Korean Peninsula On The Brink Of War

[American Patriot]

North Korea: Nuclear programme 'more advanced' than Iran's


ultimo aggiornamento: 16 dicembre, ore 17:44
Despite international sanctions, North Korea has enough fuel to build six to 12 nuclear warheads. Although Iran's atomic programme alarms the west, Pyongyang's is considerably more advanced, Italian daily Il Foglio said on Thursday in an editorial.





Rome, 16 Dec. (AKI) - Despite international sanctions, North Korea has enough fuel to build six to 12 nuclear warheads. Although Iran's atomic programme alarms the west, Pyongyang's is considerably more advanced, Italian daily Il Foglio said on Thursday in an editorial.



The United States government has confirmed South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo's scoop: North Korea has more uranium enrichment plants than previously thought, and the technology it is using is "decidedly more advanced and efficient" than Iran's, Il Foglio reported.



Pyongyang has dug a tunnel also half a kilometre deep in the Punggye district in the northeast of the country, according to Chosun Ilbo and South Korean intelligence services, wrote Il Foglio.




On 12 November, the North Korean government invited an American nuclear expert, Siegfried Hecker from Stanford University to visit the Yongbyon nuclear plant.

Hecker said recently completed plant had 2,000 centrifuges to supply enriched uranium to a new reactor. He was "suprised" at the speed with which the North Koreans had been able to build an "ultramodern and clean" site.




On Tuesday, South Korean secret services confirmed there were "three or four" other sites, apart from the the one at Yongbyon, shown to Hecker.

US state department spokesman Philip Crowley concurred, stating: "There must be at least another plant."



North Korea knows it cannot use its atomic weapons as a tool of blackmail unless it wants the regime to be annihilated in a couple of hours.



But there are fears North Korea is eyeing the international nuclear market.

US president Barack Obama's advisor Gary Samore has said Washington must make sure that Pyongyang is not seeking to sell uranium to the Middle East.

[American Patriot]

If This Isn't a Crisis With North Korea, What Is?

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/12/17/isnt-crisis-north-korea/

By Stephen Yates
Published December 17, 2010
| FoxNews.com


In this week's New York Times Obama administration officials offered stunning and sobering perspective on the growing danger presented by North Korea. Its uranium enrichment program is more advanced than Iran’s. The North’s recently revealed site could not exist without support of a sophisticated network of still undisclosed facilities. And, most disconcerting, not only did efforts to thwart proliferation to North Korea fail, but North Korea succeeded in providing sensitive technology to some of the most dangerous regimes on the state sponsors of terrorism list.


Moreover, clear evidence of North Korean involvement at a Syrian nuclear reactor (destroyed by Israel in 2007) appears to have been unduly brushed aside by senior Bush administration officials to avoid upsetting the ill advised Six Party agreement, celebrated as a diplomatic breakthrough at the time.


Ambassador John Bolton aptly questioned the Bush administration approach in April 2008 saying, “[The] administration is focusing on what it thinks it knows (plutonium), ignoring what could be the far more dangerous activities (uranium enrichment) it has reason to suspect.”


Ominous, but now undeniable.


To date, the Obama administration’s approach to North Korea has been more prudent than that pursued in the second term of the Bush administration. Team Obama, at least, has not responded to North Korean provocations by resuming pointless talks and celebrating ineffective agreements.

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But the absence of bad policy is no substitute for a real strategy. No doubt the Obama administration would rather avoid a crisis, but it now has one on its watch. Surely the administration would rather focus on the president’s vision for a nuclear free world and the U.S.-Russia arms control agreement aka New START now before the Senate. However both seem rather irrelevant once mugged by the reality of North Korea.


We now have a nuclear capable rogue state killing its neighbors. Not only that but it is capable of showing off some of the world's most dangerous technology which it has historically been willing to sell. If that is not worthy of being called a crisis, what is?


This combination of diplomacy, deception, provocation, and proliferation in dealing with North Korea is bad enough in itself, but it also is a discomforting foreshadowing of the future of Iran’s related program if greater action is not taken there.


For these and many other reasons the Obama administration can no longer afford to coast without a strategy for dealing with North Korea. That strategy, if it is likely to have any positive effect, will have to take some risks.


The U.S. must support our South Korean ally, who faces growing pressure to retaliate with each North Korean provocation and attack. Together, we must now actively consider all possible means to contain, cripple, and eventually eliminate North Korea's ability to threaten us in this way.


At a minimum, we must take measures to disrupt the uranium enrichment facility North Korea just revealed and increase efforts to identify and disrupt undisclosed facilities. Aggressive financial measures also are needed, beyond the scope of sanctions considered to date.


The worst possible option would be to pretend this is not a crisis and attempt to resume talks. That will only further convince the North that it can act with impunity in terms of terrorizing the South and continue to peddle the world’s most dangerous weapons.


Stephen Yates was Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs from 2001 – 05 and currently is president of DC International Advisory.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/...#ixzz18OsyZVNV

[American Patriot]

N. Korea issues new threat over island

SEOUL, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- North Korea threatened Friday to strike again if South Korea carries out scheduled live-fire exercises from the island the North shelled in November.

"Second and third self-defensive blows that cannot be predicted will be dealt" if South Korea conducts the one-day drill scheduled between Saturday and Tuesday, the North's military said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency and reported by the South's Yonhap News Agency.

The North warned, "The intensity and range of the firepower will create a situation more serious than one on Nov. 23," when it shelled Yeonpyeong island and killed two marines and two civilians.

"The South Korean puppet warmongers must immediately cancel the provocative coastal live-fire drills planned on Yeonpyeong," an unidentified military official said. He claimed the sea surrounding the small island part of "our sacred territorial waters."

The KCNA said the warning was delivered to the South's Defense Ministry around noon Friday.

North Korea has said any shells fired from Yeonpyeong are bound to violate its waters because the country does not recognize the Yellow Sea border drawn at the armistice in 1953.

[American Patriot]

South Korea drill no threat to North: US

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — The United States on Friday insisted that a South Korean live-fire drill posed no threat to the North and warned Pyongyang against "further provocative action."

"It's hard to see how a routine live-fire exercise which has been held in the past poses any kind of threat to North Korea. In fact, it does not," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

"A country has every right to train and exercise its military in its own self-defense," he added.

"North Korea should not use any future legitimate training exercises as a justification to undertake further provocative action."

His remarks came after North Korea's military threatened to strike back with deadly firepower if South Korea goes ahead with the drill on a border island which the communist state shelled last month.

[American Patriot]

NKorea warns SKorea to stop live-fire drills
By Associated Press
Friday, December 17, 2010 - Added 3 minutes ago


SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea warned South Korea on Friday not to stage artillery drills on a front-line island the North bombed last month, saying it would hit back even harder than in the previous attack that killed four South Koreans.

The North warned the South against similar drills before the Nov. 23 shelling that destroyed homes and renewed fears of war on the divided peninsula.

South Korea has said it plans one-day, live-fire drills sometime between Saturday and Tuesday on Yeonpyeong, a tiny island that is home to fishing communities and military bases and sits just seven miles (11 kilometers) from North Korean shores. Seoul says the drills’ timing will depend on weather and other factors and, despite the North’s threats, the exercises will go ahead as planned.

The North, which claims nearby waters and has said it considers such drills an infringement of its territory, responded to similar firing exercises by raining artillery shells on Yeonpyeong, killing two marines and two construction workers.

The assault was the first by the North to target a civilian area since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and it has caused anger and shock in the South, where TV screens and newspapers were filled with stunning images of islanders fleeing their bombed-out, burning homes.

A senior North Korean military official said in comments carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency that if South Korea goes ahead with more drills on Yeonpyeong, "unpredictable self-defensive strikes will be made."

"The intensity and scope of the strike will be more serious than the Nov. 23 (shelling)," the North said in the notice that was sent to South Korean military officials Friday.

The North said the planned drills are an attempt "to save the face of the South Korean military, which met a disgraceful fiasco" during last month’s clash.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s government has faced stinging criticism that his military was unprepared for the attack and reacted too slowly and too weakly. He has since replaced his defense minister and vowed to boost troops and weapons on islands along the Koreas’ disputed western sea border.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Friday that the North’s threats wouldn’t stop the planned drills. Seoul has said they are part of "routine, justified" exercises and has warned that it is prepared to deal with any North Korean attack. Representatives of the American-led U.N. Command that oversees the armistice that ended the Korean War will observe the drills.

The tough words from the Koreas came as a high-profile U.S. state governor visited North Korea on Friday.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who has frequently been an unofficial envoy to the North, said he wanted to visit the North’s main nuclear complex and meet with senior officials during his four-day trip, though details of his schedule were unclear. He said ahead of the visit that he expected to get some sort of message from the North.

"My objective is to see if we can reduce the tension in the Korean peninsula," Richardson said at the airport in Pyongyang, according to Associated Press Television News.

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley called the South’s exercises routine and said they pose no threat.

"North Korea should not see these South Korean actions as a provocation," Crowley told reporters Thursday.

Still, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, voiced worry of a potential chain reaction of firing and counter-firing if the drill is misunderstood or if North Korea reacts negatively.

"What you don’t want to have happen out of that is for us to lose control of the escalation," he told reporters at the Pentagon. "That’s the concern."

Amid the rising tensions, American diplomats were holding a series of meetings in the region.

In Beijing, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg held closed-door meetings with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo. Beijing’s top foreign policy official returned last week from talks in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. China has come under growing pressure to push ally North Korea to change its behavior.

Dai said it was urgent that all parties prevent escalating tensions, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.

The U.S. special envoy for six-party talks, Sung Kim, met Friday for talks with South Korean nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac. Kim did not talk to reporters after the meeting.

Pyongyang is believed to be seeking one-on-one talks with the United States before returning to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations hosted by China. Those talks also include South Korea, Japan, and Russia.

Crowley said that before any discussions can happen, North Korea must cease provocations, reduce tensions in the region, improve ties with South Korea and take steps to abandon its nuclear programs.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the Nov. 23 attack on the tiny island of Yeonpyeong "one of the gravest provocations since the end of Korean war."

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, urged North Korea to show restraint and called on both Koreas to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[American Patriot]

North Korea says to strike South if drill goes ahead


http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/293484...ill-goes-ahead

By Yoo Choonsik and Chris Buckley
December 18, 2010, 3:50am


SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) – North Korea said on Friday it would strike again at the South if a live-fire drill by Seoul on a disputed island went ahead, with an even stronger response than last month's shelling that killed four people.



North Korean official news agency KCNA issued the threat as South Korea prepared for firing drills on Yeonpyeong island near a disputed maritime border with the North for the first time since November's exchange of artillery fire.



"The strike will play out a more serious situation than on November 23 in terms of the strength and scope of the strike," KCNA said.



A leading South Korean defense analyst said he doubted the North would carry out its threat, which rattled financial markets, and South Korea's Defense Ministry said the exercise planned for December 18-21 would go ahead.



The North had said its November shelling was a response to South Korean "provocations" after an artillery battery on the island fired in what Seoul said was a routine drill.



North Korea's warning came after Seoul promised a more robust response to any further attacks on its territory. The shelling of the island was the first time since the Korean War that North Korea had attacked South Korean territory.



"They would have to be committing to a full-out war if they did that (struck again)," said Baek Seung-joo of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, an expert on North Korea's military strategy.



"What's likely is they will do something as a face-saving action, such as firing their own artillery near the disputed waters," he said.



The Korean won currency fell slightly in offshore forward trading against the dollar, with the 1-month non-deliverable dollar/won forwards rising to as high as 1,159 soon after the news broke from around 1,155.



CHINA URGES U.S. TO PLAY CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE



China, the North's main backer, has said Pyongyang had promised restraint. China told visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg the two big powers should cooperate more in defusing tension on the Korean Peninsula.



U.S. diplomatic troubleshooter Bill Richardson is visiting Pyongyang in an effort to "reduce the tension on the Korean Peninsula.



China's top diplomat, Dai Bingguo, urged closer coordination over the Korean Peninsula during talks with Steinberg, the second most senior official in the U.S. State Department, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.



Steinberg was in Beijing for three days till Friday to press China to rein in North Korea, which as well as shelling the island last month also disclosed advances in uranium enrichment which could give it a new path to making nuclear weapons.



China has avoided publicly condemning its long-time ally over the shelling and nuclear program, and instead pleaded with other powers to embrace fresh talks with North Korea.

Russia summoned the ambassadors of South Korea and the United States to express "extreme concern" and urged the two countries to halt the exercise to prevent "the further escalation of tensions," the Russian the Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry said in a statement that U.S. military officers were to observe the South Korean exercise.

"North Korea was called upon to display maximum restraint," the Russian statement added.

SEEKING NEGOTIATIONS

North Korea is seeking the restart of six-party nuclear talks with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

It wants the talks to resume without preconditions, something Washington and South Korea have ruled out because they do not want to reward Pyongyang for hostile actions.

Analysts say the North uses the threat of attacks and even nuclear conflict to win concessions such as food and economic aid at talks over its nuclear stockpile.

At the same time as the poor, reclusive country is pushing for aid, the North is also in the throes of a potential leadership succession as ailing leader Kim Jong-il grooms his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, as the next ruler.

[American Patriot]

I think I missed this one:

ICC investigating North Korean shelling, ship sinking as possible war crimes
created on 06.12.2010 16:25



The International Crimal Court (ICC) on Monday said it has opened a preliminary examination to evaluate if two North Korean attacks against South Korea this year constitute as war crimes. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo confirmed that the court has received communications which allege that North Korean forces committed war crimes in South Korea during two incidents this year. "The Office has opened a preliminary examination to evaluate if some incidents constitute war crimes under the jurisdiction of the Court," the court said in a statement.

The first alleged war crime took place on March 26 when a torpedo allegedly fired from a North Korean submarine struck the South Korean warship the Cheonan, killing 46 people. The second incident took place on November 23 when North Korea fired nearly 200 artillery shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, killing four people and injuring 16 others.



South Korea has been a State Party to the Rome Statute since November 13, 2002. As such, the ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide possibly committed on the territory of South Korea or by its nationals since February 1, 2003. "The Office of the Prosecutor is mandated by the Statute to conduct preliminary examinations for the purpose of determining if the Rome Statute criteria for opening an investigation are met," the ICC said. The ICC did not say who communicated the allegations to the court, but tensions have escalated since the North Korean attacks this year. After the most recent attack, on Yeonpyeong, South Korea responded with its own artillery fire that killed an unknown number of people inside North Korea. Also on Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula. "The two Presidents discussed our common interest in peace and stability in Northeast Asia and the priority of ensuring the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," a White House statement said, adding that both leaders agreed on the importance to working together toward these shared goals. Obama emphasized the need for North Korea to halt its `provocative behavior` and to meet its international obligations, including its commitments in the 2005 Six Party Joint Declaration. "The President condemned the North Korean shelling of a South Korean island on November 23 and its pursuit of a uranium enrichment program in defiance of its obligations," the White House added. "He urged China to work with us and others to send a clear message to North Korea that its provocations are unacceptable." According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, Hu called for calm and a `rational response` from all sides to prevent the deterioration of the fragile security situation on the Korean Peninsula. "Hu said China is greatly concerned about the current tension on the peninsula, and deeply regrets the loss of lives and properties in the exchange of artillery fire between the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and South Korea late last month," Xinhua said. Hu further said that - if the situation is not properly handled - it could lead to further escalation of tensions or could even run out of control. This would not be in the common interest of all parties concerned, Hu added. © dts Deutsche Textservice Nachrichtenagentur GmbH

[BRVoice]

Residents leave Yeonpyeong Island on live-fire drill
Dec. 17, YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea -- Residents of Yeonpyeong Island take a ferry to safety on Dec. 17 as the South Korean army declared a plan to stage a live-fire artillery drill in the border island pounded by a North Korean artillery attack in late November. The North made the surprise attack citing a live-fire drill near the border island. (Yonhap)
(END)

[BRVoice]

North Korea warns South over 'madcap' drills


North Korea warns South over 'madcap' drills



15:46 17/12/2010

North Korea warned South Korea on Friday over plans to hold live-fire drills on Yeonpyeong Island, saying its response would be "deadlier" than shelling in November that killed four people.

South Korea said on Thursday that it would hold what North Korea has dubbed "madcap naval firing exercises" between December 18-21.

North Korea said its response to its drills would be more serious than the November 23 shelling of the island "in terms of the powerfulness and sphere of the strike."

The message was sent to South Korean military officials earlier on Friday.

Pyongyang does not recognize the sea border between the countries, drawn up by the United States at the end of the 1950s Korean War.

The drills will be observed by officials from the Military Armistice Commission of the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) to ensure that it is carried out in accordance with the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, the JCS spokesman said.

Some 20 U.S. soldiers will also take part in the exercises by providing medical and communications support, he said.

Residents on Yeonpyeong will be advised to leave the island before the drill starts, and those who want to stay will be taken to shelters, the spokesman told Yonhap.

South Korean officials have warned the North it will retaliate harshly if Pyongyang attacks the South's territory again.

MOSCOW, December 17 (RIA Novosti)

[BRVoice]

DANGER IN THE FAR EAST
Submitted by JR Nyquist on Fri, 17 Dec 2010

Around the time of World War II, Marshal of the Soviet Union Y. N. Shaposhnikov explained, "Mobilization is war, in our minds there is no other meaning for it." Having recalled many of its people from Russia and China, it appears that some kind of mobilization has been underway in North Korea. Small moves, like placing artillery units in north-facing caves and increasing the number of divisions on the border with South Korea, indicates something more than the usual bluster. On the American side, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mullen, says that North Korea is being irresponsible and "reckless." He talks as though an avoidable war may erupt in Korea, and appears exasperated by the behavior of China, which is not applying the needed diplomatic pressure on the North Koreans. At the same time, the Russian Far East Military District is increasing its war readiness.

Russia's actions are not difficult to read. On every front the Russians give aid and comfort to the Communist side, or the anti-American side. Take South America as an example. The government of Venezuela supports a Communist insurgency in neighboring Colombia. So what does Russia do? Moscow exports weapons to Venezuela that are, in turn, given to the Colombian Communist insurgency. According to the Washington Post, last year Russia exported 1,800 SA-24 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to Venezuela. The Russian Federation also supports Communist Angola, the Communist-staffed ANC leadership in South Africa, and sells advanced weapons to Communist China (which is no longer regarded by Washington as Communist since it began selling cheap consumer items to the United States). Russia's support for rogue states is not a matter of conjecture. It is a matter of record. The Russians have supported terrorism worldwide for decades. They have armed the Iranians, who now threaten to kill American generals (see the FOX NEWS report). In other words, the Russian government supports America's enemies while pretending to be America's friend. The same may be said of China.

To understand Russia's motives, and to understand those of China, it is useful to read the a text prepared almost 30 years ago by a KGB defector named Anatoliy Golitsyn. His book was titled New Lies for Old, and he predicted the fall of the Soviet Union; only he said the collapse would be engineered by Moscow as part of a long-term deception operation. "The overall aim will be to bring about a major and irreversible shift in the balance of world power in favor of the [socialist] bloc as a preliminary to the final ideological objective of establishing a worldwide federation of communist states," wrote Golitsyn, who warned that the Sino-Soviet split was faked. This, in turn, set up the possibility of a far-reaching "scissor's strategy," in which Russia and China took opposite sides in various conflicts around the world, infiltrating and influencing various states (like India and Pakistan, or Zimbabwe and Angola). "Before long, the communist strategists might be persuaded that the balance had swung irreversibly in their favor," Golitsyn continued. "In that event they might well decide on a Sino-Soviet' reconciliation.' The scissor's strategy would give way to the strategy of 'one clenched fist.' At that point the shift in the political and military balance would be plain for all to see."

As the North Korean government sinks allied ships, bombards allied civilians and threatens Northeast Asia with a regional nuclear war, the Russians and Chinese prepare their forces, making threats of their own. Already the Chinese have openly warned against military exercises in the Western Pacific. In recent days the Russian Far East Military District has been preparing for a conflict. According to the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Yegorovich Makarov, "Without a doubt, we have taken measures to increase the combat readiness of our forces." (See Reuters story.) What reason does Makarov offer? He merely says that an "inappropriate situation" is developing in Korea. By this he does not mean that Russia is going to take South Korea's side, or support the American alliance. The Russians are preparing, if need be, to support their Chinese and North Korean allies. Make no mistake, the Chinese and the Russians will support North Korea against South Korea. They are not on the side of peace and stability; rather, they are on the side of war and destabilization. This, in fact, has always been the Russian and Chinese position. The ruling powers in Russia and China consider themselves already at war with America. This is a secret they keep to themselves. Meanwhile, the Americans believe the Russian and Chinese lies, imagining that Russian and Chinese power has made peace with capitalism, and will play nice from now on. Therefore America plans for a peaceful future, talking of nuclear arms reductions, while the Russians and Chinese have been building weapons of all kinds, sending those arms to rogue states like North Korea and Iran expressly for the purpose of igniting regional conflicts that will demoralize and economically ruin the United States.

You might ask, why would China participate in such a scheme when America is China's main customer? One might as well ask why China has broken agreements about missile technology transfers to countries like North Korea and Iran. Yet, the technology is transferred. As Constantine Menges pointed out in his book, China: The Gathering Threat, "Although China may have kept one or two of its many pledges and formal commitments, in fact, the phrase that best characterizes its policy is 'promise and forget.'" According to Menges, the CIA has described China as the "most significant supplier of weapons of mass destruction, related goods, and technology to foreign countries." At the top of the list of countries, you will find North Korea and Iran. Is this policy to make money? No, because there is much more money in selling consumer goods to the United States than selling missile technology to North Korea, and once the United States is attacked by WMDs your selling days are at an end. So how can we make sense of this?

Remember the words of Golitsyn. Remember the term "one clenched fist." The golden circle of American capitalism doesn't want to accept this analysis. Their obligatory economic optimism about China has caught them out, and they are no longer rational where these issues are concerned. American politicians cannot lead on this issue because they are the creatures of the financial and industrial elite, and the general public is too ignorant of foreign affairs to exert any pressure in the direction of realism. Those few voices of reason and alarm, like that of Constantine Menges, are drowned out by the daily media circus which concentrates on the politics of personality and scandal. The Russians can literally prepare their troops in the Far East for the advent of war, and there is no sense of alarm here in the United States. And it is useful to point out that the Russian Far East Military District has twice as many combat divisions as the entire United States Army. Imagine the number of Chinese troops in the Shenyang Military Region, where the Chinese deploy four armies, including 39th Mechanized Group Army.

Regionally, in Northeast Asia, the threat of war is being taken seriously by South Korean and American military officials. However, they appear to operate under the mistaken assumption that China's strategic interest lies with restraining North Korea. Apparently they have not considered the possibility that instability in Korea serves Chinese as well as Russian national interests, and a catastrophe on the Korean peninsula might strengthen the overall position of the Chinese as it weakens the position of America. In response to public warnings issued by top American and South Korean commanders, the North Korean Communists have alluded to the "dark clouds of a nuclear war" in which South Korea, Japan and the United States are turned into a "sea of flames." It is old North Korean rhetoric. But it is a type of rhetoric carried forward by a thoroughly militarized people, who have endured unimaginable hardships to sustain their military readiness at all costs. A Westerner can hardly imagine the sacrifices they have already made in peace-time.

[American Patriot]

having recalled many of its people from russia and china, it appears that some kind of mobilization has been underway in north korea.

If we check, we will see that I warned about this a week or so back. I posted a message as did more than one other I think, about North Koreans being recalled from China and Russia.

And why do we think we warned of this? Mobilization.

Geez

[BRVoice]

If we check, we will see that I warned about this a week or so back. I posted a message as did more than one other I think, about North Koreans being recalled from China and Russia.

And why do we think we warned of this? Mobilization.

Geez

Indeed Rick, I remember this.

[BRVoice]

N.Korean Dollar Earners 'Absconding'

The Chosun Ilbo

An increasing number of North Korean officials engaged in earning hard currency abroad have absconded with the dollars following financial sanctions against the North, observers say.

"The North is suffering difficulties settling its overseas bank accounts as the financial sanctions continue," a senior South Korean government source said Thursday. "Many North Korean officials carry dollars in bags as stopgap solutions, but some of the dollars vanish in the process."

Many North Korean officials abroad carry dollars in cash to strike deals, because it is difficult for them to settle bills the normal way. They earn the money from arms deals or through bogus companies. But some of them abscond with the cash.

The source added many North Korean arms deals have been uncovered in recent days in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions sanctioning the North.

"Some people may doubt the effectiveness of the UN sanctions, but in fact they're causing the North a great deal of pain," another South Korean government official said. "That's why the North is trying to attract the international community's attention with provocations like the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island."

englishnews@chosun.com / Dec. 17, 2010 09:36 KST

[American Patriot]

Having read that whole article now, I would say that Nyqist - while I rarely listen to him, has hit pretty much everything I have been saying to my friends and here and there.

Frankly this is kind of scary.

I think I will go see a movie this weekend - maybe the Voyage of the Dawn Treader....

I'm so... tired of this nonsense. Countries need to shit or get off the pot.

[BRVoice]

N.K. threatens strike over South’s fire drill
The Korea Herald
2010-12-17 20:47

North Korea threatened on Friday to retaliate militarily should South Korea go ahead with its planned life-fire drills near the western sea border, the scene of a bloody skirmish last month that killed four South Koreans.

“Second and third self-defensive blows that cannot be predicted will be dealt” if South Korea conducts the scheduled one-day drills, the North’s military said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

“The intensity and range of the firepower will be more serious than on Nov. 23,” it said, citing its deadly artillery attack on an inhabited South Korean island last month.

Such a warning was sent to Seoul through the inter-Korean military hotline, according to the KCNA.


South Korean soldiers take part in a military drill on the beach in Malipo, north western South Korea, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010. (AP-Yonhap News)


North Korea fired a barrage of artillery on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island located in the seas near their tense maritime border on Nov. 23, causing civilian casualties and leaving hundreds of islanders homeless for weeks.

Refusing to yield to growing international condemnation for the provocative action that followed the March sinking of a South Korean warship, Pyongyang claims it made the attack in response to the South’s live-fire drills earlier that day.

The South Korean military said earlier this week it will hold a one-day live fire exercise near Yeonpyeong Island sometime between Saturday and Tuesday, ignoring Pyongyang’s continuing claim that the shells from the drills trespass its territorial waters.

It did not specify whether it will go ahead with the planned drills despite the warning.

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

[American Patriot]

First it was "we will shoot if you shell our waters"

Now it's "we will shoot if you shoot at all".

Tomorrow it will be: "We are going to shoot you".

[BRVoice]

North Korea vows attack over drill
2010-12-17 22:32

Seoul - North Korea's military threatened on Friday to strike back with deadly firepower if South Korea goes ahead with a live-fire drill on a border island which the communist state shelled last month.

The North "will deal the second and third unpredictable self-defensive blow" to protect its territorial waters if the South holds the one-day drill scheduled sometime between Saturday and Tuesday, it said.

"It will be deadlier than what was made on November 23 in terms of the powerfulness and sphere of the strike," said the military statement carried on the North's official news agency.

The bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island last month killed two marines and two civilians, injured 18 people and damaged dozens of homes, and came after a firing drill into the sea by South Korean marines based on the island.

The latest warning sharply raised the stakes in the regional crisis, amid diplomatic moves to ease tensions. The news agency said the military's message was delivered earlier on Friday to the South.


SOUTH KOREA WILL USE AIR ATTACK

The South, outraged at the first shelling of civilian areas since the 1950-53 war, has fortified Yeonpyeong with more troops and artillery and vowed to use air power against any future attack.

Its military has said artillery will be aimed away from the North as usual during the upcoming drill, but it will respond strongly if provoked.

Members of the US-led United Nations Command are scheduled to observe the drill and about 20 US soldiers will play a supporting role.

But a top US general Thursday voiced concern over a possible "chain reaction".

General James Cartwright, vice chairperson of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the drill was being held on a "well-established and well-used" range in a transparent way, but could draw a North Korean reaction.

"What we worry about obviously is... if North Korea were to react to that in a negative way and fire back at those firing positions on the islands, that would start potentially a chain reaction," Cartwright told reporters.

"What you don't want to have happen out of that is for... us to lose control of the escalation."

Russia urged South Korea not to go ahead, warning the action risked escalating tensions with North Korea "in order to prevent a further escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula," according to a foreign ministry statement.


DRILL 'NOT THREATENING'

Seoul military spokespersons had no immediate comment on whether it would proceed with the drill. The defence ministry, in a statement, suggested it would.

"Our military's stance is that we do not need to react to every single threat and unreasonable statement," it said.

US state department spokesperson Philip Crowley said on Thursday there was "nothing provocative or unusual or threatening about these exercises".

The North Koreans "would be very unwise to react to what South Korea has announced", Crowley said.

Yeonpyeong is just south of the Yellow Sea border drawn by United Nations forces after the war, which the North refuses to recognise. It claims the seas around the island as its own maritime territory.

In an earlier message, Pyongyang's official website Uriminzokkiri warned that another war with South Korea would involve nuclear weapons.


MORE TALKS

Pyongyang's disclosure last month of an apparently working uranium enrichment plant - a potential new source of bomb-making material - also heightened regional security fears.

US politician Bill Richardson, a veteran troubleshooter with North Korea, is paying a private visit to Pyongyang to try to ease tensions.

And the US envoy to stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear disarmament, Sung Kim, held talks in Seoul on Friday with his South Korean counterpart Wi Sung-Lac.

In Beijing, a US delegation led by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg wrapped up three days of "useful" discussions on the Korean peninsula situation, the US embassy said.

The United States, China, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia are members of the denuclearisation forum which the North abandoned in April 2009, a month before its second atomic weapons test.

Host China along with Russia is trying to revive the forum to ease the crisis, and the North says it is willing to talk.

But the United States, South Korea and Japan say it must first mend ties with the South and show genuine seriousness about abandoning its nuclear drive.

- AFP

[vector7]

US insists South Korea has right to exercise its military

Written by: KUNA

The United States said on Friday that South Korea has the right to exercise its military in the Korean Peninsula and North Korea should not consider this routine as “provocative actions.”

“We recognize that South Korea is a sovereign country. It has a right to exercise its military as it sees fit, exercise are routine in nature, do not pose a threat to North Korea … and North Korea should not use any future exercise as justification to undertake further provocative actions,” said State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley in a press briefing.

“It is hard to see how a routine live-fire exercise, which have been held in the past, poses any kind of threat to North Korea. In fact, it does not,” he added.

North Korea threatened on Friday to retaliate with force if South Korea goes ahead with a planned live-fire exercise on the Yeonpyeong island, which was hit by North Korea during an airstrike on November 23 killing four people.

Crowley noted that “a country has every right to train and exercise its military in its own self-defense. These are activities that have, and should there be a live-fire exercise in the coming days, fully contained within South Korea’s territory.”

“North Korea should not use any future legitimate training exercises as justification to undertake further provocative actions,” he added.
Crowley affirmed that “nobody wants to see a further escalation of tensions in the Korean Peninsula. We are in touch with South Korea. We are closely monitoring ongoing events. But at its heart, South Korea has a legitimate right to train its military as it sees fit.” “We are absolutely concerned about the current trajectory,” he added.

Deputy Secretary of State James went to Beijing to consult with Chinese officials while US Ambassador to Moscow John Beyrle met earlier today with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Borodavkin to discuss North Korea among other issues.

“Clearly, we are concerned about events and North Korean provocations. We want to see tensions reduced. We have clearly called on North Korea to do that. We want to see other countries, including China, Russia and others, send a clear message to North Korea to cease its provocations,” he concluded.

[BRVoice]

vector7 do you think this mess has already pass the point of no return?

[vector7]

North Korea warns of 'self-defensive blows,' nuclear war, if military exercises take place

By Wikinews on 17 Dec 2010 in

• General
• International

North Korea has warned of "self-defensive blows" to South Korea if they participate in joint, live-fire military exercises with the United States, scheduled to begin in the next few days. The U.S. and South Korea will be taking part in a one day, live-fire exercise on Yeonpyeong Island, the island which was shelled by North Korean artillery on November 23.

Nearly 200 rounds of artillery were fired at the island. Four people were killed and another 14 were injured in the attack. South Korea had been taking part in annual military exercises with the U.S., off the island's west coast when the attack occurred. They returned fire, firing nearly 80 rounds of artillery, but no damage was reported on the North Korean side.

"Second and third self-defensive blows that cannot be predicted will be dealt. The intensity and range of the firepower will create a situation more serious than one on Nov. 23," said a statement released by the North Korean government via the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the country's main news agency. It accused the two nations of creating "hysteria of war of aggression against the DPRK, escalating the military tension and confrontation." The nation's official communist website Uriminzokkiri, warns that "if war breaks out, it will lead to nuclear warfare and not be limited to the Korean Peninsula."

North Korea further demands the exercises be canceled saying, "the South Korean puppet warmongers must immediately cancel the provocative coastal live-fire drills planned on Yeonpyeong." The country considers any exercises that take place on Yeonpyeong Island, to be a violation of their territory.

According to the U.S. State Department, the exercises are part of regular drills between the U.S. and South Korea and are not provocative.

"These are routine exercises. There’s nothing provocative or unusual or threatening about these exercises. The North Koreans have been notified about what South Korea plans to do," said Philip J. Crowley, a spokesman for the State Department. The U.S. and South Korea have no plans to cancel the exercises.

This article originally appeared in Wikinews.