Korean Peninsula On The Brink Of War

[American Patriot]

I find this kind of lame... lol

US Calls North Korean Artillery Strike Armistice Violation

The United States said Wednesday North Korea's lethal artillery strike on a South Korean island was premeditated and a violation of the 1953 Korean War armistice. But U.S. officials do not believe Pyongyang is preparing for an extended military campaign.

Officials here are not minimizing the seriousness of the North Korean artillery barrage, which they call a serious provocation and a deliberate violation of the Korean armistice.

But they say they are not observing preparations for a broader conflict by North Korea, and say they are looking to China to play a "pivotal" role in restraining its neighbor.

State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters the United States is engaged in wide-ranging diplomacy with China and others in the aftermath of the artillery clash, and intends to raise the matter directly with North Korea in the armistice framework.

The spokesman rejected North Korea's claim it acted in self defense after South Korean shelling in a military exercise. He said North Korea attacked the South Korean island hours after the routine exercise ended, in an obviously premeditated act, but that there has been no sign of a broader aggressive move by the North.

"This was in our view a one-off, premeditated act," said Crowley. "Without getting into intelligence matters, we don't see that North Korea is preparing for an extended military confrontation. That's what makes it not a war. It is a violation of the armistice. Among other things, we will have a conversation with North Korean general officers and make clear that this is a violation of the armistice."

Crowley said responsibility for the current crisis "rests exclusively" with North Korea, and the United States recognizes that China - despite being its main ally and aid provider - cannot dictate to Pyongyang.

Nonetheless he said Beijing has influence with North Korea, and the United States expects China to clear as to where the blame rests, and that Pyongyang should not be allowed to derive comfort from thus-far ambivalent Chinese statements on the issue.

President Obama late Tuesday announced U.S.-South Korean military exercises in the wake of the artillery attack, that will include dispatch of the nuclear aircraft carrier George Washington to waters off the Korean peninsula.

China has previously opposed such exercises but Crowley said they contribute to stability for the entire region including China.

"We have a military alliance with South Korea and we will continue to do what we need to do with South Korea to cooperate," he said. "Our alliance with South Korea provides stability and protection, and many, many countries, including China, benefit from the alliance that we have with South Korea and others in the region."

The spokesman said the United States is engaged in broad diplomatic consultations on both the artillery incident and recent claimed advances in North Korea's nuclear program.

Crowley said there have been preliminary contacts in the U.N. Security Council, but there is no indication an emergency council session is being sought.

[American Patriot]

	IANS
Merkel urges Russia, China to restrain North Korea
2010-11-25 00:00:00
Berlin, Nov 24 (DPA) German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Seoul Wednesday to condemn this week's North Korean bombardment of a South Korean island and called for China and Russia to restrain Pyongyang. Aides said she phoned South Korean President Lee Myung Bak to express her condolences over the deaths in the attack, which she sharply condemned. She praised Lee and his government for their response and said Germany felt solidarity with South Koreans. 'Those who have influence over North Korea should use their capacity to contribute to a stabilisation of the situation by restraining North Korea from further provocations,' government spokesman Steffen Seibert quoted Merkel saying. She told Lee that Germany supported the UN Security Council responding. Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said Berlin had summoned the North Korean ambassador and informed him of Germany's 'clear' views. In parliament, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle condemned the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island. Seibert earlier told reporters Berlin wanted North Korea's nuclear research to be completely transparent and its military nuclear programme to be abandoned, he added. 'North Korea must cease further attacks and provocations and it must respect the terms of the armistice agreement,' he said.

[American Patriot]

Oz asks China to intervene to calm tensions in Korean region

Press Trust Of India
Melbourne, November 24, 2010
First Published: 11:30 IST(24/11/2010)
Last Updated: 11:32 IST(24/11/2010)






Australia on Wednesday asked China to to move in to calm down heightened tensions in the Korean peninsula as it said it is monitoring closely the events in the region after Tuesday's artillery fire by North Korea. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said after attending a high level security







meet that the government is in touch with its allies in the region. The government's national security committee met this morning to discuss tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a report said.


"The government is monitoring events in North Korea closely," Gillard said from Canberra.


Australia had spoken with close allies in the region, including Japan and the United States, she said.


Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd meanwhile urged China to intervene in the matter and use its influence with North Korea to calm down the tensions.


Rudd said that the North did not always follow Chinese requests but he was hopeful Beijing could calm the situation.


He also spoke overnight to the United States' Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, Kurt M Campbell, and South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan.


"This is still a tense situation," Rudd was quoted as saying.


While praising Seoul's response as considered and calm while describing the actions of the North as "outrageously provocative", Rudd said "I believe it's important now for China to bring all of its influence to bear on North Korea".


Gillard also said that China needed to speak to Pyongyang and exert pressure on it, as she called on North Korea to abide by "international norms of behaviour".


Earlier, federal Labor MP Andrew Leigh said the latest incident worried him greatly.


"I think the challenge here is... to call on the North Koreans to behave more reasonably... China has a very important role to play," he said.


The incident has raised concern Down Under with Labor MP Kelvin Thompson, who chairs parliament's treaties committee, asking Beijing to increase its efforts.


"I think there's an important role for the Chinese government in putting pressure on North Korea," he said.

[American Patriot]

New Focus on North’s Food Shortage
By ALAN COWELL and MARK McDONALD
Published: November 24, 2010

PARIS — As outsiders from Beijing to Washington struggle to see a pattern in the secretive dynamics of the North Korean leadership, one part of the tangled puzzle seems beyond dispute: the country’s 25 million people cannot feed themselves and face acute food shortages as they have done for many years.

But that has not prevented — and indeed may have encouraged — the regime in Pyongyang in actions such as Tuesday’s shelling of a populated South Korean island or a weekend disclosure concerning what seems a new and ambitious effort to reactivate North Korea’s nuclear enrichment program.

Just last month, South Korea resumed aid shipments of rice and instant noodles for the first time since early 2008 as part of an $8.5 million package that, though largely symbolic in relation to the crushing food shortages, was seen as the result of diplomatic overtures by the North in response to its economic plight.

“It could be the starting point of a new chapter in inter-Korean relations,” Choi Jin-wook, a North Korea expert at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said at the time.

Such hopes seem to be drowned out Tuesday by the thunder of artillery barrages.

“They’re in a desperate situation, and they want food immediately, not next year,” Mr. Choi said on Wednesday. “Food is the No. 1 issue.”

Others used harsher terms.

“This incident seems to fit the pattern of a Mafia shakedown,” said Tim Peters, a longtime resident in Seoul and head of Helping Hands Korea, an nongovernmental organization that works with North Korean defectors. “It’s a Mafia extortion by the Kim regime. And it has worked for them before: It’s the feed-us-or-we’ll-shoot-you approach. And now with winter coming on, they’re trying to get more food aid.”

“The regime wants just enough food to keep the population from turning.”

Just days before the shelling, a joint report by two United Nations agencies — the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization — said that, despite a relatively good autumn harvest, North Korea remained in acute need of food, especially for its youngest children, pregnant women and the elderly.

Around one-fifth of the 25 million population would continue to face food shortages, the report said. So critical was the situation that North Korea was short of around half a million tons of food and government hand-outs were inadequate.

Rations provided by the government through its Public Distribution System “would likely contribute about half the daily energy requirements,” the report said, leaving many citizens to eke a living from black market food supplies or modest plots and gardens.

“A small shock in the future could trigger a severe negative impact and will be difficult to contain if these chronic deficits are not effectively managed,” said Joyce Luma, the head of the World Food Program’s Food Security Analysis Unit who was a co-leader of a mission to North Korea in September.

The report said that between now and next October, North Korea would need to import an estimated 867,000 tons of food. The government plans to buy around 325,000 tons, leaving 542,000 tons as a shortfall. The two United Nations agencies recommended providing 305,000 tons in international food assistance to the most vulnerable population.

Battered by severe floods, North Korea’s own agricultural sector — which the report called “the main contributor to the national income” — showed an increase in staple food production of only three percent in the current year compared to the previous year. The country’s main crops are unmilled rice followed by corn, potatoes, wheat and barley and soybeans.

Alan Cowell reported from Paris, and Mark McDonald from Seoul.

[Toad]

I'm really surprised S. Korea hasn't unloaded some significant retaliation over this. After the torpedo incident, now unprovoked artillery into a civillian villiage killing civillians... They should have taken the opportunity to reduce every N. Korean Nuke site into gravel pits.

[American Patriot]

I think they were as shocked as anyone, anywhere that this happened.

Which makes me think (I doubt the army will move across the DMZ any time soon) that if something DOES happen, they will be slow to react.

[American Patriot]

CSM's view....

The Monitor's View

Obama uses gunboat diplomacy with North Korea -- and China

After the North Korean attack on a South Korean island, Obama sends an aircraft carrier to the Yellow Sea -- irritating China, which may be the point. Beijing needs to rein in its wily ally.

---

---

By the Monitor's Editorial Board / November 24, 2010



President Obama made a clever strategic move after a North Korean rocket attack killed two civilians and two soldiers Tuesday in South Korea. He decided to respond with a naval surge – directed not only at North Korea but also at its closest ally, China.


The president ordered an aircraft carrier strike force into the Yellow Sea, off the western shore of North Korea – the scene of the North’s barrage on a South Korean island. But this is also an area that Beijing vigorously claims as its own watery turf.


By sending in the USS George Washington carrier to conduct joint exercises with South Korea, Mr. Obama is risking an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with China. In recent months, top Chinese military officials have warned the United States not to send ships or planes into the Yellow Sea. They have even promised financial retribution.


China “won’t stand” for such US naval provocation, wrote Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan of the People’s Liberation Army in an August editorial. “Imagine what the consequences will be if China’s biggest debtor nation [the US] challenges its creditor nation,” he stated.


Indeed, any threat by China to sell off some $750 billion in US debt that it holds cannot be taken lightly. The US economy would nose-dive if the Chinese stopped recycling their export earnings into US Treasuries.
But for Obama, the risk of another Korean War and, more important, North Korea’s export of nuclear material and know-how to the Middle East, may be seen as an even bigger risk.


After this latest attack on South Korea by the erratic regime of Kim Jong-il, the US was forced to use old-fashioned gunboat diplomacy and send a message to China that it must finally rein in its wily ally and neighbor.
Washington really has no other options for changing Pyongyang’s behavior than to force China to act. In the past, Beijing has indeed temporarily cut off vital fuel supplies to North Korea after violent attacks on the South. But lately China prefers to be silent, notably after the sinking of a South Korean ship last March that killed 46 sailors.


Even as the US and China struggle over what to do with North Korea, there is a larger issue at stake: Will the big-power contests of the 21st century be shaped by a nation’s economic clout or by the traditional means of the past – military might?


To be sure, China is rapidly building up its navy to thwart the still-powerful US Navy in Asia. It will soon have missiles to knock out American ships. And its ships have recently bullied a few other Asian nations.


But China is also wielding the market power of its 1.3 billion people and its strong export industries to win friends and to badger adversaries. It has used big investments, trade deals, and massive purchases in strategic ways. And in a recent territorial dispute with Japan, Beijing even cut off exports of so-called rare earth minerals needed for Japanese high-tech industries.


China feels even stronger now as the US economy remains dormant with American consumers less dominant as buyers of other nations’ exports. The Chinese economy recently surpassed Japan’s and is second in size to America’s. And it watches with anticipation as Obama tries to cut the US military budget.


Obama’s big-stick move against China may end up only highlighting the fact that US is losing its ability to wage “dollar diplomacy,” or the use of its big economy to shape global trends. Obama’s hesitation to punish China for its flagrant currency manipulation, for example, reveals the weak hand of the US to fend off China’s hold on the American economy.


The North Korean crisis could end up being a defining moment for China and the US. The two nations are in a contest for power and influence, with each one not yet quite sure whether guns or money will rule the future.


As they have done during previous crises, leaders on both sides need to hold lengthy private talks and come up with a way to avoid either a military or financial confrontation. Both giants have too much to gain by cooperating rather than competing.


And they can’t let North Korea ruin what could be a productive partnership.

[American Patriot]

North Korea's military aging but sizeable
By Tim Lister, CNN
November 24, 2010 4:18 p.m. EST

(CNN) -- It's a bit like train-spotting but rather more serious. On October 10, Korea-watchers pored over live televised coverage of a massive military parade in Pyongyang, held to mark the 65th anniversary of North Korea's ruling party. Just like the Soviet parades of yore, it was a chance to see what military hardware the North might be showing off.

The official news agency said the parade showed "the will and might of Songun Korea to wipe out the enemy." The hardware was accompanied by slogans such as "Defeat the U.S. Military. U.S. soldiers are the Korean People's Army's enemy." And besides the incredible synchronized goose-stepping, there were tanks and new missiles.

Analysts paid special attention to the first public appearance of a road-mobile ballistic missile with a projected range of between 3,000 and 4,000 kilometers (roughly 1,900 to 2,400 miles), though reports of its existence had circulated for several years. There was also a new version of the No-dong ballistic missile, with a tri-conic nosecone, on show. That led Aviation Weekly and others to observe design similarities to Iran's Shahab missiles, suggesting further military cooperation between the two governments.

North Korea's nuclear capability and ballistic missile technology are its trump card, to make up for its aging conventional forces and as a bargaining chip in negotiations. So that's what receives the bulk of funding and expertise. But despite economic stagnation, technological limitations and international sanctions, its conventional forces can't be discounted, if only because of their size.

According to South Korean analysts, the North scraped together what little foreign exchange it had to buy $65 million of weapons from China, Russia and eastern Europe between 2002 and 2008. One example: It appears to have bought Chinese-made ZM-87 anti-personnel lasers, using one to "illuminate" two U.S. Army Apache helicopters flying along the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone in 2003. None of the crew members was injured.

China says it continues to be open to military collaboration with Pyongyang and last month welcomed a senior North Korean official to Beijing to "enhance coordination of the two militaries." China is thought to have supplied the North with multiple rocket launchers and spare parts for planes, among other equipment. Pyongyang has also turned to Iran and Egypt for military transfers.

Much of the North's hardware is locally built using Chinese and Russian templates. It has begun deploying a new tank, called the P'okpoong (Storm), which is modeled on the Russian T-62 tank but hardly a match for modern U.S. battle tanks. It's not clear how many of these are in service, but Jane's Armed Forces Editor Alexander von Rosenbach says it is thought that only a few have been delivered -- and they lack devices like thermal imaging sights.

Also on show at the October parade: a new surface-to-air missile similar to a Chinese model. Jane's concluded that it represented "a major expansion in North Korea's air defense potential," with a radar/guidance system that would be harder to jam. And although little is known about the size and scope of the North's artillery, the barrage fired this week at Yeonpyeong Island suggests that it can't be ignored.

The North Korean regime has also devoted great resources to developing its navy, not with battleships but fast-attack vessels and an array of submarines. Jane's estimates that it has more than 400 surface vessels. And it is not hesitant to use its maritime forces, as demonstrated by the sinking of the 1,200-ton South Korean corvette Cheonan by a torpedo in March. But in a confrontation, the South Korean navy is likely to come off best, as happened in a firefight in 1999.

The main weakness of the North's military is a chronic shortage of computers, modern command and control and electronic warfare assets -- in other words, much of what makes up the 21st-century battlefield. At the same time, South Korea has used its economic strength to modernize its armed forces: for example, building three $1 billion Aegis-class destroyers to counter ballistic missiles.

The same applies in the air. North Korea's air force largely comprises aging Soviet MiG fighters (though it has some MiG 29s) that would be unable to compete with South Korean F-15 jets or the F-16 fighters of the U.S. 7th Air Force, based in South Korea. In addition, the North's air force has suffered fuel shortages, and Jane's estimated that the North's fighter pilots may get as little as 25 flying hours per year. The North Koreans also have a large fleet of Russian-design biplanes that would be better suited to crop-spraying but could be used to drop special forces behind enemy lines in the event of conflict.

To compensate for obsolescence, the North deploys boots on the ground in great numbers. Jane's estimates that its standing army numbers just over 1 million personnel, with reserves estimated at more than 7 million. But North Korean soldiers are poorly fed, according to analysts and reports from defectors, and rarely train due to scarcity of fuel and ammunition

Despite the size of its armed forces, few analysts expect that the regime in the North would want to launch a general assault on the South, knowing that it would probably be repulsed and that in turn would imperil the regime. It might also ignite dissent.

"With the ongoing leadership transition in North Korea, there have been rumors of discontent within the military, and the current actions may reflect miscommunications or worse within the North's command-and-control structure," geopolitical risk analysis firm Stratfor says.

There is another practical reason why a land invasion would be difficult. South Korea has built an array of obstructions on roads from the North that would force an invader's tanks off the pavement and into rice fields. Only in the winter would those fields be hard enough to allow the tanks to cross them.

Short of a general assault, the North clearly has enough in its arsenal to cause damage and death to its adversary, as the torpedo attack in March and the barrage this week have shown. And it has thousands of artillery pieces close to the Demilitarized Zone, which is just 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Seoul. Recent events show that it is also quite ready to exploit the element of surprise.

There remains the great unanswered question about intentions. There's plenty of what one expert calls "echo chamber analysis." But as former President Carter wrote with a hint of understatement in the Washington Post on Wednesday: "No one can completely understand the motivations of the North Koreans."

[American Patriot]

US warships head to Yellow Sea for military drills

By the CNN Wire Staff
November 24, 2010 3:56 p.m. EST


The carrier strike group led by the USS George Washington (pictured) is steaming towards the Korean peninsula.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The joint U.S.-South Korean drills are designed as deterrence
• They were planned before Tuesday's attack on a South Korean island
• With the threat of war, the region is on edge

Incheon, South Korea (CNN) -- The aircraft carrier USS George Washington sailed toward volatile waters off the Korean peninsula Wednesday for planned military exercises with South Korea in a show of force designed to deter a further escalation of hostilities with North Korea.


The exercises were billed as defensive in nature and were a more measured response than the retaliation initially urged by South Korea after North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island Tuesday, the most serious act of hostility since the end of the Korean war.


"It is a long-planned exercise," said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.


"That said, it is meant to send a very strong signal of deterrence and also work with our very close allies in South Korea," Mullen said on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS." "We're very focused on restraint --- not letting this thing get out of control. The South Koreans so far have responded that way. Nobody wants this thing to turn into a conflict."


The shelling of Yeonpyeong Island killed four people -- including two civilians -- and left an entire region fearful of an all-out war.




Terrified evacuees flood into Incheon






Global call for calm between Koreas






The Koreas clash






Geography of the Korea dispute






Attack on island in the Yellow Sea







Map: N. Korea shells S. Korean island



The U.S. military said the military drills demonstrate the strength of Washington's alliance with Seoul and "our commitment to regional stability through deterrence."


"The policy problem is you want to come up with a response that is strong enough to deter the North Koreans from doing this again, but again, you don't want to do something so strong that you start a war," said Victor Cha, a Korea expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.


"And I think the Obama administration is doing the right thing," Cha said on CNN's "American Morning." "But in terms of policy, it's a very difficult needle to thread."


The joint U.S.-South Korean war games are set to begin Sunday in the Yellow Sea.
The United States has about 28,500 troops deployed in South Korea. A U.S. defense official said more than 50 U.S. Navy vessels are in the area, including a carrier strike group led by the USS George Washington.


The decision to go ahead with the drill came after South Korea went on high alert and North Korea blamed the South for driving them "to the brink of war."


"I think the real issue now is there are tremendous pressures on the president of South Korea to hang tough, possibly to respond militarily, which he said he would do if there was another flareup," said Mike Chinoy, a senior fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California and a former CNN correspondent in Asia.


"The worry is if there's another kind of episode like this it could spiral out of control," he said.


Pyongyang contended that South Korea provoked the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island by holding a military drill off their shared coast in the Yellow Sea, the North Korean state-run news agency KCNA said. The drills are conducted by Seoul every year.


"The puppet group dared make an uproar over 'a provocation' from someone and cry out for 'punishment' like a thief crying 'stop the thief!'" KCNA said Wednesday.
There are tremendous pressures on the president of South Korea to hang tough.
--Ex-CNN correspondent Mike Chinoy





RELATED TOPICS

• North Korea
• South Korea

"The Lee Myung-bak group's treacherous and anti-reunification acts are intolerable as it vitiated the atmosphere for improving the inter-Korean relations overnight and drove the situation to the brink of war, challenging the desire of all the Koreans," KCNA said, referring to South Korea's president.


Terrified survivors of the attack expressed shock at the sudden nature of the incident. Many of the 1,756 residents of the island were fleeing to safer ground, leaving their possessions behind. Some said they were too afraid to ever return home.


Two South Korean marines were killed in the attack and the bodies of two civilians were found at a construction site.



The attack also injured 15 South Korean soldiers and three civilians, South Korea said.
"We have come to the judgment that what happened on Yeonpyeong Island was a definite military provocation against the Republic of Korea," said a statement from South Korean President Lee.


"The fact that they have indiscriminately fired upon a defenseless civilian zone was a brutally inhumane action, an illegal and intentional action against the U.N. constitution and the armistice between the North and South Korea."


The South was on high alert, but said it was calmly considering its actions.


The Yellow Sea is a longstanding flash point between the two Koreas. A disputed maritime border has resulted in several clashes since the end of the Korean War almost six decades ago.


Tensions spiked earlier this year with the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan that killed 46 sailors. Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing the ship. Pyongyang denied responsibility.


After Tuesday's incident, all eyes turned to China, which supplies North Korea with food, fuel and weapons.


"We regret the casualties and property losses, and are concerned about the situation," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement released Wednesday.
"China strongly urges that both sides retain calm and restrain, and engage in talks as quickly as possible in order to prevent similar incidents from happening again," the statement said. "Relevant parties should contribute more to efforts that will ease tensions and benefit the peace and stability of the peninsula. We are ready to make joint efforts with them."


CNN's Stan Grant contributed to this report.

[Ryan Ruck]

Alright... Folks are really, honestly worried this time. From the Philippines:

“There are no plans yet of evacuation but certainly, precautionary measures have been undertaken by the Philippine embassy in Seoul,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Yeah, if embassies start emptying out and travel warnings start going out, we'll know something is happening.

Super-Silent Jimmy Carter Ready to Spy on North Korea

Really? I always thought he was quite the loud mouth.

[vector7]

Naval Readiness Exercise Announced

Release # 101124-2
Nov. 24, 2010

YONGSAN GARRISON, SEOUL, Republic of Korea -- The USS George Washington carrier strike group will join Republic of Korea naval forces in the waters west of the Korean peninsula (YELLOW SEA) from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 to conduct the next exercise in the series announced at the 2+2 meetings in July.



This exercise is defensive in nature. While planned well before yesterday’s unprovoked artillery attack, it demonstrates the strength of the ROK-U.S. Alliance and our commitment to regional stability through deterrence. It is also designed to improve our military interoperability.

U.S. Navy ships scheduled to participate include the USS George Washington (CVN 73) with an embarked carrier air wing (CVW 5), USS Cowpens (CG 62), USS Shiloh (CG 67), USS Stethem (DDG 63), USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62).

U.S. and allied operations are built on an already strong foundation of cooperation and this exercise is intended to further enhance interoperability. The U.S. and ROK forces will conduct air defense and surface warfare readiness training.



The U.S. Navy routinely operates in the waters off the Korean peninsula and has conducted numerous operations and exercises in this area. In October 2009 the George Washington strike group conducted similar operations in the international waters west of the Korean peninsula. U.S. aircraft carriers frequently visit the Korean peninsula and conduct port visits in Busan; such as USS George Washington in 2010, USS John C. Stennis in March 2009, USS Ronald Reagan, USS Nimitz, and USS George Washington in 2008.

[vector7]

The Washington Times altered the story below a few hours ago...here it is posted in its earlier shorter form.

U.S. sends carrier to Yellow Sea for exercises near Korea

Carrier sent to area of flare-up

By Bill Gertz
The Washington Times
Wednesday, November 24, 2010

An aerial view shows destroyed houses on Yeonpyeong island, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010, one day after North Korea's artillery attack on the island. Rescuers found the burned bodies Wednesday of two islanders killed in the attack _ the first civilian deaths from a skirmish that marked a dramatic escalation of tensions between the rival Koreas.

The Obama administration called on China Wednesday to rein in North Korea after its artillery attack on a South Korean island, as the Pentagon has dispatched the aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS George Washington to the Yellow Sea for naval exercises with South Korea following the exchange of artillery fire between the North and South.

The exercises are likely to anger China which in the past pressed Washington not to send its aircraft carriers to the sea.

The U.S. military command in Seoul announced that the carrier will take part in exercises in "waters west of the Korean peninsula" from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1.

"This exercise is defensive in nature," the statement said. "While planned well before yesterday's unprovoked artillery attack, it demonstrates the strength of the [South Korea]-U.S. alliance and our commitment to regional stability through deterrence."

The maneuvers also will seek to improve the interoperability of U.S. and South Korean naval forces, the statement said.

The dispatch of the carrier to the Yellow Sea was postponed during earlier anti-submarine warfare exercises amid complaints from Chinese military officials that a carrier in the sea threatened China because U.S. warplanes from the ship could reach targets in China.

Still, the exercises are likely to anger China.

Chinese Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu told state-run media in July that "if the United States truly wants to take into account the overall interests of the Sino-U.S. relationship, then it must on no account send its USS Washington to the Yellow Sea." He called the area "sensitive."

The Pentagon rejected the Chinese criticism and said U.S. Navy ships, including carriers, will transit the Yellow Sea because it is in international waters.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters last month that "there has been an assertion that we, the U.S., shouldn't operate in the Yellow Sea. That is international waters. We're going to operate in the Yellow Sea. We and others."

The ships scheduled to take part in the exercise in addition to the George Washington include the missile-armed warships USS Cowpens, USS Shiloh, USS Stethem and USS Fitzgerald. (source)

A couple of links with the similarly worded version: http://blackchristiannews.com/news/2...eveloping.html and http://shootingmessengers.blogspot.c...w-sea-for.html

[Toad]

Boston.com does some of the best photo-journalisim spreads on the web, and on the 24th did a Two Koreas piece.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/201...he_koreas.html

A few of the relavent photo's to this thread...






The brush fires started from the shelling.








Dud shell. 122mm?


Current protests.



"This DigitalGlobe Satellite handout image received on November 22, 2010 and taken on November 4, 2010 shows a satellite image of construction at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear site. North Korea has unveiled a secret new uranium enrichment plant equipped with 2,000 centrifuges, US scientist Siegfried Hecker said, raising new fears on November 21, 2010 about Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. US officials accused North Korea on November 22 of flouting UN sanctions and seeking to destabilize the region amid the latest claims that the secretive state has built a sophisticated, new uranium enrichment plant at Yongbyon. (DIGITALGLOBE/AFP/Getty Images) "

[Backstop]

"Sir, they're shooting at us!"

"WELL SHOOT BACK!!"

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/artic...sp?aid=2928852

South thwarts even bigger attack
Military says strike by howitzers took out equipment
November 25, 2010



North Korea had planned to fire more shells than the roughly 170 rounds that fell on Yeonpyeong Island and the waters around it, but a counterattack by South Korea damaged their equipment, South Korean military officials said yesterday.

The South, however, did not describe the extent of the damage, adding to the list of unanswered questions over the first inland skirmish between the two Koreas since the Korean War.

The attack by the North left two marines and two civilians dead.

“After the North Korean military fired roughly 150 rounds in the first 12 minutes of the attack, they prepared for a bigger attack but were unable to do so once our military retaliated with K9 howitzers,” said a South Korean military official. Another 20 rounds were fired after the initial attack.



The K9 is a South Korean self-propelled howitzer developed for the South Korean military by Samsung Techwin. The weapon can fire six 155-millimeter rounds per minute.

“Because the K9 is very accurate, the North Korean military bases were probably reduced to rubble,” said the official.

South Korean Minister of National Defense Kim Tae-young said during a hearing at the National Assembly’s Defense Committee yesterday that images of the North Korean coastline were hard to obtain “because of the clouds in that direction.”

The military could not confirm how much damage had been done by the South’s retaliatory response. The defense minister said military officials were working to determine the extent of the damage.

More questions were lobbed at Kim yesterday, with lawmakers demanding to know why the South Korean military had taken 13 minutes to start firing back after the North initiated firing at 2:34 p.m.

“According to our military tactics, I believe we did very well if we responded in 13 minutes,” said Kim after lawmakers accused the South Korean military of being slow to respond.

The defense minister said the soldiers had to take shelter during the first attacks and rotating the guns in the direction of the attack took time, said Kim. “To fire while you’re on the receiving end is like committing suicide,” said one South Korean military official.

The minister also explained that the North’s attack was unrelated to the joint Hoguk exercise between South Korea and the U.S. and that North Korea had bombarded the island because of monthly shooting exercises near the disputed maritime border between the two Koreas.

“We are indeed in the middle of Hoguk exercises but the training that took place near Yeonpyeong Island was not part of the Hoguk exercises, but monthly shooting exercises,” said Kim.

When asked if any of the South Korean rounds fired during the exercise had crossed the border accidentally, triggering the attack, Kim said the South Korean military prepares “with caution” and keeps their firing “4 to 5 kilometers [2.5 to 3.1 miles] away from the Northern Limit Line.”

North Korea had sent statements before the attack on Tuesday, warning South Korea to halt the Hoguk exercises. Kim said that North Korea had complained about the routine firing exercises in the past, but it was the first time for them to have acted on it.

In a report turned into the Defense Committee of the National Assembly yesterday, the Defense Ministry confirmed that North Korea had fired roughly 170 rounds toward Yeonpyeong Island.

“Around 80 rounds landed on the island, while about 90 rounds landed in the waters surrounding the island,” the report said. The South Korean military fired 80 rounds from K9 howitzers. The Defense Ministry also said troops have been “status ready” for firing since the attack, with five fighter jets on standby.

By Christine Kim [christine.kim@joongang.co.kr]

[American Patriot]

The Washington Times altered the story below a few hours ago...here it is posted in its earlier shorter form.

U.S. sends carrier to Yellow Sea for exercises near Korea

Carrier sent to area of flare-up

By Bill Gertz
The Washington Times
Wednesday, November 24, 2010

An aerial view shows destroyed houses on Yeonpyeong island, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010, one day after North Korea's artillery attack on the island. Rescuers found the burned bodies Wednesday of two islanders killed in the attack _ the first civilian deaths from a skirmish that marked a dramatic escalation of tensions between the rival Koreas.

The Obama administration called on China Wednesday to rein in North Korea after its artillery attack on a South Korean island, as the Pentagon has dispatched the aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS George Washington to the Yellow Sea for naval exercises with South Korea following the exchange of artillery fire between the North and South.

The exercises are likely to anger China which in the past pressed Washington not to send its aircraft carriers to the sea.

The U.S. military command in Seoul announced that the carrier will take part in exercises in "waters west of the Korean peninsula" from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1.

"This exercise is defensive in nature," the statement said. "While planned well before yesterday's unprovoked artillery attack, it demonstrates the strength of the [South Korea]-U.S. alliance and our commitment to regional stability through deterrence."

The maneuvers also will seek to improve the interoperability of U.S. and South Korean naval forces, the statement said.

The dispatch of the carrier to the Yellow Sea was postponed during earlier anti-submarine warfare exercises amid complaints from Chinese military officials that a carrier in the sea threatened China because U.S. warplanes from the ship could reach targets in China.

Still, the exercises are likely to anger China.

Chinese Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu told state-run media in July that "if the United States truly wants to take into account the overall interests of the Sino-U.S. relationship, then it must on no account send its USS Washington to the Yellow Sea." He called the area "sensitive."

The Pentagon rejected the Chinese criticism and said U.S. Navy ships, including carriers, will transit the Yellow Sea because it is in international waters.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters last month that "there has been an assertion that we, the U.S., shouldn't operate in the Yellow Sea. That is international waters. We're going to operate in the Yellow Sea. We and others."

The ships scheduled to take part in the exercise in addition to the George Washington include the missile-armed warships USS Cowpens, USS Shiloh, USS Stethem and USS Fitzgerald. (source)

A couple of links with the similarly worded version: http://blackchristiannews.com/news/2...eveloping.html and http://shootingmessengers.blogspot.c...w-sea-for.html

What were the changes?????

[American Patriot]

South Korea defense minister ousted; North warns of new attacks

North Korea warns of a 'second and third' attack after killing 4, injuring 20 on a disputed island. Meanwhile, China expresses concern about U.S.-South Korean naval exercises set to begin Sunday.

• 
  
  
  

By John M. Glionna and Ethan Kim, Los Angeles Times 12:28 p.m. CST, November 25, 2010



Reporting from Seoul —
South Korea's disgraced defense minister resigned Thursday amid growing criticism in the wake of a deadly North Korean artillery barrage, setting the stage for sweeping changes in the South Korean military establishment.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young's resignation came as lawmakers blasted the government of President Lee Myung-bak for its slow response to Pyongyang's attack on an island outpost this week that killed four people and injured 20 others. Lee accepted the resignation just hours after promising to send more troops to the disputed maritime border between North and South.

The drama within Lee's Cabinet ended a tense day that saw North Korea warn of a possible reprise of its attack and Beijing voice concern over joint U.S.-South Korean naval exercises set to begin Sunday. If further provoked, North Korea "will deal without hesitation the second and third strong physical retaliatory blow," read a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

The joint drills, which will involve a flotilla of U.S. ships including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington, will "send a clear message to the North," a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei questioned the timing of the exercises, saying officials "have noted the relevant reports and express our concern."

A day earlier, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had called on all sides to exert "maximum restraint" but didn't mention North Korea by name or set blame for the attack.

As the U.S. and South Korea pressured China to help curb North Korea, Russian officials Thursday also sought calm, saying they hoped the U.N. Security Council soon would weigh in on the artillery attack.

"I hope that in the coming days the council will express its opinion and that this will help to calm the situation," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.

Although South Korean lawmakers overwhelmingly supported a resolution to condemn North Korea's attack, the 261-1 vote stopped short of demanding retaliation.

The North's surprise shelling barrage occurred on tiny Yeonpyeong Island, a commercial fishing and military outpost whose sovereignty has long been in dispute between Seoul and Pyongyang.

Few here were surprised at Kim's departure, which came eight months after a North Korean torpedo attack sank a South Korean ship, killing 46 sailors. Although implicated in the sinking, Pyongyang has denied involvement.

At the time, Kim offered to resign but was allowed to keep his post. This time, however, the Lee administration accepted his resignation.

Officials said the military also planned "across-the-board" revisions to its policy involving the use of force and would scrap a 2006 plan to scale down the armed forces' presence in the region.

"Our existing rules of engagement have been assessed as rather passive, focusing on preventing the escalation of a conflict," presidential spokesman Hong Sang-pyo said.

Lawmakers bashed the military's slow response to this week's attack. After Pyongyang fired 170 shells at the island, South Korean forces waited 10 minutes before firing 80 shells at northern artillery positions.

Lee on Thursday instead tried to focus on the North Korean threat.

"We should not release our sense of crisis in preparation for the possibility of another provocation by North Korea. A provocation like this can recur any time," he told an emergency Cabinet meeting.

In other retaliatory measures against the North, Seoul slashed aid and canceled family reunions that had resumed after a several-year lapse. The North had received 5,000 tons of rice, 3 million packs of instant noodles and 3,000 tons of cement in flood aid from Seoul in the last three months alone.

For its part, North Korea on Thursday continued to blame both the U.S. and South Korea for the artillery bombardment, insisting that South Korea fired first and that it shelled the island in defense.

Pyongyang said the U.S. bore responsibility for recent hostilities with its refusal to sign a pact officially ending the Korean War, which has been sought by the North. "The U.S., therefore, cannot evade the blame for the recent shelling," read the North Korean statement.

South Korean media reported Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his youngest son, Kim Jong Eun, visited the North's artillery base just hours before the start of Tuesday's shelling, disputing theories by some analysts here that the decision to attack was made by a rogue military commander.

Later in the day, Seoul officials reiterated that the North Korean leader had called for the attack. "This provocation was carefully coordinated and planned by Kim Jong Il. Any single gunshot by North Korea will be commanded by the Dear Leader and his third son," a senior government official said.

Analysts predicted that the four-day joint naval exercises would further escalate tensions.

"There is a possibility of a second North Korean attack, perhaps even as soon as the start of the naval exercises on Sunday," said Cheong Seong-chang, an expert on North Korean politics at Seoul's Sejong Institute.

john.glionna@latimes.com

Kim works in the Times' Seoul Bureau.

[American Patriot]

South Korea is to strengthen its military presence on five islands close to North Korea, amid tensions over a clash that left four people dead.
It will also review its policy on the use of force, amid domestic concerns that the country has became rather passive in its responses to provocation from the North.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young at a memorial for the dead marines.
PHOTO: AFP

---

Defence minister Kim Tae-young resigned on Thurday. In a statement, the minister said he took full responsibility.
President Lee Myung-bak will name his successor on Friday.
The government also said it was changing its rules of engagement to allow it to respond more forcefully to similar incidents.
In future, the South would implement different levels of response, depending on whether the North attacked military or civilian targets.
South Korean broadcaster, KBS, said the new rules called for the South to fire back "with shots two to three times more powerful than the enemy artillery".
Meanwhile in North Korea, the official KCNA news agency reported a threat of further military action if the South continued on its "path of military provocation".
Shelling by North Korea of the island of Yeonpyeong on Tuesday killed two civilians and two marines, and prompted an increase in regional tension.
China, which has not apportioned blame, has urged both sides to show restraint.

Copyright © 2010, Radio New Zealand

[vector7]

This is the way the story reads now...


Obama calls on China to restrain North Korea

Carrier sent to area of flare-up


Destroyed houses are evident from the air Wednesday on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea. Officials say they found the burned bodies of two islanders killed in the North Korean artillery attack, marking the first two civilian deaths in the crisis. (Associated Press/Yonhap)By Ashish Kumar Sen and Bill Gertz
-
The Washington Times
8:01 a.m., Wednesday, November 24, 2010

• Print
• Email
• View Comment(s)
• Enlarge Text|Shrink
• Click-2-Listen

The Obama administration called on China Wednesday to rein in North Korea after its artillery attack on a South Korean island, as the Pentagon ordered the USS George Washington aircraft carrier strike group to the Yellow Sea for naval exercises with South Korean forces.

Search crews on the island located off South Korea's west coast also recovered the charred bodies of two civilians Wednesday.

China, which has a defense agreement with communist North Korea, is the key to changing Pyongyang's behavior, said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

"We do believe that China has influence with North Korea," he said. "We don't want to understate or overstate that. It's not that China can dictate a particular action to North Korea. It is that China, together with the United States and other countries, have to send a clear, direct, unified message that it is North Korea that has to change."

At the United Nations, Security Council, members held talks on the attack, but news reports indicated that action on the matter was unlikely. The Security Council took months to condemn North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship and then did not mention North Korea by name.

At Incheon, South Korea, residents of the bombed island told stories of the midafternoon artillery barrage.

"Over my head, a pine tree was broken and burning," said Ann Ahe-ja, who was among the hundreds of evacuees from Yeonpyeong Island arriving at the port. "So I thought, 'Oh, this is not another exercise. It is a war.' I decided to run. And I did."

In addition to the two civilians, two South Korean marines were killed and 18 wounded in the artillery strike, which destroyed 30 homes.

The shelling followed South Korean military exercises involving artillery fire south of the island.

Wang Baodong, a Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington, said all parties in the crisis must "help relax the tension."

China opposed the deployment of the George Washington to the Yellow Sea earlier this year, claiming the carrier could threaten China.

In a phone conversation late Tuesday night, President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed to hold joint military exercises. Mr. Obama also pledged to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the South.

The attack on Yeonpyeong Island was the largest major military skirmish since the Korean War ended with an armistice agreement in 1953. The attack also resulted in the first civilian deaths in an assault since the bombing of a South Korean airliner in 1987.

The carrier strike group will arrive in the Yellow Sea west of the Korean Peninsula on Sunday for four days of joint exercises.

A military official said an additional aircraft carrier strike group could be moved to the region, but that no decision had been made.

"This exercise is defensive in nature," U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement, noting that the exercises were planned before the attack on Yeonpyeong.

Still, the exercises are likely to anger China.

Chinese Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu told staterun media in July that "if the United States truly wants to take into account the overall interests of the Sino-U.S. relationship, then it must on no account send its USS Washington to the Yellow Sea." He called the area "sensitive."

The Pentagon rejected the Chinese criticism and said Navy ships, including carriers, will transit the Yellow Sea because it is in international waters.

John Park, a senior research associate at the U.S. Institute of Peace, said the deployment of the strike group is "almost a warning to China."

"The power projection capabilities of the USS George Washington, with its fighter aircraft wing, extends all the way to Beijing," Mr. Park said.

The attack on Yeonpyeong followed the sinking in March of the South Korean warship Cheonan by a North Korean torpedo in the same region.

Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed in the Cheonan incident.
Tensions also are heightened over North Korea's once-covert uranium enrichment program that was shown recently to three visiting American nuclear specialists.

In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Mr. Obama called on China to stand firm and "make clear to North Korea that there are a set of international rules that they need to abide by."

Mr. Wang, the Chinese Embassy spokesman, told The Washington Times that China is paying close attention to developments in its neighborhood.
"China has been calling for peaceful settlement of conflict through dialogue and consultations and is opposed to any activity that harms the peace and stability of the peninsula," Mr. Wang said.

Chinese officials have deplored the loss of life and damage to property on Yeonpyeong Island, while not directly condemning the cash-strapped North, which benefits mainly from Chinese economic aid.

The Chinese statement stood in stark comparison to the U.S. response, which was an outright condemnation of the North. U.S. officials, meanwhile, said they think the artillery attack was an isolated incident.

"This was, in our view, a one-off, premeditated act," Mr. Crowley told reporters. "Without getting into intelligence matters, we don't see that North Korea is … preparing for an extended military confrontation."

The military official said there were few indicators that North Korean forces were preparing for a larger conflict.

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.

[Phil Fiord]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AO0AT20101125

North Korean leader and son visited artillery site: reports



By Jeremy Laurence
SEOUL | Thu Nov 25, 2010 9:35am EST


(Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his son and successor Jong-un visited the artillery base from where shells were fired at a South Korean island just hours before the attack, South Korean media reported on Thursday.
North Korea's attack on Yeonpyeong Island that killed two South Korean marines and two civilians on Tuesday was probably ordered by Kim Jong-il himself, the Joongang Daily quoted a well-informed government source as saying.


Seoul government officials contacted by Reuters could not comment on the reports.
The United States says it believes North Korea's actions were an isolated act tied to leadership changes in Pyongyang, and many experts say the North carried out the shelling to burnish the image of the inexperienced and little-known younger Kim.
The ailing leader is desperate to give a lift to his youngest son, named as heir apparent to the family dynasty in September, but who has little clear support in the military.


South Korean media reported the father and son had met General Kim Kyok-sik, the commander of the frontline fourth corps in charge of a Navy base in South Hwanghae province, just before the North shelled the island.
A member of the National Assembly's Defense Committee said military intelligence obtained the information and was trying to figure out whether the visit was directly related to the attack, the Chosun Ilbo reported.


Just before the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, the South Korean military "had confidential information that Kim Jong-il met Kim Yong-chol, the director of the general reconnaissance bureau at the People's Armed Forces, so now it's focusing on the possibility of Kim Jong-il and his son approving the shelling of Yeonpyeong while meeting with Kim Kyok-sik," he said.


JoongAng Daily quoted a source as saying that Kim visited the coastal artillery base in Gaemori from where the shells were fired with his son a day before the attack.
"This is circumstantial evidence that the attack was meticulously planned (by North Korea) beforehand," said the source.


North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency issued a report on Monday saying Kim Jong-il had made a trip to a fish farm in Yongyon, South Hwanghae province, and that he was accompanied by top military brass, including Jong-un.
There was no mention of any visit to military sites.


Yongyon is just a few kilometers from the North Korean coastal military base where the artillery was fired from, reports said.


North Korea has entered a potentially long and unpredictable period of leadership transition, with the elevation of Kim's youngest son to the rank of general in a clear signal he is the chosen successor.


The media has begun celebrating Kim Jong-un as "the young general" -- even though his military experience appears to be zero.


Analysts have been warning since September that North Korea would likely carry out an act of brinkmanship to boost the younger Kim's standing, to mirror the iron rule of his father.


(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Andrew Marshall)

[Toad]

With the US/SK war games scheduled for this weekend and the N. Korean's having itchy trigger fingers, I can't think of a worse scenereo for accidents to happen. "Accidents" being on the N. Korean's part, ordered from above.