesn't seoul ask washington for permission to start thinking about taking "stronger measures"

oh wait its because a USN sub sank their ship and they dare not make a sound.

If you have evidence to back up your statement then give it. Otherwise your just trolling.

 

[applesauce]

lets say its a north korean torpedo, what can the south do? the north is already heavily sanctioned and the sun-shine policy stopped a while ago, a war would decimate the south's economy as well as cost it Seoul and high civilian deaths. it may win in the end but that leads to integration which is gonna make east/west germany look easy. since sanctions aren't gonna do anything and war is not preferable, the south will have to look to china which will not be easy to persuade.

 

[Vassnti]

lets say its a north korean torpedo, what can the south do? the north is already heavily sanctioned and the sun-shine policy stopped a while ago, a war would decimate the south's economy as well as cost it Seoul and high civilian deaths. it may win in the end but that leads to integration which is gonna make east/west germany look easy. since sanctions aren't gonna do anything and war is not preferable, the south will have to look to china which will not be easy to persuade.

Its not a matter of persuading China, China will always look to Chinas interests first and of late it seems like playing all your cards to support a metally unstable possibly dying dictatoris a losing hand.

 

[below_freezing]

Its not a matter of persuading China, China will always look to Chinas interests first and of late it seems like playing all your cards to support a metally unstable possibly dying dictatoris a losing hand.

north korea as a state has nothing to do with kim jong il the person.

did USSR fall apart after stalin? PRC after mao? USA after washington? the north korean nation is very stable, it's the person at the top that's unstable.

 

[third eye]

What could the motive for sinking the S Korean ship be ?

Did it violate N Korean waters ?

I cannot see any reason why the ship needed to be sunk, things are not too good for N Korea anyway and such escalations will surely not help.

 

[gambit]

lets say its a north korean torpedo, what can the south do? the north is already heavily sanctioned and the sun-shine policy stopped a while ago, a war would decimate the south's economy as well as cost it Seoul and high civilian deaths. it may win in the end but that leads to integration which is gonna make east/west germany look easy. since sanctions aren't gonna do anything and war is not preferable, the south will have to look to china which will not be easy to persuade.

Germany's reunification was painful but thanks to the Europeans' assistance in what they believed to be a righteous cause, the pain was bearable. If the war between the two Koreas resume to a shooting fight, NKR will lose and when the time comes, the rest of Asia, notably Japan, out of fear of a rising China, will come to Korea's aid. The US will place our military on high alert with a couple of aircraft carriers stationed in the region to keep the peace. Sorry, but no DF-21s here. Kim Junk Ill's irrationality will do Chinese interests more harm than good.

 

[notsuperstitious]

South Korea, U.S. Seek China’s Help Punishing North (Update1) - BusinessWeek

May 24 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea and the U.S. urged China to cooperate in international efforts to punish North Korea over the sinking of a warship in March that the U.S. said has raised tension in the region to its highest in decades.

“We have always tolerated North Korea’s brutality, time and again,” South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said today in Seoul, setting out the response to the March 26 torpedo attack in which 46 sailors died. “We did so because we have always had a genuine longing for peace. Now, things are different.”

South Korea will take the case to the United Nations Security Council, halt most trade with its neighbor, ban North Korean ships from its waters and restart propaganda broadcasts suspended in 2004. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Beijing for the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, expressed support for the South and pressed China, the North’s main ally, to “work together again to address this challenge.”

Kim Jong Il’s regime, struggling at home as shortages of food and goods undermine the ruling party’s control, last week threatened “all-out war” against any punitive measures. UN sanctions imposed on North Korea after its second nuclear test in May 2009 caused international commerce to shrink 9.7 percent last year, according to a Seoul-based trade agency.

“South Korea has laid out virtually all the measures it can employ,” said Kim Yong Hyun, professor of North Korean studies at Seoul-based Dongguk University. Still, China isn’t likely to join the push for more sanctions “as it wouldn’t want North Korea collapsing on its border.”

China has called for “calm and restraint” and says it is making its own assessment of the ship sinking.

China Trade

China accounted for 78.5 percent of North Korea’s international trade, excluding that with South Korea, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said in a report today. North Korea, whose leader Kim visited China earlier this month, doesn’t release official trade data.

In addition to being North Korea’s main ally, China is also host of multilateral talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. The forum also includes Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S. North Korea reiterated its right to develop nuclear weapons to protect it from U.S. aggression, the state-owned Korea Central News Agency reported today.

Clinton today praised China for supporting tougher UN sanctions against Iran, and said the same cooperation was needed following the report of a multilateral panel last week that concluded a North Korean submarine sank the 1,200-ton Cheonan.

Talks With China

“No responsible country in the international community will be able to deny the fact that the Cheonan was sunk by North Korea,” Lee said today, without naming China. South Korea is in close talks with China and Russia on forging a response against North Korea, Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan said today in Seoul.

The attack has overshadowed the agenda for the high-level talks in Beijing, where Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan are among senior officials debating the level of the yuan and trade issues.

President Barack Obama offered “unequivocal” support for South Korea’s defense, in a statement released by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. He directed his government to review all polices regarding Kim’s regime.

The U.S. and its allies haven’t faced such a serious regional incident in decades, a U.S. official traveling with the China party said yesterday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The cost of insuring South Korean government debt from default rose to a nine-month high. Credit-default swaps on South Korea jumped to 147.2 basis points as of 11:34 a.m. in Seoul, according to CMA DataVision, heading for the highest price since Aug. 19. The won touched its weakest point since Sept. 15 of 1,220.75, according to Seoul Money Brokerage Services Ltd.

Geopolitical Risk

Increased “geopolitical risk is absolutely one of the last things that foreign investors would welcome,” said Oh Suk Tae, an economist at SC First Bank Korea Ltd. in Seoul.

The March attack was the deadliest blamed on Kim’s regime since 115 people were killed in the 1987 explosion of a South Korean airliner. Other provocations include attempts in 1968 and 1983 to assassinate South Korean presidents.

Kim’s regime, which has been relying on handouts since the mid-1990s, is suffering from worsening shortages of goods after its botched currency revaluation late last year. Academics including Rudiger Frank, professor of East Asian Economy and Society at the University of Vienna, said that was aimed at rolling back an experiment with free markets that had loosened the state’s control over jobs, food and patronage.

Food Aid

The UN World Food Program said this month its food aid to North Korea will run out by the end of next month.

South Korea accounted for a third of North Korea’s international commerce last year, according to the Unification Ministry. Inter-Korean trade dropped 7.8 percent to $1.7 billion in 2009, 56 percent of which came from their joint industrial complex in the border city of Gaeseong, ministry data show.

South Korea will keep the complex operating, while banning any new investment and citizens’ visits to North Korea, Unification Minister Hyun In Taek told reporters in Seoul today.

South Korea also plans to hold joint anti-submarine exercises with the U.S., Defense Minister Kim Tae Young said.

Comment - I think we can all make up our minds in the years to come on how responsible is China as an emerging power.

 

[Loki23]

I think apart from the steps taken by South Korea, they should if not already done so start building their own nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to target both N.Korea and their sponsor China. An independent and credible nuclear deterrent is any day better than being under somebody's umbrella.

 

[below_freezing]

I think apart from the steps taken by South Korea, they should if not already done so start building their own nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to target both N.Korea and their sponsor China. An independent and credible nuclear deterrent is any day better than being under somebody's umbrella.

can they?

without ToT from the US what can south korea do besides fake biomedical news and stealing patents? they BOUGHT a russian rocket and couldn't even use it right, you think they can make a ballistic missile? india and south korea are definitely brothers, their skill in YY is 天下无双

 

[su-47]

why doesn't seoul ask washington for permission to start thinking about taking "stronger measures"

oh wait its because a USN sub sank their ship and they dare not make a sound.

dude, why would USA want to sink an SK vessel? If the answer is 'to impose sanctions on NK', its pointless. There is already too many sanctions on NK. And if the answer is 'to attack NK', again pointless. US is already bogged in two wars.

There is no reason for USN to sink an SK ship!