Korean Peninsula On The Brink Of War

[BRVoice]

From Steve Herman on Twitter:

RT @egalite_twitted: Resignation offer by Gen. Hwang comes after inaugu. of new defense minister & ahead of skedded general-level promotions 3 minutes ago via TweetDeck

[AGEUSAF]

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

Yes. I second that, thanks.

[BRVoice]

From Steve Herman on Twitter:

YTN: South Korean army chief's resignation accepted. #Koreas 9 minutes ago via TweetDeck

[BRVoice]

Yes. I second that, thanks.

You're welcome, AGEUSAF

[BRVoice]

From Sam Kim (egalite_twitted) on Twitter:

1. Hwang was also the 1st chief of the Zaytun division that served in Iraq under the US initiative against terrorism. Quite a career he had. 7 minutes ago via twtkr
2. Real estate always a bane for SKorean officials though Hwang has repeatedy defended himself. NKorean shelling claims yet another top figure. 9 minutes ago via twtkr
3. Intelligence main area for criticism since NK shelling. Hwang also embroiled in controversy over his building worth tens of millions of USD. 19 minutes ago via web
4. Hwang is a veteran intelligence officer who served as vice head of US-SKorea combined forces before becoming chief Army general. 20 minutes ago via web

[BRVoice]

Now, the full article about the resignation of the South Korean Army Chief



South Korea's Army chief offers to retire
December 14, 2010

SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Army chief offered to retire Tuesday amid criticism over a property investment, an official said.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hwang Eui-don submitted his application for retirement to Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, a ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.

Hwang, who was named to his current post in June, became embroiled in a controversy after he was found to have made huge capital gains through a property investment based on an early tip he allegedly obtained that building regulations would be eased.

kdh@yna.co.kr
(END)

[BRVoice]

(LEAD) Presidential office accepts resignation of Army chief

SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) -- The presidential office accepted Tuesday the resignation of the country's Army chief, officials said, who has been under criticism over a property investment.

Army Chief of Staff General Hwang Eui-don submitted his application for retirement to the office of President Lee Myung-bak earlier in the day, and Lee accepted it, an official at the defense ministry said on condition of anonymity.

"Gen. Hwang offered to retire following media reports about his property investment because he judged it was inappropriate for him to stay on the post at a time when he has to lead the reform of the Army," the official said.

Hwang, who was named to the post in June, became embroiled in a controversy after he was found to have made huge capital gains through a property investment based on an early tip he allegedly obtained that building regulations would be eased.

A source at the ministry had said Gen. Han Min-koo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), also expressed his intent to retire, but Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin persuaded him not to.

Col. Lee Bung-woo, a JCS spokesman, quickly denied the source's remark, saying, "It's not true that Gen. Han expressed intention to retire."

The JCS chairman has been under fire for what many politicians say was a feeble response to North Korea's bombardment of a South Korean island last month.

The South's military remains on high alert after the North's artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island near the tense Yellow Sea border that killed four people.

kdh@yna.co.kr
(END)

[BRVoice]

North Korea operating 3-4 more uranium sites - report
Reuters - December 14, 2010

North Korea has been secretly enriching uranium that could be used to build nuclear weapons at three or four undisclosed locations, a South Korean intelligence official was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Skip related content

The facilities are in addition to the one at the North's main nuclear site in Yongbyon that was shown to a U.S. expert last month and that had more than 1,000 centrifuges, which officials there reportedly said were operational.

Uranium enrichment could give the North a second source of fissile material for weapons on top of its plutonium production programme at the Soviet-era nuclear programme at Yongbyon, which was frozen under a now-defunct international disarmament deal.

"The uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon that the North disclosed to U.S. nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker is not among the three or four South Korea and the U.S. have established to be in existence," the unnamed official was quoted as saying by the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

"We have established that the uranium enrichment tests that the North has been conducting for some time are at separate locations," the official said.

A South Korean government spokesman declined to comment on the report, which came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov chided North Korea over its nuclear programme and condemned an artillery attack on a South Korean island that killed four people last month.

Hecker, who toured the Yongbyon site in November, said the world should take the threat from the North's uranium enrichment programme seriously but added there may be a motive other than to quickly get bombs-grade fissile material.

North Korea has used its nuclear programme to sign two deals that were meant to compensate Pyongyang for ending it. Officials and experts say pursuit of nuclear arms was the impoverished state's most effective bargaining chip against regional powers.

Talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear arms programme in return for massive economic aid have been stalled for two years after the North rejected a regime of intrusive inspections.

(Reporting by Jack Kim, editing by Miral Fahmy)

[BRVoice]

S. Korea to Stage Plan for Ground Joint Exercises

Pyongyang, December 13 (KCNA) -- The "Metropolitan Mechanized Infantry Division" of the puppet ground force announced on Dec. 11 that it would stage ground joint exercises in the areas of Namyangju and Kaphyong of Kyonggi Province from Dec. 14 to 16, according to Yonhap News of south Korea.

The warmongers are contemplating hurling large forces and public servants and police into the planned war exercises, vociferating about the "infiltration" of someone and "provocation of limited war."

The situation on the Korean Peninsula is getting tenser due to the ceaseless exercises being staged by the Lee Myung Bak puppet warmongers for a war of aggression against the DPRK, while being hell-bent on the confrontation with fellow countrymen.

[BRVoice]

S. Korea's Cooperation with Outsiders in Anti-DPRK Moves Flailed
December 13. 2010 Juch 99

Pyongyang, December 13 (KCNA) - Shortly ago, the puppet minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of south Korea implored the U.S. secretary of State and the foreign minister of Japan to take joint counteractions to curb additional provocation and make close cooperation, and signed a 10-point "statement" while talking about "north's provocation" and the like.

The puppet warmongers induced the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. on a visit to south Korea to approve "its scenario for exercising the right to self-defense" which calls for attacking the DPRK by "mobilizing all fighters and warship artillery pieces in case of additional provocation." They, at the same time, agreed with him to stage another large-scale south Korea-U.S. joint military exercise.

Rodong Sinmun Monday observes in a signed commentary in this connection:

The above-said dangerous scenario to launch a war in league with the U.S. is nothing but treachery escalating the tension between the north and the south and bringing the dark clouds of a nuclear war to hang over the Korean Peninsula as it is the height of sycophancy and treachery.

The south Korean conservative group is busy making uproar over someone's "provocation" while clinging to foreign forces' coattail. This is, however, nothing but shameless hypocrisy to mislead the domestic and foreign public opinion.

It is none other than the puppet forces that have staged ceaseless DPRK-targeted war exercises in the West Sea of Korea in which both sides stand in acute confrontation and sparked off confrontation and clashes in the said waters while crying out for "preserving the northern limit line," an illegal one. The recent shelling into the territorial waters of the DPRK side around Yonphyong Island was part of those provocations. It was a legitimate self-defensive measure for the DPRK to have retaliated against the shelling.

It is outside forces which will fish in troubled waters when the tension escalates and confrontation gets acute on the Korean Peninsula.

It is foreign forces that seek strategic interests on the Korean Peninsula. The greater benefit they get from the escalated tension there, the bigger harm they will do to the Korean nation. Then it will suffer from the north-south confrontation and a war of aggression against the DPRK.

This being a hard reality, the south Korean conservative group makes no scruple of escalating cooperation with outside forces in utter disregard of the destiny and interests of the Korean nation, prompted by its criminal design to stifle fellow countrymen.

The south Korean authorities would be well advised to stop running amuck, pondering over the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by their anti-DPRK cooperation with outsiders.

[BRVoice]

N. Korea agrees on emergency six-way talks: Beijing
By Kim Young-gyo

HONG KONG, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has agreed to China's proposal to hold emergency discussions among chief envoys to the six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament in a bid to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula, China's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Beijing proposed on Nov. 28 that the lead negotiators from the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia meet at an early date to discuss ways of easing inter-Korean tension sparked by the North's shelling of a South Korean island.

"The agreement was reached when Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang last week," Jiang Yu, spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, said in a regular press briefing.

"China and North Korea have agreed that the two sides should prevent the tense situation from further escalating and put constructive effort in building peace on the Korean Peninsula, while maintaining calmness and restraint," Jiang said.

The visit came as China, North Korea's closest political ally and largest benefactor, has been under growing international pressure to exercise its influence over Pyongyang to discourage the belligerent regime from further provocations.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have come to a head after North Korea fired artillery on a South Korean island near the disputed maritime border on Nov. 23. The North's attack on Yeonpyeong Island, which is home to fishing communities and military bases, killed two South Korean marines and as many civilians, and left 18 others wounded.

Dai, who advises top Chinese officials on foreign policy, made an unannounced trip to Seoul at the end of November and paid a visit to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to discuss measures for easing tensions on the peninsula.

A high-level U.S. delegation, led by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, is expected to arrive in China later Tuesday in an effort to urge Beijing to play a greater role in reining in Pyongyang.

ygkim@yna.co.kr
(END)

[BRVoice]

N.K. attack, 6-party talks resumption ‘inevitably related’
The Korea Herald
2010-12-14 19:23

North Korea’s recent attack on a civilian-inhabited South Korean island is inevitably one of the important issues to consider in resuming the multinational talks aimed at the communist state’s denuclearization, Seoul’s foreign minister said Tuesday.

“The two issues may not seem directly related to each other, but North Korea’s recent belligerence and the series of provocations undeniably influence the prospects of resuming the six-nation talks,” Minister Kim Sung-hwan told a press conference, indicating Seoul’s maintaining negative stance against an early resumption of the talks stalled for two years.

“If North Korea wants to talk, it must put into action such willingness,” he said. “Our government is not against dialogue itself, but the timing is not right.”

But dialogue partners are “actively discussing” the conditions under which the talks can resume, Kim said.

“I cannot talk about the detailed yet as we need an agreement by all five partners.”

The comments by Kim come amid a flurry of diplomacy efforts among regional powers to defuse high tensions on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea’s Nov. 23 artillery attack on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island that killed four people and left hundreds of others homeless.

Apparently in need of outside aid, Pyongyang hopes to resume the denuclearization talks it has had with South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia since 2003 as Seoul seeks international condemnation for the deadly artillery shelling.

South Korea, which also suffered North Korea’s apparent torpedo attack on its warship earlier this year, claims negotiations cannot resume as long as Pyongyang’s provocations continue. Washington has also said it will not reward North Korea “for a bad behavior.”

The role of North Korea’s traditional allies Russia and China has been drawing attention as the two states have often differed position with other regional powers, playing as a stumbling block in effectively controlling the reclusive state’s provocations and nuclear ambitions.

Top foreign affairs officials of the two Koreas ― Seoul’s chief nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac and Pyongyang’s Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun ― are in Russia this week, rivaling to win the regional power’s support amid high tensions on the peninsula.

Leading a team of senior officials, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg also arrived in China Tuesday, apparently hoping to persuade the country to play a greater role in reining in Pyongyang’s growing belligerence.

In a rare move, Moscow has taken a critical stance toward North Korea’s attack last month, explicitly blaming the North during a ministerial meeting Monday. Meeting with Pak from Pyongyang, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the attack “deserves condemnation” and “expressed deep concerns” about North Korea’s uranium enrichment program, Moscow’s foreign ministry said after the talks.

“We note that Russia has been viewing the situation objectively and clearly. We are going to continue efforts for the country to continue such a position,” the minister said, adding Pyongyang’s recently unveiled uranium enrichment program is “another key issue” that needs to be closely observed amid recent developments on the peninsula.

Meanwhile, Beijing, which has so far refused to join the international move to condemn Pyongyang, faces greater pressure to help rein in the nuclear-armed nation’s belligerence.

Last week, China sent its State Councilor Dai Bingguo to Pyongyang on an apparent mission to help defuse the tensions but appears to have won little concession from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, according to officials here.

“We are aware that China has made efforts in the past to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula,” said Kim. “But we have to admit the efforts fell short of preventing the attack against Yeonpyeong Island. We hope China will play a clearer role and it is aware of such wishes.”

By Shin Hae-in (hayney@heraldm.com)

[BRVoice]

Military to continue naval firing drills next week

SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) - South Korea's military said Tuesday it will conduct more live-fire drills at sea next week, the latest in a series of maneuvers being carried out as a warning to North Korea following its deadly artillery attack last month.

Military officials said the drills will be held from Dec. 20-24 at 23 venues that will not include Yeonpyeong Island, which was hit by the North's deadly artillery on Nov. 23, or near the four other islands close to the tense Yellow Sea border.

[American Patriot]

Now, the full article about the resignation of the South Korean Army Chief



South Korea's Army chief offers to retire
December 14, 2010

SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Army chief offered to retire Tuesday amid criticism over a property investment, an official said.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hwang Eui-don submitted his application for retirement to Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, a ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.

Hwang, who was named to his current post in June, became embroiled in a controversy after he was found to have made huge capital gains through a property investment based on an early tip he allegedly obtained that building regulations would be eased.

kdh@yna.co.kr
(END)

Oh, is THAT all? Geez. At least he isn't retiring over bad ideas, or disagreement with how to handle the North.

[American Patriot]

Ah... they just wanted to talk to everyone.

Instead of KILLING civilians, then why didn't you take your asses to the table?

[BRVoice]

Russian forces on alert over Korea tension
Tue, Dec 14th, 2010 6:11 pm BdST

MOSCOW, Dec 14 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Russia has put its forces on alert in the country's far east because of increased tension on the Korean Peninsula, the Interfax news agency quoted the top military commander as saying on Tuesday.

"Without a doubt, we have taken measures to increase the combat-readiness of our forces," military General Staff chief Nikolai Makarov said, Interfax reported. He said the military was "continuing to monitor" the situation.

Makarov spoke a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his visiting North Korean counterpart that Moscow was "seriously concerned about the growth of military and political tension on the peninsula," according to the ministry.

Russia shares a short border with North Korea and has expressed concern over its nuclear and missile tests.

On Monday, Lavrov told North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun that Pyongyang's deadly shelling of a South Korean island last month deserved condemnation but also suggested joint South Korean-US military exercises had added to tension.

Lavrov also expressed Russia's "deep concern" over North Korea's uranium enrichment capabilities - a second potential route to nuclear weapons in addition to its plutonium programme.

[BRVoice]

When North Korea’s threats become reality
By Kim Myong Chol
December 15, 2010

"The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy."
- General Omar Bradley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1951.

"In carrying out the instructions of my government, I gained the unenviable distinction of being the first United States commander in history to sign an armistice without victory."
- General Mark Clark, 1954

"Never get involved in a land war in Asia."
- General Douglas MacArthur, 1961

"Should the US and South Korea disregard our repeated warnings to unleash war, we must lose no time in going to the heart of the enemy to show them what it is like to fight nuclear war on their own land."
North Korean heir-apparent Kim Jong-eun

"North Korea is developing a frightening track record of making good on its threats."
- New York Times Editorial, June 17, 2009.


A resumption of hostilities on the tiny Korean Peninsula would mean immediate war between two nuclear powers, North Korea and the United States. The latter keeps a nuclear-armed garrison of some 20,000 troops with a sprawling network of military bases across South Korea.

A second Korean War would not fail to disappoint Western experts who wish to see Kim Jong-eun given an opportunity to prove his unprecedented military genius. He would preside over the evaporation of the world's sole superpower in the first thermonuclear exchange ever fought on the spaceship Earth.

Acting for supreme leader Kim Jong-il, the young general is one click away from issuing a long-awaited order to the Korean People's Army's (KPA) shiny and sleek, quick-response global strike force. This would see the torching of the bulwark of the US empire, the skyscrapers of New York City and other centers of metropolitan America.

Crack front-line units of the KPA are ready round the clock to bomb Seoul, turning it into a towering inferno before moving in on the ground to complete their mission.

Japan's cooperation with the US would invite retaliatory nuclear missile attacks on their nuclear power plants, with the result that Tokyo and other major cities of the Japanese archipelago are rendered unhabitable.


Dark clouds gathering

The Korean Peninsula today is teetering on the edge of war, with the trigger-happy Lee Myung-bak government in Seoul vowing to launch airstrikes on North Korea against what it terms a provocation.

A US-supported South Korean military exercise carries every risk of instantly escalating by design, accident, and miscalculation into a full-scale shooting war, and a nuclear war.

The Washington Post reported December 13,

North Korea warned Monday that US-South Korean military cooperation could drive the peninsula toward nuclear war, as South Korean troops began their latest live-fire drills.

Though North Korea regularly issues such threats, few in Seoul now consider the war scenario as empty rhetoric, given the November 23 artillery shelling of a South Korean island that killed two marines and two civilians.

The New York Times on November 23 identified the cause of that day's shelling of the South Korean artillery position on the border Island of Yeonpyeong:

The attack on Yeonpyeong Island occurred after South Korean forces on exercises fired test shots into waters near the North Korean coast. We hope South Korea's president is asking who came up with that idea.

The Independent's Adrian Hamilton observed November 25, "The very worst response to the Korean crisis is to do what President [Barack] Obama did yesterday: that is to announce a joint US-South Korean military exercise on the border this weekend. It was South Korea's military exercises this month that helped bring about the latest clash."

The Joong Ang Daily reported on December 2 that there were an alarmingly sharp increase in the number of live-fire exercises by South Korean troops on that island in the buildup to the November 23 exchange of fire:

The Yeonpyeong Island troops carried out an average 17 firing exercises a year before the arrival of Lee Myung-bak in the Blue House [presidential house]," but the number nearly doubled to 27 in 2008 since his inauguration.

Each of the pre-LMB period firing exercises involved a total of less than 50 rounds, including several K-9 howitzer rounds, but the number of rounds fired after LMB's installation began to exceed it, several scores of rounds on an average.

The September 28 seaward firing drill involved a total 2,631 rounds, such as 35 K-9 howitzer rounds, 8 81mm rounds, 36 60mm, 14 anti-tank rounds, 38 shore artillery rounds and 2,500 Vulcan rounds and 131 anti-aircraft Vulcan rounds.

South Korea was firing over 900 artillery shells per hour into waters on the fringe of North Korea during 10 am to 2 pm on November 23. The absence of a reaction then emboldened them to lob several dozens of shells into North Korean territorial waters.

The Seoul Sinmun reported November 26: "The Joint Chiefs confessed in an off-record gathering that 'it is likely that shells fired by our guns flew beyond the operation control line into North Korean waters'."

The live-firing was part of South Korea's largest war exercise "Hoguk" (a rehash of the Team Spirit war games) involving 500 warplanes, 90 helicopters and 50 warships in a simulated invasion of North Korea.

The landing in North Korean waters of the South Korean artillery rounds was the last straw, prompting an otherwise patient North Korea to react by shelling the artillery position.

The Associated Press (AP) quoted South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwang-jin on December 3 vowing airstrikes on North Korea.

As the Wall Street Journal reported December 8, "Admiral [Mike] Mullen [the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff] said he had not asked South Korea to take air strikes off the table."

AP reported on December 13:

After the attack, South Korea staged joint military drills with the United States and also pushed ahead with more artillery exercises, despite the North's warning that they would aggravate tension.

The Daily Mail reported December 12, "North Korea warned yesterday that it was ready for an all-out war." The North Korea National Peace Committee added yesterday, "The army and our people are ready for both an escalated war and an all-out war."

Agence France-Presse reported on December 11, "The former chief of US intelligence [retired Admiral Dennis Blair] warned Sunday that South Korea has lost its patience with provocations by North Korea and 'will be taking military action'."



Key differences

A host of essential differences are to be found between the bitterly fought 1950-53 Korean War and the present showdown. The first is the emergence of North Korea as a nuclear power with ballistic missile capability.

Emerging as the fourth most powerful nuclear weapons state after the US, Russia and China, North Korea has several hundred nuclear warheads in its arsenal, including plutonium and uranium-based hydrogen bombs, neutron bombs, nuclear mines and shells.

North Korea has about 8,000 ultra-modern centrifuges operating at underground sites, churning out highly enriched uranium (HEU) like hot cake.

Even one look at them seems to have petrified Dr Siegfried Hecker, the American nuclear scientist whose jaws dropped at a sight of a mere 2,000 above ground during his visit to a plant in November.

The Korean War-era North Korea, a two-year old state, had no capability at all to fire upon invading enemy warships or shoot down enemy bombers, not to mention the capability to fight war on enemy territory such as Japan, Australia, Hawaii and the US mainland.

Despite lacking a modern war machine, the peerless national hero of the anti-Japanese guerrilla war, young Kim Il-sung, led the just-born North Korea to survive the fierce three-year-long, life-and-death struggle with the American giant and its international allied interventionist force, dealing the US its first debacle in history.

North Korea today is a far cry from what it was in 1950s. Fortress North Korea can withstand thermonuclear strikes and shoot down 80-90% of enemy warplanes, missiles and cruise missiles.

Fortress North Korea can easily sink nuclear-powered American aircraft carriers and reach metropolitan US with long-range missiles. It is a pity that the US still clings to the wishful delusion that their white elephants can simply wade into Korean waters.

Its electronic warfare units are capable of playing havoc with the enemy infrastructure of command, control and communications. In the most important development, as a member of the elite space and nuclear clubs, North Korea has the ability to inflict merciless retaliatory strikes on the remotest strategic target on the American mainland, nearly half the earth away.

It will only take Kim Jong-eun a couple of minutes to turn Seoul into a sea of fire, five minutes to torch Tokyo, and 15-20 minutes to evaporate New York and Washington in a "day-after" scenario.

Then there is the presence of nuclear power stations in the US, Japan and South Korea. The US has 103 operating nuclear power stations with onsite storage of a huge quantity of spent fuel rods. Japan has 53 operating atomic power stations and a stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium - enough to assemble more than 1,000 atomic bombs in a short period of time. South Korea has 20 operating nuclear power stations with onsite storage of a huge quantity of spent fuel rods.

If bombed, one average operating nuclear power station is estimated to spew out as much deadly fallout as 150-180 H-bombs. Bombing one nuclear power station would render the Japanese archipelago and South Korea uninhabitable. Doing the same to the US may require bombing one plant on its west coast and another on its east coast.

Nothing is easier than bombing a power plant on a coastline. There is no need to use a ballistic missile. Primitive means will do the job.

Third is the fact that the US, Japan and South Korea are home to booming economies, huge sitting ducks to be caught off guard in an all-consuming nuclear conflagration.

The Americans and the Japanese could afford to complacently look upon the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Yugoslav and Bosnian Wars, the Iraq War, and the Afghanistan War as if they were waged on another planet, no matter how many innocent people were killed.

These theaters took place in countries that were far removed from industrialized, nuclear powers. They had no means to take the war all the way to the US. That is no longer the case, however. The Americans, the Japanese and the South Koreans would find themselves in a devastating trap.

Fourth is the fact that all of North Korea's population are well trained and well disciplined in a war-time austerity, while the US, Japan and South Korea are not.

While the US's skyscrapers are collapsing in a raging conflagration and people stampeding helter-skelter in all directions for shelter, the whole North Korean population can be evacuated into hardened underground shelters in a matter of 15 minutes.

The moment of truth will come sooner than originally expected, vindicating the validity of the military-first policy mapped out by Kim Jong-il and demonstrating how wise the Korean people are in selecting Young General Kim Jong-eun as heir to the supreme leader.

Kim Myong Chol is author of a number of books and papers in Korean, Japanese and English on North Korea, including Kim Jong-il's Strategy for Reunification. He has a PhD from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Academy of Social Sciences and is often called an "unofficial" spokesman of Kim Jong-il and North Korea.

(Copyright 2010 Kim Myong Chol.)

[BRVoice]

Testimonies of Yeonpyeong Marines Released
By Mok Yong Jae
[2010-12-14 18:04]
Daily NK

“I saw Lance Corporal Moon Gwang Wook draped in white sheets. I was angry beyond words. What is North Korea that it can take the precious life of an individual? Why does it hurt so many innocent people and cause them to tremble in fear?”

This is an excerpt from the testimony of a medic who worked on Yeonpeong Island; just a small part of a collection of the testimonials of marines released by the Marines today.

The Marines’ HQ is currently compiling the testimonies of those marines that were involved in the battle of Yeonpeong in order to publish the accounts into a book. So far, 12 testimonies have been released.

One of the released testimonies, authored by Lance Corporal Kang Byung Wook, recalled, “Many patients, including Lance Corporal Moon Gwang Wook, were sent to the infirmary, which was filled with blood and cries of agony.”

Kang’s testimony also reveals the vivid moments of a desperate struggle to tend to the wounded, as he wrote, “As medics were repeatedly administering CPR to revive Lance Corporal Moon, I tried to insert the IV needle. However my hands were shaking so badly that I was not able to do it.”

Private Kang expressed great distress at the death of Lance Corporal Moon, reporting that “The infirmary was overflowing with patients so it was extremely difficult for vital medical supplies to be distributed. It was in the midst of this chaos that he lost consciousness and eventually his life. I was heartbroken when I had to carry his body onto the ambulance. I could not bear to even glance at his body, which emanated a deathlike, bluish hue. I was so sorry that I failed in my attempt to revive my deceased comrade.”

Lieutenant Lee Jae Sun, the director of preventative medicine at the infirmary, captured the chaos of the infirmary in his testimony, writing that “[he] saw a soldier using his uniform to stop the blood flow from the wounds of another soldier, a soldier desperately yelling at his comrade who was losing consciousness, and soldiers screaming in pain from shrapnel wounds”

Lieutenant Lee also reported some of the tough realities of the wounded soldiers, describing how “a soldier complaining of limb pain found pieces of his legs missing when medics took off his boots, with blood gushing out.”

Interestingly, the released personal accounts also contain information that refute outside reports of ‘mediocre retaliation to the shelling of Yeonpeong.’

Captain Kim Jung Soo, commander of the 7th Artillery Division, testified that “despite the fact that the North Korean artillery barrage deafened the soldiers that manned the 3rd artillery and impaired the ability to fire properly, the leader of the 3rd artillery rallied the soldiers to press on, which encouraged me greatly”

Captain Kim also added, “I am proud of the soldiers who risked their lives to perform their duties in the face of the unnerving sneak attack by the North. They were not shaken by the tense, rapid developments and looked after one another.”

Finally, Captain Kim vowed that “the Marines’ enmity towards the North is indescribable. If they dare to attack our territory again, we will surely pulverize their army.”

[BRVoice]

Unification Clock Ticks Back 30 Minutes
By Kim Yong Hun
[2010-12-14 17:29]
Daily NK

The “Unification Clock”, which attempts to reflect the likelihood of reunification in the same way as the “Doomsday Clock” mirrors the danger of impending disaster for humanity, has moved approximately 30 minutes back during 2010.

Park Young Ho of the Korea Institute for National Unification and Kim Hyung Ki, a researcher at the Center for Comparative Democratic Studies, revealed the news during a seminar yesterday, “Third Generation Hereditary Succession of North Korea and Future of North Korean System”, hosted by the Korea Policy Research Center.

This year’s “Unification Clock”, which tells a time of 3:45 PM, incorporates the opinions of 51 unification and security experts, 99 North Korean defectors and 1,000 South Korean citizens sampled during August and September. It is 34 minutes behind last year's 4:19 PM.

Meanwhile, the alternative “absorption unification clock” has moved back to 5:20 PM. It sat at 5:56 PM this time last year

The fundamental reason for the change is the icy state of inter-Korean relations, according to the two researchers. Due to the insecurity of the Kim Jong Eun succession system, this is unlikely to change and may lead to more, and more frequent, provocations, according to a number of experts who also spoke at the seminar.

Noting the Yeonpyeong Island shelling, Professor Yoo Ho Yeol of Korea University explained, "Complaints and criticisms of the anti-democratic and regressive political behavior of North Korea's third generation hereditary succession are spread widely among the people, as well as in the upper levels of the elite. In order to settle the Kim Jong Eun succession structure at an early stage and seek internal solidarity, they chose an extreme armed provocation against South Korea."

Therefore, Professor Yoo emphasized, "The unusual power structure of North Korea's third generation hereditary succession to Kim Jong Eun is nestled in the background of these volatile tensions."

In his comments, Lim Jae Cheon, another professor at Korea University said, "The external and internal environment of the Kim Jong Il-Kim Jong Eun hereditary succession, which is currently in progress, is more disadvantageous than the Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il hereditary succession. North Korea's strategy to deal with such an unfavorable environment while Kim Jong Il is still alive is related to their recent belligerent behavior."

He added, "Shaking the ground with belligerence can be seen as a strategy to conclude a North Korea-United States peace agreement, guarantee the hereditary succession and get economic support from the United States all at once."

The assembled experts therefore anticipate that there is a high possibility of provocations happening regularly due to the insecurity of the Kim Jong Eun succession system. Especially, they predict that the strength of the provocations may well increase and that the events will occur more frequently.

During her congratulatory address, Chung Oknim, a Grand National Party lawmaker agreed, lamenting, "Recently, public sentiment has been drifting away due to the difficulty of Kim Jong Eun idolization and failure of economic reforms. North Korea's reckless provocations to settle the third generation hereditary succession will continue."

Professor Lim also anticipated, "The internal and external environment of the Kim Jong Eun hereditary succession is highly disadvantageous when compared to Kim Jong Il's case,” adding, “There is a high possibility that North Korea will display an offensive and violent attitude in future."

Delivering the keynote speech, the deputy chair of South Korea's National Unification Advisory Council, Lee Ki Taek anticipated, "In order to build Kim Jong Eun's achievements and maintain the support of the military, North Korea will continue to create limited provocations against South Korea, and the strength will increase as well. The Kim Jong Eun system is advocating the Military-first policy to increase the influence of the military and to be acknowledged as a nuclear state; therefore, their foreign policy will be more belligerent."

Giving his welcoming speech, Kim Woong Jin, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, commented, "When considering the political, economical, and military conditions which North Korea is facing internally and externally, it is yet to be seen whether the hereditary succession can be achieved smoothly. This ambiguity is encouraging North Korea's military adventures, like the recent bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island and developing sharp military tensions in the entire Northeast Asian region."

[American Patriot]

"Without a doubt, we have taken measures to increase the combat-readiness of our forces," military General Staff chief Nikolai Makarov said, Interfax reported. He said the military was "continuing to monitor" the situation.

"Without a doubt, WE HAVE TAKEN THE OPPORTUNITY to increase combat-readiness..." - he means...