Korean Peninsula On The Brink Of War

[American Patriot]

And it is canceled.

SKorea cancels new artillery drill on tense island

By HYUNG-JIN KIM







SEOUL, South Korea
South Korea's military announced provocative new artillery drills on the front-line island shelled in a deadly North Korean attack, then immediately postponed them Monday in a sign of disarray hours after the president vowed to get tough on the North.


Similar live-fire maneuvers by South Korean troops one week earlier triggered the North's bombardment that decimated parts of Yeonpyeong Island, killed four people and drew return fire in a clash that set the region on edge.


The new drills originally planned for Tuesday could have had even higher stakes: South Korean and American warships are currently engaged in separate military exercises in waters to the south.


Officials at the Joint Chiefs of Staff told The Associated Press on Monday that the latest drills were postponed after the marine unit on the island mistakenly announced them without getting final approval from higher military authorities. The cancelation had nothing to do with North Korea, and the drills will take place later, one official said. The officials spoke on condition of , citing agency rules.


Earlier Monday, President Lee Myung-bak gave his first address to the nation since the attack, taking responsibility for failing to protect his citizens, expressing outrage at the North's "ruthlessness" and vowing tough consequences for any future aggression.
Lee has come under withering criticism for what opponents have called lapses in South Korea's response to the attack just eight months after the sinking of a South Korean warship in nearby waters.


On Yeonpyeong island after the speech, authorities announced new live-fire drills for Tuesday morning, and issued a warning over loudspeakers for residents to take shelter in underground bunkers. Hours later, another announcement over the loudspeakers said there would be no live-fire exercise.


The North's artillery attack last week also wounded 18 people on an island that lies within sight of North Korean shores. North Korea had called the drills a violation of its territorial waters and a deliberate provocation after Pyongyang urged South Korean officials not to carry out the exercises, and has warned of a "merciless" attack if further provoked.


Meanwhile, a nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier and a South Korean destroyer carried out joint military exercises in the waters south of the island in a united show of force by the longtime allies. Jets roared as they took off from the carrier.


Amid the heightened tension, classified U.S. State Department documents leaked Sunday by online whistle-blower WikiLeaks showed the United States and South Korea discussing possible scenarios for reunification of the peninsula, and American worry over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.


Under pressure to take stronger action in dealing with the defiant North, Lee lashed out at Pyongyang.


"Only a few meters away from where shells landed, there is a school where classes were going on," Lee said. "I am outraged by the ruthlessness of the North Korean regime, which is even indifferent to the lives of little children."


In the past week, Lee has replaced his defense minister, ordered reinforcements for the 4,000 troops on Yeonpyeong and four other Yellow Sea islands, and upgraded the military rules of engagement.


"If the North commits any additional provocations against the South, we will make sure that it pays a dear price without fail," Lee warned.


He didn't offer specifics about what consequences the North would face, and he offered few details on what actions South Korea will take in response to last week's attack, other than promising to strengthen the military.


On Yeonpyeong, the military has added long-range artillery guns, doubling the amount of K-9 howitzers to 12, and multiple rocket launchers, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed military officials.


Minutes after the speech, North Korea issued another threat to attack South Korea and the United States, calling the allies' joint war drills "yet another grave military provocation."


The two Koreas are required to abide by an armistice signed in 1953 at the close of their brutal, three-year war.


However, North Korea does not recognize the maritime border drawn by the U.N. at the close of the war, and considers the waters around Yeonpyeong Island its territory.
The waters have been the site of three deadly skirmishes since 1999, as well as the sinking of the Cheonan warship in March that killed 46 sailors and last week's artillery attack.


Yeonpyeong Island, normally home to about 1,300 civilian residents, was declared a special security area Monday, which could pave the way for a forced evacuation the 300 residents, journalists and officials still left on the island.


Military trucks carrying what appeared to be multiple rocket launchers were seen heading to a marine base on the island Monday.


China, North Korea's only major ally, has sought to calm tensions.
Beijing's top nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, called Sunday for an emergency meeting in early December among regional powers involved in nuclear disarmament talks, including North Korea.


Seoul, which wants proof of Pyongyang's commitment to denuclearization as well as a show of regret over the Cheonan incident, gave a cool response to the proposal.
Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan again condemned North Korea's deadly artillery barrage Monday, calling the attack on civilians "a barbaric act." He said Tokyo would cooperate with Seoul and Washington on how to counter North Korea's "reckless" acts.


The documents leaked by WikiLeaks showed deep U.S. worries about North Korean and Iranian cooperation on their rogue nuclear programs.


The New York Times published documents that indicated the United States and South Korea were "gaming out an eventual collapse of North Korea" and discussing the prospects for a unified country, if the North's economic troubles and political transition lead it to implode.


------
AP photographers David Guttenfelder and Lee Jin-man on Yeonpyeong Island and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

[Toad]

And it is canceled.

SKorea cancels new artillery drill on tense island

...

Omg. Get a gaddam backbone and quit letting intimidation drive your decisions. Bullies thrive only when they see their actions dictate yours.

[American Patriot]

I was thinking the same thing.

I'm trying very hard not to interject my personal opinion here.

But it's getting damned difficult.

[American Patriot]

VOA is moving fast a furiously....

This article:

North Korea »
The Hindu


China Quiet One Day After Proposing Talks on Korea Tensions

Voice of America - Stephanie Ho - ‎4 hours ago‎
Photo: AP South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, left, shakes hand with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo during their meeting at the presidential house in Seoul, South Korea, 28 Nov 2010.
Video: 'US naval workout in South Korea a provocation' RT

South Korea to carry out fresh Yeonpyeong island drills The Guardian

Is NO LONGER THERE. No such article exists now.

THIS is why I think editors and news papers can POUND SAND when it comes to them posting an article and us capturing it.

[American Patriot]

News RSS Feed

South Korea Announces, Then Cancels New Military Drill

VOA News 29 November 2010
[IMG]http://media.voanews.com/images/480*283/South_Korea_Yeonpyeong_Island_Nov_29_2010_AP_480.j pg[/IMG] Photo: AP

South Korean marines guard on Yeonpyeong island, South Korea, Nov. 29, 2010.



South Korea's military has postponed a live fire exercise planned for Tuesday on an island shelled by North Korea last week.


South Korean forces on Yeonpyeong island initially alerted residents Monday by loudspeaker to shelter in bunkers for a live fire exercise to be held the next day.

But hours later, another broadcast on the island said the drill had been delayed. The South Korean military said the initial announcement by troops on the island was a mistake.


Yeonpyeong is located near the disputed western maritime border of the two Koreas and is surrounded by waters the North claims as its own. North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong last Tuesday in response to a South Korean exercise involving artillery fire from the island into the disputed waters.

The North Korean attack killed two South Korean Marines and two civilians, and drew return artillery fire from South Korean forces. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak warned Pyongyang Monday that it will "pay a dear price" if it attacks again.

His government has boosted its military presence on Yeonpyeong by deploying additional artillery guns and rocket launchers.

U.S. and South Korean naval forces also held a second day of exercises Monday in nearby waters in the Yellow Sea in a show of strength to deter North Korean attacks.

In a nationally televised address Monday, Mr. Lee said North Korean shells that hit the island Tuesday landed a few meters from a school that was holding classes. He expressed outrage at what he called the "ruthlessness" of a North Korean leadership that he said is indifferent to the lives of children.

China has responded to the crisis by calling for emergency talks involving the six nations trying to negotiate an end to North Korea's nuclear program.

South Korea, Japan and the United States promised to study the Chinese proposal, but expressed reluctance to engage in talks that would reward North Korea for bad behavior, as they see it.

[American Patriot]

/snicker....

I got it now:
Asia RSS Feed

China Quiet One Day After Proposing Talks on Korea Tensions

Stephanie Ho | Beijing 29 November 2010
[IMG]http://media.voanews.com/images/300*300/AP_DA_BINGGUO_LEE_MYUNG-BAK_28nov10_300.jpg[/IMG] Photo: AP

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, left, shakes hand with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo during their meeting at the presidential house in Seoul, South Korea, 28 Nov 2010.


Related Articles

• South Korean President Angered by 'Inhumane' Attack
• US Senators Affirm US Ties with South Korea
• South Korea Gives Cool Response to China's Call for Emergency Talks
• China Calls for Urgent Talks to Ease Korean Tensions
• South Korea Announces, Then Cancels New Military Drill

There has been no clear decision on China's proposal for new talks to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula. Leaders met with several partners on how to best calm the situation following a North Korean attack on a South Korean community.

A day after China proposed multi-nation talks, its negotiating partners are still mulling the idea.

The South Korean government responded coolly to the Chinese proposal.

Rob Raines, a spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said Washington has not yet made a decision.

"The U.S. government is consulting with the Republic of Korea, Japan and our other partners. The six party talks cannot substitute for action by North Korea to comply with its obligations, " Raines said.

China wants to bring together the six countries that are already engaged in talks aimed at persuading Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programs - the United States, North Korea, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

China said the emergency session would focus on the current crisis brought about after North Korea fired on a South Korean island last week, and Seoul's forces fired back.

The embassy spokesman urged North Korea to fully abide by the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953. He also called on Pyongyang to comply with past agreements that promised aid to North Korea if it abandoned its nuclear weapons programs.

"Clear steps are needed by North Korea to demonstrate a change in its behavior," raines said.

The comments come as the U.S. and South Korea hold joint military exercises in the waters off South Korea. North Korea calls the exercises a sign of aggression.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment Monday about other countries' lack of enthusiasm toward its proposal for talks.

Pang Zhongying, an international relations professor at Renmin University, said he suspects China already knew South Korea would not agree to the suggestion.

Pang thinks by making the proposal publicly, China is helping South Korea. He thinks South Korea wants to "make a U-turn," but cannot yet because too little time has passed since last week's incident.

He added that a multi-nation meeting could also be good for China's relationship with the United States.

Pang said if the meeting could happen soon, before Chinese President Hu Jintao goes to the United States in January, it would show good Sino-American cooperation.

China called for the meeting to take place in early December, but Pang thinks that may be too soon.

South Korea and the United States have long urged Beijing to do more to rein in its ally, North Korea. China's leaders, however, said they have done all they could to encourage Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and that other nations must do more to calm tensions.

Many regional political analysts say Beijing is reluctant to push too hard on its impoverished neighbor, to avoid destabilizing the government and causing a massive flow of refugees.

[American Patriot]

Windsor Genova - AHN News News Writer
Seoul, South Korea (AHN) - Two pig farms in South Korea have been found to have cases of foot and mouth disease, the government said Monday in announcing the outbreak of the livestock disease.


The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries confirmed the outbreak at farms in Andong, 166 miles southeast of the capital Seoul. Some 9,000 pigs on the farms have been quarantined.


Authorities will cull some 23,000 animals within a 1.86-mile radius from the farms to prevent the spread of the disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals.


All livestock farms within a 12-mile radius from the infected farms will be prohibited from selling or moving any livestock.


The last FMD outbreak in the country was in April but the World Organization for Animal Health declared the country to be free of the disease on Sept. 27.


Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/artic...#ixzz16h8FruMk

[American Patriot]

South Koreans pressuring their government to use force

France 24 - ‎25 minutes ago‎
EXCLUSIVE REPORT: SOUTH KOREA - South Koreans pressuring their government to use force South Koreans are used to their turbulent North Korean neighbours but ...

[vector7]

Seoul vows naval, air strikes on NK

Korea Times ^| 11-29-2010 17:18



Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Monday that fighter jets and warships of South Korean and U.S. forces will immediately strike North Korean targets should the North launch an attack on the South’s soil again.

Kim’s remarks at a parliamentary session came as the allies were conducting high-profile naval and air strike drills in waters off Taean, about 170 kilometers southwest of Seoul, on the second day of a four-day joint exercise.

“Once the rules of engagement are revised, the Navy and Air Force will be allowed to conduct strikes (on North Korean targets),” Kim said at the National Assembly’s budget and account committee.

“We had viewed the North’s landing operations as the most serious threat to the islands near the sea border,” Kim said. “This was the first time that the North had attacked with its artillery, and I admit that we were unprepared for such a provocation.”

“As we suffered a surprise attack, we’ll come up with firm defense measures and will not allow any more provocations by the North,” said the outgoing defense minister who will be replaced by Kim Kwan-jin, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The defense minister-nominee is to undergo a parliamentary hearing in the coming weeks.

The joint exercise by the South Korean and U.S. militaries moved into full swing with a focus on U.S. fighter jets’ air-to-air combat, and air-to-ground precision-guided strikes against simulated North Korean aircraft and artillery sites near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the volatile sea border between the two Koreas, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

F-18 Hornet aircraft from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington conducted live-ammunition surgical strike exercises with allied warships, including South Korea’s Sejong the Great Aegis destroyer, a JCS official said.

“During an air defense simulation drill, our fighter aircraft defeated enemy aircraft infiltrating our territory and subsequently conducted precision strikes on ground targets in the North,” the official said. “Enemy aircraft were also intercepted by our advanced ship-to-air missiles.”

Approximately 80 U.S. aircraft participated in the exercises. They included F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters, F/A-18A/C Hornet fighters, E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft, EA-6B electronic warfare aircraft and SH-60 Seahawk helicopters.

The U.S. Air Force was flying a JSTARS surveillance aircraft to track littoral targets in North Korea, according to the JCS and Combined Forces Command.

U.S. navy ships taking part in the exercise include the guided-missile cruiser Cowpens and the guided-missile destroyers Stethem, Fitzgerald and Lassen.

The South Korean Navy deployed the 7,600-ton KDX-III Sejong the Great whose SPY-1D radar can track about 1,000 aircraft within a 500-kilometer radius simultaneously, 4,500-ton KDX-II destroyers, frigates and support ships, as well as P3-C maritime patrol aircraft and anti-submarine Lynx
helicopters.

The Air Force dispatched F-15K and KF-16 aircraft for the exercise.

[American Patriot]

US calls for tighter sanctions on North Korea
(AFP) – 39 minutes ago
UNITED NATIONS — The United States on Monday called for tighter enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear activities and its artillery attack last week on the rival South.
The United States expects UN Security Council sanctions committee experts "to intensify their important ongoing efforts to tighten sanctions enforcement," US ambassador Susan Rice said.
She called last week's deadly attack on Yeongpyeon island "outrageous" and said the United States would "work with the international community to maintain peace and security in this region as we simultaneously confront the threat posed by North Korea's ongoing nuclear activities."

[American Patriot]

I think this policy will put a stop to North Korea launching any more shells across the border.

If there is a "firm policy" in place, one that leaves no one any doubts as to the intentions for defense, then an offensive action simply won't happen.

It worked for Russia and the US for a long, long time.

[vector7]

China acts as conduit for North Korea's weapons trade, US claims

Hamish McDonald ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR

November 30, 2010

THE WikiLeaks documents will intensify pressure on China to clamp down on its North Korean ally's extensive secret arms trafficking, much of it conducted across Chinese territory according to American diplomats.

They show that the former US president George Bush complained about North Korean shipments of advanced missile components via Beijing to Iran when he met China's President, Hu Jintao, at the 2007 summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation group in Sydney.

Among the documents is a cable dated February 24 this year reporting that Iran appeared to have received a North Korean adaptation of a nuclear-capable Russian ballistic missile that is more powerful than anything known to be in Tehran's arsenal.

Advertisement: Story continues below The new missiles would give Iran the capacity to strike at capitals in Western Europe or easily reach Moscow. US officials warned that their advanced propulsion could speed Iran's development of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The missiles are based on a Russian model, called the R-27, once used aboard Soviet submarines to carry nuclear warheads. It appears that these missiles have been shipped via North Korea to Iran, possibly modified en route. The New York Times, which received the full WikiLeaks cache of leaked documents, opted not to publish the full text of the cable.

The maximum range of Iran's known ballistic missiles is about 1950 kilometres, sufficient to hit targets in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The modified R-27, known as the BM-25, would have a range of about 3200 kilometres, bringing targets such as Berlin and Moscow into range.

North Korea and Iran were part of a network of exchanges in missile, uranium enrichment and nuclear warhead knowhow run by the Pakistani nuclear chief A.Q.Khan, with many of the sensitive technology transfers made by air cargo across China to avoid American sea surveillance.

Accusations that North Korea has managed to export large ballistic missiles, in spite of the strategic arms embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council, will heighten US suspicions that China is not enforcing controls.

The documents do not suggest that Washington has engaged Beijing in talking about North Korea's future. US and South Korean officials have discussed the possible implosion of the North, with the South Koreans suggesting China needs to be involved with business deals to make a reunified Korea palatable.

[vector7]

Monday 29 November 2010

North Korea has 'cutting-edge nuclear fusion technology'

North Korea has said it has "cutting-edge" nuclear fusion technology, claiming a breakthrough in a field that has defied the world's scientific community.

Nuclear fusion – where atoms are not split, as in fission, but joined together to release energy – occurs in stars and hydrogen bombs. Scientists hope to harness it in a controlled way to produce limitless clean energy.

Pyongyang is "running on the front line of technologies" in nuclear fusion, bioengineering and nanotechnology, said the Rodong Sinmun, the ruling party's newspaper, in an editorial carried by the official news agency.

"Nuclear fusion technology that has gripped the attention of the world, biological engineering and nanotechnologies are being actively developed," said the daily from the impoverished and isolated country.

Last week North Korea attacked South Korea, shelling a border island, killing four and wounding 18 in the process, its first shelling of a civilian area in the South since the 1950-53 war.

Earlier this month North Korea unveiled a modern uranium reprocessing plant to a visiting US nuclear scientist, fuelling fears it could build up its stockpile of nuclear materials that can be weaponised.

It is already thought to have enough plutonium for six to eight small bombs.

The regime first claimed in May it had carried out a nuclear fusion reaction, a process that the International Atomic Energy Agency calls "a great challenge".

South Korea, the United States, European Union, Japan, China, India and Russia are partners in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project that aims to build a fusion power plant by the mid-2030s.

North Korea walked out of six-nation aid-for-nuclear disarmament talks with the South, Japan, Russia, China and the United States and staged a second atomic weapons test in 2009.

[American Patriot]

A guy I was talking to yesterday, in-game of all places (apparently a loud, obnoxious Canadian.... or perhaps European) said "North Korea has never produced a nuclear explosion".

/chuckles.

Here's evidence they are on the road to hydrogen bombs.

Good enough for me.

[vector7]

Flashback:

Clinton Administration Gave China Top Nuclear Secrets

Posted on Thursday, July 03, 2003 3:12:19 PM by OXENinFLA

A scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has provided information that seriously contradicts Clinton administration claims that nuclear secrets obtained by China were solely the result of espionage during the late 1980's.

snip.....

A nuclear weapons scientist, who has sought anonymity "to keep my position and keep supporting my family," has informed NewsMax.com that the Clinton administration has, in fact, aggressively sought to provide China with some of the nation's most closely guarded nuclear weapons technology.

"It seems like every day there are more and more Chinese at Livermore," he stated. The scientist said the administration had facilitated the transfer of laser technology employed in the process of making nuclear weapons-grade plutonium.

"Early in the 1980's a process was developed at Lawrence Livermore for producing weapons-grade plutonium," the scientist explained, revealing for the first time details of a U.S. government project then considered the government's most important.

snip....

This concern for security for the weapons enriching laser process, however, quickly faded during the Clinton administration.

During the Clinton administration's first year, China began making overtures to gain access to Livermore's weapons-grade enriching process.

For years the work at Livermore had been a prime target for Chinese espionage. In 1988, the FBI's Chief of Counterintelligence, Harry Godfrey III, told the Los Angeles Times that China was "the most active foreign power" seeking America's military secrets. Godfrey said Livermore National Laboratory was among China's main targets.

snip....

Garberson said that the rules at Livermore "remain by law: no transfer of classified technology to Russia and China" is permitted, and said he was familiar enough with programs there to know that no technologies had been reclassified to allow for Commerce Department officials to sell the technology abroad.

The Clinton administration had reset long-standing policies relating to technology transfers. By March of 1994, the administration had abolished the COCOM system that had safeguarded technology transfers from Western countries to East Bloc or communist nations.

Later the White House took the key decision-making powers over technology transfers from the State and Defense Departments and gave them to the Commerce Department.

These changes greatly expedited sales of U.S. technology, including supercomputers once prohibited for sale to communist countries and useful in developing nuclear weapons.

snip....

[vector7]

Monday, November 29, 2010
One Step From War

101127-N-7103C-105 West of the Korean Peninsula (Nov. 27, 2010) USS George Washington (CVN 73)Commanding Officer, Capt. David Lausman watches the Military Sealift Command's Fleet Replenishment Oiler USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO 199) as it transfers fuel to USS Cowpens (CG 63) and George Washington during a replenishment at sea. George Washington is currently helping to ensure security and stability in the waters west of the Korean peninsula. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class David A. Cox/Released)

Right after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took responsibility for failing to protect the country following the North Korean attack, he went on to answer the big question discussed in the comments on the blog over the last few days.

"In the past, North Korea has provoked us on many occasions, but this is the first time they have made a direct attack on South Korean soil," said Lee, making his first public remarks since the crisis began last week with the attack on civilian-inhabited Yeonpyeong island. "Launching a military attack on civilians is a crime against humanity, even during wartime."

Speaking at the Blue House, the presidential palace in Seoul, Lee outlined a series of past provocations from the North stretching back two decades, including the attempted assassination of the South Korean president in Rangoon in 1983, the bombing of a South Korean airliner in 1987, and the sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in March.

"Despite all of these provocations," Lee said, "we tolerated them in the belief that one day North Korea will change, and because of our hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula." He said South Korea has continued to engage in talks with Pyongyang and has given humanitarian assistance to the economically troubled country, but North Korea continued its pursuit of nuclear weapons and continued its attacks.

Now, Lee said, "South Koreans realize that tolerance and generosity bring more provocation." He said that South Korea would strengthen its military capability and would "make North Korea pay the due price by all means for its provocation from now on."

Folks have been asking how long South Korea and the US will take hits from North Korea without a significant military response. If this message suggests anything, it suggests that the last straws have been broken. The US has always been on South Korean time, and it appears the clock is set only a minute until midnight. South Korea is making clear that they respond to any future attack by North Korea with a substantial military response - and I would expect that attack to be disproportionately aggressive.

Given how unpredictable North Korea can be, that should raise the North Korea issue to the top concern of US, China, Russia, and Japan. It is worth noting that North Korea has not responded to China's calls to renew the 6 party talks, and equally noteworthy - China's criticism of the USS George Washington (CVN 73) in the Yellow Sea has been relatively quiet and measured; or perhaps more accurately described as nuanced.

The amount of influence China has over North Korea does appear to be in question right now, not just from the US and our partners, but more noteworthy - in the editorial pages in China as well.


Posted by Galrahn at 8:00 AM

[American Patriot]

Last straw.

Chinese editorials questioning their leadership (Someone is going to jail).

No more "Bully rules". You can't take the lunch money any more without some consequences.

So - take a stand and say... "No más! Fin a las hostilidades ya!"

O si no...

(Ok, well, I don't speak Korean, sorry. Best I could accomplish)

[American Patriot]

Yeonpyeong attack uniting South Korean public around harsher policy toward North



By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 29, 2010; 1:25 PM


SEOUL - With its brazen daytime artillery barrage of a civilian-inhabited island, North Korea's reclusive leaders might have achieved one thing that had so far eluded South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak: uniting the South Korean public around a more aggressive policy toward the North.


Lee took office in 2008 vowing to end the decade-long "sunshine policy" of his two predecessors, which increased political and economic ties with North Korea as a way of reducing military tension on the Korean peninsula.


But Lee found the Korean public deeply divided, with little appetite among many for a return to a more confrontational approach.



After North Korea torpedoed and sank a South Korean naval warship, the Cheonan, in March, killing 46 sailors, South Korean opinion was sharply split, with a large number of young people not believing the official government-led report that found Pyongyang responsible for the attack.



The split largely reflected what analysts and average Koreans agreed was a generational divide. Older Koreans, especially those who fought in the Korean War or had a living memory of it, were vastly more inclined to view North Korea as a hostile enemy to be confronted. Young people, particularly those in their 20s who came of age during the sunshine policy, had no interest in a conflict and were just as inclined to disbelieve their own political leaders as to blame North Korea.






But North Korea's Nov. 23 attack on Yeonpyeong island, which killed two civilians as well as two soldiers, might be narrowing that divide.



"My generation is only thinking about resolving the situation peacefully without war. My parents always factored in war as a possibility," said Choi So-young, a 22-year-old civil engineering student at Yonsei University in Seoul. "My view has changed about North Korea. This is the first time in my life I'm thinking about war."



Another student, Byun Jong-kuk, 25, who is studying political science at Yonsei, said, "Definitely there is a generation gap.



"The older generation was educated with the anti-Communist focus," Byun said. "But people in their 20s, we've gone to high school and university under the government's sunshine policy. I think the gap was very vivid during the Cheonan sinking. But the country is unified now."



In another part of the city, where a group of octogenarian Korean War veterans gathered Monday for their monthly buffet lunch followed by a chat in the next-door coffee shop, the talk was much the same - about the latest North Korean provocation, the government's response and South Korea's youth.



Lee Chong-sik, 81, a retired lieutenant colonel who still carries shrapnel in his back from the 1950s war, said the policy of outreach to the North "ruined" many of South Korea's youth.



"Young people have no knowledge of history," he said. "They are educated to think, 'We don't want war.' You can't expect them to fight for the country."



But, he added, "since the Yeonpyeong attack, young people realize we should not sit idly by."



Shim Ho-eun, 84, also a retired lieutenant colonel, agreed that the attack might have been "a wake-up call."



"We grew up in a hard time, in poverty," Shim said, slicing the air with his hand for emphasis. "The young generation grew up in a more prosperous time. I think maybe they are lacking in patriotism. Maybe this Yeonpyeong case is a chance for them to renew their patriotism."



The old vets were highly critical of the sunshine policy, launched by Kim Dae-jung in 1998 and continued by his successor, Roh Moo-hyun. The policy saw some dramatic successes, including the establishment of an industrial park six miles north of the demilitarized zone, and the first summit of the presidents of North and South Korea in 2000. Kim was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that year.



The older Koreans also spoke in bitter terms about South Korea's education system, which they said failed to inculcate young students in the threat the country faced. Before the end of military rule in South Korea, extreme anti-communism was a staple of classrooms. But conservative critics complain that under South Korea's new democracy, anti-communism has been replaced by "leftist" teaching that plays down the threat from the North.



Lee Nae-Young, a political scientist at Korea University, said, "The recent Yeonpyeong attack clearly has narrowed the gap between the old and new generations' perceptions on North Korea and how South Korea should respond to North Korean provocations."



Although there would still be differences about exactly how the country should respond to future attacks, he said, "after the Yeonpyeong provocation, North Korea has become definitely more of an enemy state than a brother state. There has been a consensus that it is unrealistic to deal with North Korea through dialogues, and the Yeonpyeong attack has been a crucial moment to confirm that consensus."



President Lee was alluding to that emerging new consensus in his address to the nation Monday morning. Outlining a series of North Korean attacks stretching back two decades, he said South Korea's policy of restraint had only emboldened the Pyongyang regime to continue its provocative acts.



Saying he was "outraged by the ruthlessness of the North Korean regime," Lee added: "There was a split in public opinion over the torpedoing of the Cheonan. Unlike that time, our people have united as one this time."



Byun, the political science student, said it might have taken a dramatic incident like the attack on Yeonpyeong to shake young people out of their complacency. "The young generation doesn't know," he said. "When they were born, there was freedom and peace."



He added, switching to English from Korean, "The young generation doesn't know about freedom and how to achieve it. It's a big problem."



richburgk@washpost.com Special correspondent Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.

[American Patriot]

Japan rejects emergency N.Korea talks proposal: report
(AFP) – 51 minutes ago


TOKYO — The Japanese foreign minister on Monday rejected China's proposal of emergency six-party talks on North Korea aimed at defusing the crisis on the divided peninsula, the Wall Street Journal said.


Seiji Maehara told the newspaper there would be no point in restarting stalled discussions between the isolated North and five other nations including Japan unless they could make real progress.


"It's unacceptable for us to hold six-party talks only because North Korea has gone amok," the minister said.


"We must first see some kind of sincere effort from North Korea, on its uranium enrichment program and the latest incident."


Prime Minister Naoto Kan has yet to formally reject the proposal, having told reporters earlier Monday: "We want to respond to (the proposal) cautiously while consulting with the United States and South Korea."


The details of a meeting between Maehara, South Korea's Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Kim Sung Hwan, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were under discussion Tuesday, according to Japan's Kyodo news.


The meeting has been pencilled in for December 6 in Washington, the report said.


Tensions rose sky-high last week after the North shelled a South Korean border island, killing four people and wounding 18 in the first bombardment of a civilian area in the South since the Korean war.


China, Pyongyang's sole major ally, on Sunday proposed "emergency consultations" in Beijing early next month among chief envoys to the stalled six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament.


Its top envoy on North Korea, Wu Dawei, stressed that the proposal did not constitute a formal resumption of the negotiations, but he said he hoped they would lead to such a resumption soon.


South Korea, the United States and Russia are also involved in the six-party talks but Washington has urged North Korea to stop what it describes as provocative behaviour before they can resume.


State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Sunday that Washington would "continue to consult with others, including China, on a future course".


South Korea, which is pressing Beijing to be more even-handed in the standoff, has also reacted cautiously to the talks proposal, saying it wanted to see "tangible actions" from its neighbour on denuclearisation.


Shortly before the North's deadly attack on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong on November 23, it sparked alarm by showing an American scientist a new uranium enrichment facility that he said could be used for nuclear weapons.


The US and South Korea on Monday staged the second day of their biggest-ever naval exercise in a show of strength against North Korea's regime, which has also tested nuclear bombs and is blamed for sinking a South Korean warship in March.


Far to the south of the disputed border between North and South, the US and South Korean fleets staged an intensive live-fire exercise involving multiple aircraft from the US carrier George Washington.


Eleven ships from the two navies plus aircraft and more than 7,000 personnel are taking part in the four-day drill.


North Korea said the exercise brings the peninsula to the brink of war, and the drill has also riled China, which sees the Yellow Sea as its backyard.


Stanford University professor Siegfried Hecker was taken to visit North Korea's new and previously unknown uranium enrichment plant this month and said it was equipped with at least 1,000 centrifuges.


Pyongyang's latest moves could be to generate much-needed electricity, he said in a report on the plant at the Yongbyon nuclear complex.


"Yet, the military potential of uranium enrichment technology is serious."

[American Patriot]