Korean Peninsula On The Brink Of War

[Backstop]

BRV, glad you're staying on top of this.

[American Patriot]

Russia worried about N.Korea's nuclear activities
(AFP) – 1 hour ago
MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday he was deeply worried by North Korea's capacity to enrich uranium which could be used to make nuclear weapons.
During a meeting with his North Korean counterpart Pak Ui-Chun, "Lavrov expressed his deep concern about information about the industrial uranium enrichment capability at Yongbyon," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Yongbyon has been for decades at the heart of North Korea's drive for nuclear weapons, with a now-ageing gas graphite reactor producing enough plutonium for possibly six to eight bombs.
Lavrov "called on North Korea to comply with UN Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874," said the statement.
Resolution 1874, which was adopted unanimously by the Security Council on June 12, 2009, imposes economic and trade sanctions on North Korea for failing to comply with resolution 1718 over its nuclear programme.
Moscow also called for a resumption of six-party talks on the programme.
"The Russian side noted that it was indispensable to relaunch the process of six-party talks on the North Korea issue," said Lavrov.
Russia is one of the six countries involved in the stalled talks alongside the two Koreas, China, Japan and the United States.
China proposed in late November to hold a new meeting but the idea has been cold-shouldered by Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.
Moscow, along with Beijing, has had warm relations with communist North Korea since the days of the old Soviet Union and has sought to ease tensions after North Korea's artillery attack on a South Korean island on November 23.
Talks between Lavrov and his North Korean opposite number are due to continue until Wednesday.

[BRVoice]

BRV, glad you're staying on top of this.

Thanks Backstop

[American Patriot]

South Korea Resumes Live-Fire Artillery Drills

VOA News 13 December 2010
[IMG]http://media.voanews.com/images/480*320/AP_South_Korea_Koreas_Clash_13Dec2010_480.jpg[/IMG] Photo: AP

Kim Kwang-hoon, left, a former North Korean soldier who defected to South Korea, explains North Korea's self-propelled artillery during a rally denouncing North Korea's Nov. 23 bombardment on South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong, Seoul, 13 Dec. 2010



South Korean forces are embarking on a second week of live-fire drills around the nation's coasts, disregarding a warning from North Korea that the exercises could spark a nuclear war.

South Korea is also planning civil defense drills to prepare its people for the possibility of hostilities with the North. A former U.S. intelligence chief said in an interview Sunday that he expects any further provocation from the North to spark limited military clashes.

On the diplomatic front, a U.S. military delegation was in Seoul for talks Monday, while China continues to press for emergency talks between North Korea and other regional powers.

The live-fire drills are set to run Monday through Friday at 27 sites including 15 on the Yellow Sea coast where a North Korean artillery attack killed four South Koreans last month.

North Korea denounced the artillery exercises, saying they were "bringing the dark clouds of a nuclear war" to the Korean peninsula. But South Korean officials said none of the drills would take place near the contested maritime border between the two Koreas.

The South also urged citizens to pay closer than usual attention to a nationwide civil defense drill set for Wednesday afternoon. Such drills are conducted monthly, but officials said they are seeking special cooperation in light of the increased threat of hostilities.

The French news agency Agence France Presse said the drill will focus on directing citizens to the nation's thousands of underground shelters. It said about 12 jet fighters will simulate air strikes overhead.

Former U.S. intelligence chief Dennis Blair, who just completed a visit to South Korea, said in an interview that he expects clashes to break out between the two Koreas. But he said on U.S. television that he believes the fighting will be contained because North Korea knows it would lose an all-out war.

In Beijing, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Sunday that China will be patient in pressing for six-way talks with North Korea to ease tensions on the peninsula. The United States, South Korea and Japan, which met in Washington last week, have been reluctant to sit down with China, Russia and North Korea until Pyongyang shows greater evidence of its sincerity.


Michael Schiffer, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense, reiterated the United States' commitment to South Korea's security following a one-day meeting Monday in Seoul.


Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is scheduled to arrive in Pyongyang for a private visit beginning Tuesday. Richardson is currently governor of the U.S. state of New Mexico.

[American Patriot]

Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010

Patriot batteries to be expanded
Kyodo News

Under new defense policy guidelines covering the five years from April 2011, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor missiles will be deployed at air bases nationwide to counter the North Korean ballistic missile threat, officials said.

A draft appendix to the guidelines, which are to be adopted this month and possibly as early as this week, also stipulates equipping all six Aegis destroyers with Standard Missile-3 interceptors while cutting tanks and artillery by about 200 each to 400, the government and Self-Defense Forces officials said.

Along with a plan to increase the number of submarines from 16 to 22 for enhanced vigilance around the Nansei chain of islands in the southwest centering on Okinawa, the planned defense posture is apparently aimed at dealing with North Korea and deterring China.

The move comes amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea's shelling of on a South Korean island last month as well as China's rapid military buildup and increasing naval activity.

The PAC-3 missile system, designed to shoot down an incoming missile from the ground moments before reaching its target, will be deployed by all six Air Self-Defense Force air-defense missile groups from three at present, the officials said.

The three groups that currently have the system are at the Iruma base in Saitama Prefecture covering the Tokyo metropolitan area, the Kasuga base in Fukuoka Prefecture responsible for security in Kyushu and the Gifu base aimed at defending Nagoya and Osaka.

The other ASDF bases — in Chitose, Hokkaido; Misawa, Aomori Prefecture; and Naha, Okinawa Prefecture — are currently equipped with PAC-2 missiles designed to shoot down enemy aircraft.

Under the fiscal 2011 budget, the government is eyeing transferring some PAC-3 missiles to Chitose and Misawa in the north from their current bases while introducing new PAC-3s to cover Naha.

Four of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's six Aegis destroyers are equipped at present with SM-3 interceptors designed to knock out an enemy missile before it enters the Earth's atmosphere.

Defense officials say the increase in submarines is needed because no SDF units are deployed west of Miyako Island near Taiwan and China, making the area a defense "vacuum."

[BRVoice]

North Korean motives on the line
By Sunny Lee
AsiaTimes Online
December 14, 2010

BEIJING - "The next Korean War will come from the NLL." This is a new mantra among Korea watchers. The NLL - Northern Limit Line - is the inter-Korean maritime border in place since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The latest incident of North Korea's shelling on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, which spiked tension on the Korean Peninsula to the highest level since the war, occurred in the disputed sea border.

The sinking of the Cheonan, an 88-meter South Korean corvette, in March in which 46 South Korean sailors died, also took place near the NLL. And waters near Yeonpyeong were also the site of major naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and 2009, along with other small-scale skirmishes that mostly went unreported.

As a flashpoint for instability on the Korean Peninsula, especially at a time when some analysts fear miscalculations on either side might swiftly lead to full-scale war, interest in the NLL is intensifying.

Drawn at the close of the Korean War in 1953 by United Nations forces led by the United States, the inter-Korean maritime border demarcated the sea waters of inter-Korean territory around Yeonpyeong Island, 80 kilometers from the South Korean port of Incheon but just 11 kilometers from the North Korean mainland. Pyongyang all along has not recognized the sea border since it was established without its consent.

The area also happens to be very lucrative crab fishing grounds often entered by North Korean fishing boats escorted by navy patrol boats. Tension often escalates when they are reluctant to leave after being warned by South Korea navy vessels. Some of the previous deadly clashes happened in this fashion.

"This is a major source of inter-Korean tensions since 1953. I think something has to be done about it," said John Park, senior research associate for Northeast Asia at the United States Institute of Peace.

The latest tragic Yeonpyeong clash resulted in four South Korean deaths, including two civilians. The international community condemned the North's attack, yet North Korea has all along claimed it was triggered by the South. The North has repeated the claim through various government mouthpieces, from the Korean People's Army (November 23), the Foreign Ministry (November 23), the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (November 26), and the Korean Central News Agency (November 27).

Just last week, the North's media claimed: "NLL is a tinderbox [for clashes], engineered by the US to start a second Korean war."

Given the explosive nature of the matter, the previous two governments in South Korea under presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, who pursued a policy of engagement and reconciliation with North Korea, tried to deal with it. Observers note the effort was halted with the election of the conservative-leaning hardline President Lee Myung-bak in 2008.

Since the Cheonan incident, joint South Korean-US military drills, including near the disputed sea border, have provoked an angry reaction from North Korea. The Yeonpyeong artillery shelling took place as South Korea was carrying out drills in the region.

Han Park, director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues at the University of Georgia, said that while North Korea's firing of artillery killing civilians cannot be justified, its claim that South Korea triggered the attack deserves close attention and the North Korean artillery attack was a display of its claim sovereignty.

"North Koreans from day one of the Yeonpyeong incident have been saying that they were ‘provoked' by South Korea,'' said Park. ''Here, we have to understand that what they were saying was that the area is disputed.

''Yeonpyeong Island is right in the disputed area. North Korea sent a couple of warnings, saying any kind of military maneuver or sending bullets into what they consider their territory would be considered military provocation. From the North Korean perspective, if they don't do anything, then that would mean they would simply be accepting it as South Korean territory."

Park, a long-time North Korea watcher with over 50 visits to North Korea, said the matter needed to be carefully examined to prevent similar incidents. "Some people think I am a North Korean sympathizer. I am not. I think we're dealing with facts here. What we have is a disputed set of facts. And if this is going to be a future source of conflict and future fighting, then we have to address the source of this problem."

China has a sympathetic attitude toward Pyongyang's efforts to keep its national boundary line. "The interpretation that it was South Korea who was conducting live fire drills in the area despite North Korean warnings has a wide currency among Chinese," said the United States Institute of Peace's John Park. "China's sympathy toward North Korea on this matter also feeds into the explanation of why China is not willing to put pressure on North Korea to the level that Washington and Seoul were expecting. That's a factor that has been overlooked in understanding China's reluctance to join the international community."

Room for miscalculation and miscommunication is another problem. On the day of the Yeonpyeong incident, after the North's initial shelling at 2:34 pm, South Korean air bombers were in the air at 2:38 pm waiting for orders. At 3:12 pm, North Korea launched a second round of shelling. That the North didn't shell a third time prevented a major clash. Citing a senior official at the presidential Blue House, South Korean media on Sunday revealed that Seoul was ready to launch airstrikes into North Korea if there had been a third round of North Korean shelling.

"It's true that our fighters were up and ready during the time of the North's attacks," the unnamed official, quoted by South Korea's Yonhap agency, said. With an apparent tinge of regret, the official said: "Actually, we should have made a stern strike [against North Korea] before the North's artillery got cold."

To prevent a major inter-Korean arms clash, analysts have called for the establishment of a regional monitoring arrangement. "If there is a warning or dispute on a particular incident, that should be communicated in a way that we as an international community or as a regional grouping can address those statements, rather than waiting for it to escalate," said John Park at the Institute of Peace.

In the meantime, analysts differ on what North Korea wanted to achieve through provocation this time. Some suspect it was more than just North Korea enforcing its territorial sovereignty.

Andrei Lankov, a Russia-born expert on North Korea who teaches at South Korea's Kookmin University, believes it was North Korea's heightened posture to seek the attention of the US. "Their message is the same. We are here, We are dangerous and unpredictable. We cannot be ignored. We are becoming even more dangerous every year, so it is better for you to pay attention to us," said Lankov.

John Park at the Institute of Peace takes a different view. "An explanation quite common is that any behavior of North Korea is an attempt to get the US and South Korea back to the negotiation table. I don't agree with that. There are certain North Korean measures and actions that are geared toward negotiation and their strategy of trying to get various parties back to the negotiation table in a situation favorable to North Korean interests. But when it comes to exchange of artillery fire, it is more about the turf. That is an age-old source of conflict, seen throughout the history of human conflict over disputed territory."

Hajime Izumi, a professor of international relations at Japan's University of Shizuoka, believes North Korea's ultimate goal of the NLL provocation is to seek a peace treaty with the US and South Korea. "North Korea takes the NLL very seriously. The solution is a peace agreement from the North's side. North Korea wants South Korea to take a peace agreement seriously too.

"But South Korea and the US are reluctant because they fear that after entering into a peace negotiation with the South, North Korea will likely demand the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea. It will open a Pandora's box with many security ramifications for US strategy in the region," said Izumi.

Gordon Flake, the executive director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and a long-time North Korea watcher, believes focusing on the NLL is missing the point. "In my mind, it's really not the NLL issue," he said.

"The NLL has been an area for disputes since the Korean War. It's only when North Korea chooses to use it for political purposes that it becomes an agenda. So, to say that the Yeonpyeong Island is a problem because of the NLL misses the point. This is the first time for Kim Jong-il to shell the island. It's not because of the NLL. It's because of the decision made in Pyongyang to proceed with that type of action. And I think it has more to do with domestic politics in Pyongyang than any change in North Korean views about the NLL itself," Flake said.

Citing intelligence sources, South Korea's largest-selling and conservative daily, Chosun Ilbo, said prior to the North's artillery shelling on Yeonpyeong that Kim Jong-il and his son Kim Jong-eun, the hair-apparent, visited a military base in the Hwanghae province, not far from Yeonpyeong.

"A lot of other intelligence suggests this was a pre-planned strike. North Korean artillery shelling didn't start until four hours after the South Korean artillery practice had been taken care of. This is not a reaction to the South Korean move. This is a premeditated move on North Korea's part. Obviously there is a dynamic in the inter-Koreans relationship that responds to exercises with exercises. But the real question is did they really intend to kill civilians? If so, that would be very disturbing," said Flake.

Regardless of what the North aimed to do with the shelling, Zhao Huji, a political scientist at the Central Party School in Beijing, an elite institution that educates Communist Party cadre, believes North Korea is increasingly likely to turn to military means as it will help sculpt the leadership image of Kim Jong-eun as a heroic military general and boost his legitimacy among the domestic audience. And for that matter, he is not very optimistic.

"We're dealing with a dead alley here," he said "It's a situation that is difficult to find a solution to. North Korea has a national policy which puts the military first, which means it's very prone to be hostile. It is more likely to be so, partly to justify Kim Jong-eun's succession."

Sunny Lee (sleethenational@gmail.com) is a Seoul-born columnist and journalist; he has degrees from the US and China.

(Copyright 2010 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

[American Patriot]

North Korean State Media Announces Preparation For All-Out War

Joe Weisenthal | Dec. 12, 2010, 9:02 PM | 3,896 |



From the official media organ of the DPRK, word that the country is prepared for "all-out war" with its southern neighbor:
---------
Pyongyang, December 11 (KCNA) -- The war confab of the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean warmongers is, in fact, little short of a declaration of an all-out war aimed at the escalated skirmish, declared a spokesman for the National Peace Committee of Korea in a statement released on Saturday.

He went on to say:

The U.S. imperialists and the puppet warmongers held a meeting of the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of south Korea and the U.S. in Seoul on December 8 at which they discussed a very dangerous war scenario calling on the puppet forces and the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces to mount a military attack on the DPRK under the pretext of "deterring provocation" of someone.

The U.S. imperialists openly approved the puppet forces′ plan to attack the DPRK by mobilizing all fighters and warships, etc. not bound to the existing "rules and regulations for battles," touting "their right to self-defence." They, at the same time, declared they would consider the proposal for supporting the puppet forces with "information about north Korea" and with "F-22 Raptors" advertised by them as the "most sophisticated fighters in the world" in case of a war between the north and the south of Korea.

This indicates that the U.S. is fully joining in the puppet forces′ moves for a war of aggression against the DPRK after throwing away the disguise of a hypocrite.

The puppet warmongers are behaving like mad dogs after facing resolute punishment by the Korean People′s Army for their reckless military provocations. They are going reckless, vociferating about "retaliation" and "punishment."

The U.S. is zealously egging the puppet forces on to kick up military hysteria, dispatching its military brasshat to Seoul, reinforcing its armed forces for aggression, escalating war exercises and rounding off its "plan for limited war."

It is as clear as a pikestaff that if the puppet army mobilizes all flying corps, warships and missiles for a war against the DPRK and the U.S. imperialists join them with latest military hardware involved, it will develop into an all-out war, not confined to a local war.

The above-said war confab made it clearer that the warship sinking case and the Yonphyong Island shelling incident cooked up by the puppet group and the U.S. imperialist warmongers were aimed at sparking off an all-out war.

It is ridiculous for the puppet group to talk about "right to self-defence" and the like as it is no more than war servants and colonial stooges of the U.S. Its outbursts are nothing but sheer sophism intended to cover up its military provocations and war moves.

The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to the phase of an all-out war due to the reckless provocations of the U.S. imperialists and the puppet warmongers.

The prevailing situation reminds one of the eve of the past Korean War when the U.S. imperialists instigated the puppet forces to launch invasion of the DPRK.

Should an all-out war break out again on this land, it will never confine to the boundary of the peninsula.

The army and people of the DPRK are ready for both escalated war and an all-out war.

They will deal merciless retaliatory blows at the provocateurs and aggressors and blow up their citadels and bases and thus honorably defend the dignity and security of the nation.

The warmongers of south Korea and the U.S. imperialists had better behave themselves, bearing in mind that their ignition of a dangerous war will bring them nothing but self-destruction. -0-





Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/north...#ixzz181f4UHfN

[BRVoice]

Picture of the Day: North Korean Artillery Ranges


Via Yonhap.

[American Patriot]

Summary Box: BOK says must prepare for unification

Dec 13, 2010 1:10 PM MT
By The Associated Press

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BE PREPARED: South Korea central bank chief Kim Choong-soo said comments by the nation's president that unification with rival North Korea is approaching highlights that policymakers need to prepare for the prospect. But he wouldn't speculate on how much it would cost.
THE BACKDROP: Inter-Korean tensions have soared since the North attacked a southern front-line island last month with a barrage of artillery, killing four people. But during a trip to Malaysia last week, President Lee Myung-bak said North Koreans are increasingly aware that South Korean citizens are better off, saying "Reunification is drawing near."
THE ECONOMIES: The Bank of Korea has said the size of the North's economy last year was estimated at about $25 billion. The North's economy shrank last year amid poor harvests, a slump in manufacturing and the weight of strengthened international sanctions targeting its nuclear program. The South's gross domestic product, a measure of the value of all goods and services produced in the country, stood at $832.9 billion in 2009.

[BRVoice]

South Korea, U.S. agree on joint deterrence panel
The Korea Herald
2010-12-13 19:43

South Korea and the U.S. signed an agreement concerning the operation of a joint committee aimed at dealing with nuclear and conventional military threats from North Korea during their regular security talks in Seoul on Monday.

The allies held the 27th Security Policy Initiative meeting to discuss alliance and security issues including a recent series of North Korean provocations such as the Nov. 23 artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island in the West Sea.

They discussed the issues involving the creation and operation of the “Extended Deterrence Policy Committee,” which will begin running on a full scale early next year.

The special committee is to serve as a cooperative channel to improve the effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear commitment for its ally, or “extended deterrence.”

“At the SPI talks, the two sides signed the terms of reference for the operation of the committee. At the committee, all kinds of threats including those from nuclear, chemical, biological and conventional attacks can be discussed. But things related to nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction will be key agenda items,” the ministry said in a press release.

Chang Gwang-il, deputy minister for policy at the Ministry of National Defense, and Michael Schiffer, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, led the SPI meeting.

At the 42nd Security Consultative Meeting in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 8, then Defense Minister Kim Tae-young and his U.S. counterpart Robert Gates agreed to establish the special committee.

The committee is designed to discuss measures to deal with North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction, and periodically observe and assess the effectiveness of the extended deterrence.

“There have so far been varying views on North Korea’s nuclear threats and threats from its WMDs according to different research institutions and scholars. In that regard, the committee is meaningful as (through it) the government will officially evaluate the threats and develop measures to deal with them,” Chang told reporters.

“We will discuss and develop policy alternatives to deal with threats including those from the North’s recently unveiled uranium enrichment program.”

The committee’s high-level plenary session, in which representatives of the two sides will take part will be held twice a year and its result will be reported to the SCM, the allies’ annual defense ministers’ meeting, according to the ministry.

The first of the high-level session is scheduled to be held in the United States in March next year.

At the committee, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia and the deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy will represent the U.S. while the deputy minister for policy will represent the South.

“The committee is not a temporary countermeasure to respond to North Korean provocations. (The allies) will continue to strengthen their cooperation on matters related to extended deterrence,” the ministry said.

“We will strengthen joint research and develop policy alternatives to enhance credibility, effectiveness and sustainability of the extended deterrence in order to effectively deal with changing (security) threats.”

The two sides also discussed a set of alliance issues such as the realignment of the U.S. troops on the peninsula and the implementation of the “Strategic Alliance 2015” ― a plan to ensure the successful transfer of wartime operational control scheduled for Dec. 1, 2015.

South Korea and the U.S. have held SPI talks every two or three months since 2005 to discuss a wide range of security and military issues to better deal with North Korea’s military threats.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldm.com)

[vector7]

North Korea threatens preparation for `all-out war`

DECEMBER 13, 2010 11:19

North Korea said over the weekend that it is prepared for escalation of inter-Korean tension into "all-out war."

The state-run (North) Korean Central News Agency quoted a statement by the spokesman of the National Peace Committee of Korea, a North Korean organization responsible for propaganda against South Korea.

On the recent meeting between the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the South and the U.S., the committee said, “It is a very risky plot to wage war to militarily attack us. It is like a declaration of war to begin an all-out war through military escalation,” adding, “The situation on the Korean Peninsula is moving close to the phase of all-out war due to the provocations of the U.S. and war-like South Korea.”

“It is obvious that the mobilization of South Korea’s aircraft, warships and missiles and the U.S. deployment of state-of-the-art war equipment will not be limited to a local war but expand to an all-our war.”

“Another all-out war on our soil will not be confined to the Korean Peninsula,” it added.

Since its shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, the North has threatened countries surrounding the peninsula such as Japan, saying, “An all-out war between the two Koreas will affect peace and safety in Northeast Asia.”

“We will mete out brutal punishment for those who make provocations and invade us to destroy their strongholds. By doing so, we will protect the dignity and safety of our nation.”

[vector7]

Japan 'Could Deploy Troops in Korea in Emergency'

December 14, 2010



Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan raised hackles in Korea on Saturday by saying Tokyo will consider dispatching troops there to rescue Japanese citizens in case of an emergency. Kan told reporters his government will consult on the matter with the South Korean government and revise Japanese laws to allow the country's Self-Defense Force to engage in such rescue operations.

The daily Tokyo Shimbun reported on Sunday that the Japanese government already sounded out to the Korean government the possibility of dispatching SDF transport aircraft and vessels to Seoul, Incheon and Busan to rescue around 28,000 Japanese citizens residing in Korea.



U.S. warships led by the nuclear-powered attack submarine Houston sail the Pacific Ocean south of Japan on Friday. /Courtesy of U.S. Navy
But the daily said the Korean government rejected the proposal citing a potential public outrage among Koreans who may be reminded of the forced occupation of their country by the Japanese imperial military from 1910 to 1945. Seoul was also reportedly concerned that the consultation itself could give the impression that a war is imminent.

But Seoul denied knowledge of the plan. "Japan neither raised the issue nor discussed it with us," a Cheong Wa Dae official said. "We don't know in what context Kan made the comments."

Another Korean official said the dispatch abroad of Japanese troops "is a matter of controversy even within Japan" and the remarks "were almost totally unexpected." He added the comments "appear rather imprudent considering they came from the Japanese leader and concerned sensitive national security issues."

[American Patriot]

I think the South Koreans need to lower their hackles and start thinking in terms of kicking ass, taking names and accepting help from their Japanese neighbors.

The Japanese that fought in WWII and the Koreans who lived then are pretty much gone now - there are very few World War II people left. Those that are, are old enough to know better.

I think that's a case of Political Correctness rearing it's ugly head yet again.

[Backstop]

Haven't seen wallis in a while.

Wouldn't mind reading his take on all this.

[BRVoice]

Seoul, Washington Suspect More North Korean Uranium Sites
The Chosun Ilbo - December 14, 2010

South Korea and the U.S. are trying to find out if North Korea is clandestinely operating more undisclosed uranium enrichment facilities in addition to a plant at Yongbyon it recently showed to visiting U.S. expert.

"Yongbyon was not included in the list of three or four locations that Seoul and Washington had previously suspected," a South Korean intelligence official said Monday. "We understand that the North has long been conducting a uranium enrichment experiment somewhere else."

South Korean and U.S. officials were surprised to hear about the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon after Siegfried Hecker's visit early last month.

North Korean officials told Hecker the facility is equipped with 2,000 centrifuges. Hecker himself said he saw "hundreds."

In an article for Foreign Affairs last Friday, he writes, "The centrifuge facility we saw is most likely designed to make reactor, not bomb, fuel, because it would not make sense to construct it in a previously inspected site and show it to foreign visitors. However, it is highly likely that a parallel covert facility capable of [highly enriched uranium] production exists elsewhere in the country."

South Korea and the U.S. apparently have their eye on a research institute in downtown Pyongyang and a missile base in Yongjori, Yanggang Province, as well as a cave complex in Kumchangri 160 km north of Pyongyang, as sites suspected of being secret uranium enrichment facilities.

englishnews@chosun.com / Dec. 14, 2010 07:37 KST

[Backstop]

Just FYI I guess:

The Japanese that fought in WWII and the Koreans who lived then are pretty much gone now - there are very few World War II people left. Those that are, are old enough to know better.

Yeah, but don't underestimate the Korean hatred for Japan - to this day.

I've met and talked with a few folks our age, Rick.

It's certainly something that crossed the generational line.

And they'll take that hatred to their grave, I suspect.

I remember going to Osan for the weekend.

The U.S. did something with Japan, and Koreans outside the base protested - which resulted in the base being locked down.

I went and looked, and it appeared most if not all the protesters will college age.

[BRVoice]

North Korea to Continue to Bolster Nuke Deterrence
Write 2010-12-11 12:56:41 Update 2010-12-11 14:35:19


North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun says his country will continue to strengthen its nuclear deterrence against South Korean and U.S. hostility.

Pak, in an interview with the Russian news agency Interfax in Pyongyang on Friday, blasted Seoul and Washington for what he said were their policies that incite continued confrontation.

He said that tension on the Korean Peninsula can't be eliminated unless South Korea and the U.S. change their stance and that North Korea will continue to bolster its defense capabilities, including nuclear development, in the future.

He said that the situation on the peninsula is at a very dangerous point and that inter-Korean ties have worsened in unprecedented terms due to South Korean and U.S. policies.

The minister said he will discuss with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov bilateral relations and other global concerns during a four-day visit to Moscow that starts Sunday.

[BRVoice]

Prophecy of Doom Creating Problems
Daily NK
By Im Jeong Jin
[2010-12-13 15:54]

“The Prophecy of Kim Hyong Jik,” a comment made by Kim Il Sung’s father and cultivated by the Chosun Workers' Party History Institute during the mid-1990s, is back on the lips of North Koreans in their fifties and sixties, increasing anxiety about the Kim Jong Eun succession.

A North Korean internal source explained the problem to The Daily NK on December 12th, saying, "The prophecy, which was left by Kim Hyong Jik when he was alive, says that 'What is awakened in the father's generation, is implemented in the son's generation, and thrives in the grandson's generation'. It has recently started to be spoken of again by the older generation.”

Therefore, the source explained, “The people are saying to each other, 'Now, Chosun is down to the great-grandson's generation, which means only disaster is left'."

According to North Korea’s creatively conceived “revolutionary history”, Kim Il Sung is said to have inherited “lofty aspirations”, the “comradely idea” and two pistols from his father Kim Hyong Jik. According to standard revolutionary history texts, it is thus said that Kim Hyong Jik “realized” the reality of North Korea, that Kim Il Sung “implemented” the realization by founding North Korea, and that Kim Jong Il has caused the nation to “thrive.”

Kim Hyong Jik is therefore frequently used as a tool in the idolization of the Kim family. In the 1960s and 1970s, study of the “comradely idea” was formalized in the Party, Kim Hyong Jik district came into being in Yangkang Province and there is a school for university professors, “Kim Hyong Jik College of Education.”

Of course, North Korea intentionally emphasized the “Prophecy of Kim Hyong Jik” in the mid-1990s to try and calm a society gripped by famine.

Indeed, Kim Jong Il himself is said to have commented, "From early on, teacher Kim Hyong Jik laid out a far-reaching ideology, and he created a song called 'the Green Pine-tree on Mt. Nam,' which conveyed the idea that revolution should be undertaken by every generation in succession. The Great Leader inherited and improved the ideology, and paved the new path of our revolution. And the teaching was ultimately fulfilled by me."

According to the source, Kim Hyong Jik issued the prophecy in 1918, saying, "Sung Ju (the childhood name of Kim Il Sung) is the morning star and the Great Bear so he needs to eat wild ginseng from the heavens. He will be healthy and live to a great age, but needs to be cautious of snakes and crows in his 80s. In the era of Sung Ju's son, the nation will become strong and prosperous."

Speaking on Sunday, the source also explained how the sudden death of Kim Il Sung in the mid-90s played a role in the background to the spread of the prophecy.

The story says that Kim Il Sung’s aide found a snake coiled up in the middle of the road to the villa at Mt. Myohang, where Kim would later pass away, and said, “I will go around it”. However, Kim Il Sung ignored the comment and scared away the serpent with a stick, causing his own sudden death. It displays the thinking of the North Korean people, who saw Kim’s death as a superstition-based phenomenon, whereby Kim, who was supposed to live forever, suddenly passed away during the preparations for Kim Young Sam, a former South Korean president, to visit North Korea.

The source said, however, that he believes specific evidence to back the prophecy of Kim Hyong Jik is not on show, even within North Korea, although some people believe there is something in the Chosun Revolutionary Museum.

There is one other anecdote related to snakes within North Korean literature. The book “Eternal Life”, created by the April 15th Cultural Creation Group after the death of Kim Il Sung, describes that "When the Great Leader saw the snake and competed against it, the snake recognized a man of unsurpassed greatness and went back to the mountains voluntarily."

The prophecy is spoken of widely by those who consider the Kim Jong Eun succession to be unstable. That Kim Jong Eun was only formalized in government at the end of September and has a lack of personal information or experiences that the people might be able to respect only amplifies the feeling of anxiety.

However, the source stated, "Some retired Party officials are offering counterweights to this prophecy." He explained that they are working hard to claim that since Kim Il Sung created the revolutionary idea his was the “realization” stage, while Kim Jong Il completed the Military-first political system, which they are claiming is actually the “implementation” stage.

However, even this fudge is problematic, as the source explained, "In reality, the statement, ‘The nation will be prosperous in the era of Youth Captain' is not really getting much play,” adding, “were they to proclaim the prosperity of the great-grandson's era, the achievements of Kim Hyong Jik would have to fade."

[BRVoice]

(URGENT) S. Korea's top general, Army chief offer to retire, official says
December 14, 2010
Yonhap News Agency

kdh@yna.co.kr
(END)

[BRVoice]

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