Korean Peninsula On The Brink Of War

[American Patriot]

11-26-2010 18:40

Seoul not safe from artillery attacks

By Bae Ji-sook

Seoul is never safe from North Korea’s artillery attacks such as the one that broke out on Yeonpyeong Island earlier this week, analysts say.

As the capital city is filled with skyscrapers and a complicated layout of roads, the severity of damage that could be caused by any military attack threatens to be even higher, they said.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, there are 3,919 underground shelters in the city including the underground floors of public organizations, local administration units, large buildings and metro stations. The specific address and information of the shelters are listed on www.safekorea.go.kr.

The shelters can accommodate more than twice Seoul’s current population of about 10 million. “There are also some air-raid shelters that were built during Japan’s colonial rule (1910-1945),” Seoul city spokesman Lee Jong-hyun said Friday.

However, observers express different opinions. They said these facilities do not guarantee safety enough in the event of an attack; the bombardment on Yeonpyeong destroyed buildings, burnt infrastructure and killed two civilians and two soldiers.

Moreover, in the event of a nuclear weapons attack, the current underground shelters might not be able to block the radioactive fallout and other life-threatening materials.

There are 23 nuclear-proof shelters with independent power plants, automatic pollution detectors, alarm systems and survival kits including food for two weeks nationwide, but none exist in Seoul. Moreover, the existing ones are designated as being intended for public organizations and their staff, practically banning access to civilians.

“Nuclear-proof shelters are independent spaces requiring a lot of money to build. Therefore, they are located in military facilities and within Cheong Wa Dae,” Lee said.

We are currently creating such facilities in the underground of the soon-to-be-built City Hall in central Seoul. We hope to build more such facilities,” Lee said.

[American Patriot]

U.S. plea to China on N. Korea

Narayan Lakshman Share · print · T+



In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, right, meets with Gen. Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, in Pyongyang, North Korea on Oct. 25, 2010. Photo: AP/Xinhua

The United States expects China to wield its influence over North Korea, said a senior State Department official, after an exchange of artillery fire between North and South Korea on Tuesday. During a media briefing, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley said: “China is pivotal to moving North Korea in a fundamentally different direction,” adding that while it was up to North Korea to stop provocative acts, the U.S. believed that China had influence with North Korea.
He said, “We don't want to understate or overstate that [influence that China has]. It is not that China can dictate a particular action to North Korea, but it is that China, together with the U.S. and other countries, have to send a clear, direct, unified message that it is North Korea that has to change.”
The incident on the fringes of the Yellow Sea elicited reactions across the board within the U.S government with the White House saying, “The U.S. strongly condemns this attack and calls on North Korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement.”
Navy Admiral Mike Mullen said while Americans should be concerned about North Korea's “volatile posture,” the U.S. had 28,000 troops in South Korea, where “we are very much aligned with in supporting them”.
According to the American Forces Press Service, the USS George Washington aircraft carrier will join South Korean naval forces in the Yellow Sea west of the peninsula to conduct enhanced military exercises from November 28 to December 1.
To a question on why the U.S. expected China reaction to be any different to its statements on the sinking of South Korea's Cheonan ship earlier this year, Mr. Crowley said the U.S. had held discussions with China both in Beijing and in Washington and they expected high-level conversations with China to continue in the coming days.
Reiterating the U.S.' keenness to see a stronger Chinese reaction, however, he added, “So this is something that we feel strongly about, and we will be communicating that. We have already communicated that to China. We will continue to encourage China to send a direct message to North Korea.”
Touching on the specific steps that the U.S. expected to see from China, Mr. Crowley said “We would hope and expect that China will use [its] influence first to reduce tensions that have arisen as a result of North Korean provocations, and then secondly, continue to encourage North Korea to take affirmative steps to denuclearise.”

[American Patriot]

China sends officials to Seoul over North Korea

Published: 11.27.10, 17:14 / Israel News

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Senior Chinese officials visited Seoul and discussed with South Korea's foreign minister ways to ease tensions over North Korea's artillery shelling on its southern neighbour's island. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo, along with Wu Dawei, an envoy on North Korean nuclear issues, discussed the situation with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan. (Reuters)

[American Patriot]

The List: Tension on the Korean peninsula

A former South Korean underwater demolition team member shouts a slogan during an anti-government rally in front of the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. (Photo: Associated Press)By
The Washington Times
4:13 p.m., Saturday, November 27, 2010






There have been numerous military clashes on the divided Korean peninsula since the cease-fire of the Korean War in 1953. From 1955, 887 North Koreans, 418 South Koreans and 89 Americans have died in clashes. In light of the attack on Yeonpyeong Island on Tuesday, The List looks at some notable incidences over the years in reverse chronological.

• Bombing of Yeonpyeong Island — Two South Korean marines and two civilians are killed after North Korean forces fire dozens of shells at a South Korean military base on Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 23, 2010. It is one of the worst clashes on the Korean peninsula since the Korean War.
• Cheonan — On March 26, 2010, the South Korean warship Cheonan is sunk by a North Korean submarine. Forty-six South Korean sailors died in the incident. The North has denied any role in the incident.
• Second battle of Yeonpyeong — While South Korea was co-hosting the 2002 World Cup, a naval skirmish on June 29 between North Korea and South Korea patrol boats near Yeonpyeong Island resulted in the deaths of 13 North Koreans and four South Koreans.
• First battle of Yeonpyeong — A prolonged naval standoff between vessels from the North Korea and South Korea off the Yeonpyeong Island escalated on June 15, 1999. A North Korean torpedo boat was sunk and several others were heavily damaged. More than 30 North Koreans died in the incident.
• Spy boat grounded — On Sept. 17, 1996, a disabled North Korean spy submarine with 26 North Korean military personnel and crew ran aground on the east coast near the tourist beach of Jeongdongjin. The North Korean spies killed the 11-man crew so they would not defect. Over a period of 49 days, 13 of the spies were killed as they tried to get back over the DMZ. The fleeing North Koreans killed 13 South Korean soldiers and four civilians.
• Daegu — A North Korean infiltrator killed two civilians and wounded another in Daegu in September 1984, before committing suicide.
• Spy boat — In June 1981 a North Korean spy boat was sunk off Seosan, with nine agents killed and one captured.
• Axe murder incident — Two U.S. Army officers are killed in the neutral Joint Security Area near the DMZ while trimming trees by axe-wielding North Korean soldiers on Aug. 18, 1976. Four U.S. soldiers and five South Korean soldiers were also injured.
• Assassination attempt — On Aug. 15, 1974, a Japanese-born North Korean sympathizer attempted to assassinate President Park Chung-Hee in Seoul but killed the first lady instead. The agent, Mun Segwang, was executed.
• Tunnels — In November of 1974, the first of what would be a series of North Korean infiltration tunnels under the DMZ was discovered.
• USS Pueblo — On Jan. 23, 1968, the North Korean Navy captured the USS Pueblo, an American spy ship operating under the guise of conducting oceanic research, along with the 82 crew on board. One crew member was killed in the initial skirmish; the rest spent 11 months in North Korean captivity.
• The Blue House attack — A North Korean commando team infiltrated Seoul on Jan. 21, 1968, in an attempt to blow up the Blue House — the presidential office — and kill President Park Chung Hee. The infiltrators got within 600 yards of the Blue House before a gunfight broke out. Twenty-nine North Koreans were tracked down and shot. One was captured. At least 68 South Koreans were killed. Most of these casualties came during the operation to hunt down the commandos.
• Camp Walley — The isolated small barracks of Camp Walley near the DMZ was bombed on May 21, 1967, by a North Korean combat engineer unit, which had infiltrated through the American patrolled area of the DMZ. Two U.S. soldiers were killed, and 17 were wounded while they slept.
• Camp Liberty Bell attack — On Aug. 28, 1967, North Korean commandos crossed the DMZ and attacked Charlie Company 76th Engineer Battalion at Camp Liberty Bell, leaving one American and two Korean troops dead.
• Cease-fire — On July 27, 1953, the American-led U.N. Command, which fought on South Korea's side, and North Korea sign a cease-fire. The United States suffered 33,686 battle deaths and 2,830 non-battle deaths during the Korean War.
• Korean War — On June 25, 1950, North Korea invades South Korea, triggering the 1950-53 Korean War.

Compiled by John Haydon
Sources: GlobalSecurity.org; the Advertiser; BBC; Associated Press

[American Patriot]

Rhetoric ‘War’ Heats Up in Korea

November 27, 2010 - 12:59 PM | by: Greg Palkot

"There could be some real fireworks."


That's the warning noted Korea expert Peter Beck gave Fox News Saturday regarding the upcoming U.S.-South Korea naval exercises off the west coast of the Korean peninsula.
Those war games come just days after the North's artillery shelling of the South Korean island of Yeonpyong which left four dead and 18 injured.


Today, a North Korean spokesman seemed to back up expert Beck's prediction, saying there will be "unpredictable consequences" as a result of the exercises.


The U.S. is taking no chances. While it is going ahead with the drills, military staffers on the Korean mainland are taking added security measures.


This as South Koreans were also making noise. Some 1,000 veterans protested Saturday in front of the Defense Ministry building in Seoul demanding the South fight back.


So what is the message that North Korea is trying to send with this latest barrage of shells and rhetoric?


Seoul-based Korea expert Andrei Lankov tells Fox News it is quite simple: "We are here, we are dangerous, we are unpredictable."


Many here in the South hope the upcoming week will just see a war of words in the region.



Read more: http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2...#ixzz16WWUEPfy

[American Patriot]

US-S.Korea naval exercises due after Pyongyang warning

Frank Zeller

November 28, 2010 - 9:04AM


The United States and South Korea are due to begin naval exercises in the Yellow Sea Sunday, days after a fatal North Korean attack on the South and with Pyongyang warning of "unpredictable consequences".


Washington insists that the drill is "defensive in nature" and was planned long in advance, but the show of strength is intended to send an unmistakable message to the volatile regime of Kim Jong-Il.


The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS George Washington and its battle group will be joined by a flotilla of South Korean destroyers and other warships.
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The aircraft carrier left its port in Japan Wednesday, only a day after North Korea stunned the world by launching a barrage of shells and rockets at a South Korean border island, killing two marines and two civilians.


The exercises are due to be held in international waters off the Korean peninsula but Pyongyang, which has kept the region on edge for years with its nuclear and long-range missile tests, issued an ominous warning.


"If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea (Yellow Sea) at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences," its official KCNA news agency said.


The planned drill has also heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, which regards the Yellow Sea as its own ancestral waters and has refrained from condemning its communist ally Pyongyang over Tuesday's attack.


China has previously come out strongly against such exercises in its backyard, saying they risk exacerbating tensions, and its foreign ministry has said it opposes "any party to take any military actions in our exclusive economic zone without permission".


Washington has stressed that the manoeuvres are not aimed against China, which plays a key role as host of the stalled six-party talks seeking an end to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.


China's state councillor Dai Bingguo, the country's top foreign policymaker, travelled to Seoul on Saturday and held talks on the situation with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, Beijing's official news agency Xinhua reported.


Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also held phone talks on Saturday with his Japanese and Russian counterparts.


The attack on Yeonpyeong island was the first shelling of civilians since the 1950-53 Korean war and has plunged the peninsula into its worst crisis in decades.


The KCNA report making the threat also labelled the United States "the arch-criminal who orchestrated the recent military clash".


The North claims it acted in retaliation Tuesday to a South Korean firing drill in what it regards as its own waters, and said two civilian deaths were "if true... very regrettable", but also charged they had been used as "human shields" by being placed near artillery positions.


Pyongyang has warned that the new war games mean the peninsula "is inching closer to the brink of war". It regularly engages in such aggressive rhetoric without following through with action, but remains deeply unpredictable.


In a security meeting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak warned that "there is a possibility that North Korea might commit wayward acts during the exercise," said a spokesman at the presidential Blue House.


Lee has come under pressure to take a tougher line against the North in the wake of the shelling and Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed South Korean military source as saying: "The intensity of the exercise will be greater than had been planned.


"Participating forces will carry out firing and bombing drills."


The 97,000-ton George Washington, which is escorted by nine surface combatant ships, can carry about 75 aircraft on its 1.8 hectare (4.5 acre) flight deck and has a crew of 5,500 service personnel.


Also taking part in the drill will be an embarked carrier air wing and vessels the USS Cowpens, Lassen, Stethem and Fitzgerald.


South Korea will deploy destroyers, patrol vessels, frigates, support ships and anti-submarine aircraft, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said without giving details of the numbers of ships or personnel, the Korea Times reported.



© 2010 AFP
This story is sourced direct from an overseas news agency as an additional service to readers. Spelling follows North American usage, along with foreign currency and measurement units.

[American Patriot]

Mullen: North Korea's instability 'could be very dangerous'

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/11/26/mullen.interview/


By the CNN Wire Staff
November 27, 2010 -- Updated 0213 GMT (1013 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Mullen sees "substantial number" of troops even after draw down
• Mullen says leader working to get world's attention
• Document leaks endanger troops
• Wide-ranging interview airs Sunday

RELATED TOPICS

• Michael G. Mullen
• North Korea
• Fareed Zakaria

(CNN) -- The recent news developments in North Korea, including last week's shelling of a South Korean island, illustrates a growing instability that "could be very dangerous," the U.S. military's senior ranking officer said in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria.


North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has a country "that's starving its people, whose economy is absolutely dreadful. And he continues to take actions -- and I think very deliberate actions -- to destabilize a region. ... That could be very dangerous for all of us, including -- not just the regional players, although I think, certainly, China has a great deal at stake with stability," Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview on "CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS" to air Sunday.


Mullen said the artillery exchange -- along with the deadly sinking of a South Korean ship and the recent revelation of a uranium enrichment facility in North Korea -- were part of Kim's plan.


"What happened with the killing of the 46 South Korean sailors, what happened with the development of the uranium enrichment facility, as well as, obviously, the artillery incident ... there are many that believe this is part of [Kim Jong-Il's] posturing for the succession of his young son," Mullen said. "But I believe his main focus is to continue to develop nuclear weapons, to continue to get the world's attention and to continue to try to move himself up to a level that is regarded as a, you know, sort of a world player."


During the wide-ranging interview, Mullen also addressed Afghanistan, as well as Wikileaks' intention to release more government documents.


Mullen said a draw down of U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2011 "will be based on a recommendation from General (David) Petraeus and he will make that based on conditions on the ground. We don't know from what province and we don't know how many," he said.


"All of that said, every indication that I can see is there certainly is going to be a substantial number of allied troops -- U.S. and allied troops -- in Afghanistan after July 2011," he added.


Mullen said the leaking of documents by Wikileaks endangers the lives of U.S. troops.
"What I don't think those who are in charge of Wikileaks understand is we live in a world where just a little bitty piece of information can be added to a network of information and really open up an understanding that just wasn't there before," Mullen said. "So it continues to be extremely dangerous. And I would hope that those who are responsible for this would, at some point in time, think about the responsibility that they have for lives that they're exposing ... and stop leaking this information."

[American Patriot]

Schwartz discusses Korea, other issues
by Lisa Daniel The Warner Robins Patriot



Gen. Norton Schwartz

slideshow




11/23/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said it is "significant" that the South Korean air force, rather than the U.S., is leading its country's air defenses at a time when North Korea has become increasingly provocative.

Schwartz spoke here Nov. 23 at a Defense Writers Group meeting hours after North Korea launched an artillery attack against the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong. North Korea reportedly fired dozens of artillery shells at the island, killing two South Korean marines and wounding at least 16 other people.

U.S. Forces Korea is monitoring the situation closely, General Schwartz said.

"It is significant that the (South Korean air force) is in the lead" and launched eight F-15 fighter jets in response, he said.

The attack came within days of revelations that North Korea has secretly built a large uranium-enrichment facility, raising longstanding concerns about its nuclear intentions. And, in March, North Korea torpedoed and sank the South Korean navy ship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors.

South Korea and its allies have considerable air power in the North Pacific region that North Korea should be mindful of, General Schwartz said.

"Today, at this moment, there is no question that there is very substantial air power in the North Pacific, and that is something North Korea needs to be respectful of," he said.

General Schwartz made the comments during a wide-ranging discussion with reporters that included the ongoing Air Force tanker bid, the budget, and the lifespan of the C-17 Globemaster cargo plane.

The general acknowledged that Air Force personnel inadvertently provided information to competitors Boeing and EADS about each company's bid on the tanker. But, he said, the information was one page of data that was not proprietary, as some media reported, but rather included technical information related to analysis of the aircraft.

The Air Force reviewed the mistake, General Schwartz said, and had two people responsible removed from the service's program review office.

The mistake does not give either company an advantage on the bid because both companies received the same type of information, the general said.

Addressing the budget, General Schwartz said the Air Force has found $28 billion in response to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' directive that the department find $100 billion in savings during the next five years to re-invest in high-priority needs.

The Air Force savings will be redirected to weapons system modernization, including improved long-range strike capability, General Schwartz said.

In other weapons and equipment needs, he said, the Air Force is fitting new engines in 52 of its C-5 transport aircraft. The Air Force, he added, also will eventually need to replace its aging C-17 transport planes.

Turning to Afghanistan, General Schwartz said the Air Force fully understands the strategy of Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, to apply effective air power while minimizing civilian casualties.

"We get that," General Schwartz said. "I'm not suggesting we're perfect, but 80 percent of civilian casualties" are caused by the enemy and confirmed by human rights organizations.

"What we're doing is, I would argue, is the most precise application of force in history," he said.

General Schwartz also was asked about the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, which forbids gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. The law is under scrutiny by the Obama administration, Congress and the federal appeals courts, which are considering whether to overturn the law.

General Schwartz said he has reviewed the draft report that the department has scheduled to be released on Nov. 30, and has offered his edits. He said it is important that the report's contents and discussions about it remain confidential until its release.

General Schwartz called a recent leak of information on the report "unfortunate," and said it "makes the candid exchange of views more difficult."

The Joint Chiefs of Staff are prepared to give their best military advice to President Barack Obama about the potential impact of the law's repeal on the military, General Schwartz said.

"If the law is changed, the U.S. Air Force will pursue its implementation professionally, thoroughly, and with conviction," he said.


Read more: The Warner Robins Patriot - Schwartz discusses Korea other issues

[American Patriot]

27 November 2010 Last updated at 17:31 ET

US and Sorth Korea set to begin military exercises

China has expressed concern about military activity so close to its territory
Continue reading the main story Inside North Korea

• Why border hot-spot is war relic
• US resorts to carrier diplomacy
• Hard choices for South Korea
• China's muted response

South Korea and the United States are due to begin four days of joint military exercises in the waters off the Korean west coast.
The US says they are defensive exercises designed to deter North Korea from launching further attacks across its border with the South.
North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island last week left two marines and two civilians dead.
North Korea has condemned the exercises as a provocation.
China has also expressed concern about military activity by foreign navies so close to its territory, and has warned the Americans not to stray too close.
The BBC's Chris Hogg, in the South Korean capital Seoul, says military sources there say that planning for the war games began before North Korea's deadly attack on Yeonpyeong island. But they add that the intensity of the live fire and bombing drills will now be stepped up.
The US aircraft carrier the USS George Washington and four other US navy vessels will be joined by South Korean destroyers, patrol vessels, frigates, support ships and anti-submarine aircraft.
The drills are expected to take place about 125km (77 miles) south of the disputed maritime border between the two Koreas, about 40km off the Korean coast.
Continue reading the main story North Korea: Timeline 2010

26 March: South Korean warship, Cheonan, sinks, killing 46 sailors
20 May: Panel says a North Korean torpedo sank the ship; Pyongyang denies involvement
July-September: South Korea and US hold military exercises; US places more sanctions on Pyongyang
29 September: North holds rare party congress seen as part of father-to-son succession move
29 October: Troops from North and South Korea exchange fire across the land border
12 November: North Korea shows US scientist new - undeclared - uranium enrichment facility
23 November: North shells island of Yeonpyeong, killing at least four South Koreans

• In pictures: S Korean anger
• US-South alliance under pressure
• Koreans angry and worried
• Brief history of the Korean War

The aircraft carrier is likely to be stationed further south in international waters, but still technically within striking range of Chinese cities.
A statement from North Korea's official KCNA news agency said: "If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea (Yellow Sea), no-one can predict the ensuing consequences."
Funerals On Saturday, North Korea accused the South of using civilians as human shields on Yeonpyeong island.
The North's state media said the South was using the deaths of the two civilians for propaganda, in its words "creating the impression that the defenceless civilians were exposed to indiscriminate shelling from the North".
Pyongyang said it had been provoked by the South's military exercises, which were being carried out close to Yeonpyeong. It said the North had sent a "telephone notice" on the morning of the shelling "to prevent the clash at the last moment" but the South continued its "provocation".
South Korea says two men in their 60s, who were working on the island, were killed by the shells.
The funeral service for the two marines who died, Seo Jeong-woo and Moon Kwang-wook, was held on Saturday at a military hospital in Seongnam, close to Seoul, and was broadcast on television nationwide.
Hundreds of government and military officials, politicians, religious leaders, activists and civilians attended. Among them were Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik.

The US has called on China, North Korea's only ally, to increase its pressure on Pyongyang to prevent further incidents.
China has said its "top priority" is to keep the situation under control. Beijing has begun a series of talks in an attempt to ease the tension.
However, the top US military commander, Admiral Mike Mullen, said he did not know "why China doesn't push harder" with Pyongyang.
In an interview with CNN due to be broadcast on Sunday but released as a transcript, Adm Mullen said Beijing appeared to mistakenly believe it could control North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il.
"I'm not sure he is controllable," Adm Mullen said.
South Korea has increased its troop numbers on Yeonpyeong and says it will change its rules of engagement to allow it to respond more forcefully if incidents such as Tuesday's happen again.
The tension comes as the North is undergoing an apparent transition of power from Kim Jong-il to his young son Kim Jong-un.


More on This Story

[American Patriot]

I just received word that the "War Games" have OFFICIALLY started....

[American Patriot]

Keep your eyes on the news folks.

[American Patriot]

Both Koreas issue threats on eve of US-Seoul war games

North Korea says if US deploys nuclear carrier in Yellow Sea 'no one can predict the consequences'

• Paul Harris in New York
• The Observer, Sunday 28 November 2010
• Article history

  

  The mother of a South Korean marine killed by the North Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong island cries at his funeral yesterday. Photograph: Pool/REUTERS As US and South Korean forces prepared for joint war games in the Yellow Sea today, North Korea threatened further attacks and accused its neighbour of using civilians as "human shields".
  The developments deepened fears of serious armed conflict in the region, which is undergoing its greatest period of tension since the 1950-53 Korean war. Using typically bellicose language, a state-run website in the North warned that the military exercises would be an "unpardonable provocation" and that it would create a "sea of fire" if any of its own territory was violated.
  At the same time the North Korean state news agency accused the South of causing casualties by using civilians as shields around military installations on the island of Yeonpyeong, where Northern artillery fire killed two South Korean marines and two civilians last week.
  "Responsibility lies in enemies' inhumane action of creating a 'human shield' by deploying civilians around artillery positions," the agency said, blaming the US for creating a "propaganda campaign" against it. Such accusations by the North are a common feature of the periodic crises that flare up on the Korean peninsula, but there seems little doubt the current situation is gravely serious. This time the public mood in the South appears to have turned away from placating its unpredictable neighbour in favour of a more punishing policy.
  At a funeral yesterday for the marines killed on Yeonpyeong, the South Korean military commander, Major-General You Nak-jun, laid flowers at an altar and vowed that his country would retaliate if there was a further attack from the North. "Our marine corps ... will carry out a hundred – or thousand-fold…" in retaliation, he said at the ceremony. "We will put our feelings of rage and animosity in our bones and take our revenge on North Korea," he added.
  At the same time protesters in Seoul took to the streets demanding a tougher response. They included a demonstration by some 70 former special forces troops who donned white headbands and confronted riot police with wooden batons and fire extinguishers in front of the defence ministry. Elsewhere 1,000 marine veterans burned photographs of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and chanted slogans urging action. "Time for retaliation. Let's hit the presidential palace in Pyongyang," they shouted.
  The crisis has already cost the South Korean defence minister, Kim Tae-young, his job amid accusations that the response to North Korea's initial attack had been too weak. Now the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, has sent 4,000 troops as reinforcements to Yeonpyeong and other nearby islands with extra weapons and new rules of engagement that give them greater scope to respond if attacked.
  The world's diplomatic corps is working feverishly to contain the crisis and make sure there is no further conflict. China, which is widely seen as having influence over the North, has held talks with the US between its foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, and the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. "The pressing task now is to put the situation under control," the Chinese foreign ministry quoted Yang as telling Clinton.
  Meanwhile the US stressed that its military operation with the South – which includes deployment of a nuclear-armed aircraft carrier – was not intended to provoke the North. Yet the North's news agency addressed that issue: "If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea [Yellow Sea] at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences."
  The crisis has special resonance due to the delicate nature of politics in the secretive North. The country is undergoing a mostly opaque transition of power from the elder Kim to his son Kim Jong-un, who is only in his 20s. It also comes just after the North unexpectedly revealed a new, apparently ultra-modern uranium enrichment facility that could improve its ability to add to its nuclear weapons capability.
  

[American Patriot]

You guys all know I HATE to make predictions... because I'm rarely "right" when I make one, and usually look stupid.

In this case though, I'm not making a prediction exactly. I'm posting a warning.

Anyone who is monitoring this site for information about this sort of stuff - and I don't care which country you live in, be warned.

The shit is about to hit the fan.

I've talked to some people today and no one is very comfortable with what is happening, least of all military personnel I've talked to.

I am not going to post ANY details of what I DO know because I refuse to post anything related to troop movements one way or the other.

Suffice it to say though, things are about to get hot and heavy in Asia.

I got word about an hour ago that the "War Games" have "officially" begun.

Both Koreas as I have just learned have issued new warnings to each other.

This is about to escalate and China has "Ordered" the US to remove our Carrier group as well.

This is NOT good. We're not about to move that carrier out of there and China isn't about to tolerate it.

Ladies and Gents, my advice is simple. Get your "go bags" ready if you have them. If you don't, put something together ASAP to be able to feed yourselves for 72 hours or so. Warm clothing, extra gas, whatever it takes.

Do it tomorrow..... If this escalates more, it won't take too long. It will be in the next 3-5 days I think and if the crap hits the impeller device, we might see China do something we don't really expect............

Best wishes all. I sincerely pray I'm wrong on this.

Rick

[American Patriot]

And in other news today... Obama got 12 stitches in his lip when injured in a BASKETBALL GAME.

If that man were President, he'd be DANGEROUS.

Oh.... wait... he IS President.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[American Patriot]

US, South Korea start major exercise to warn North Korea

(AFP) – 58 minutes ago

SEOUL — The United States and South Korea Sunday began a major naval exercise designed to deter North Korea, after the communist state warned of "unpredictable consequences" if the drill goes ahead.

The four-day exercise involving a US aircraft carrier began at 8 am (2300 GMT Sunday), Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

It started five days after the North stunned the world by launching a barrage of shells and rockets at a South Korean border island, killing two marines and two civilians.

Washington insists that the drill -- which has been criticised by Beijing -- is defensive in nature and planned long before last week's attack. It says the show of strength is intended to send a message of deterrence to the North.

The 97,000-ton carrier George Washington can carry about 75 aircraft on its 1.8 hectare (4.5 acre) flight deck and has a crew of 5,500 service personnel.

Also taking part in the drill on the US side will be an embarked carrier air wing and vessels the USS Cowpens, Lassen, Stethem and Fitzgerald.

Six South Korean warships, including a 7,600-ton Aegis-class destroyer, two 4,500-ton destroyers and frigates, as well as anti-submarine aircraft were taking part in the exercise, a JSC spokesman said.

He declined to say exactly where in the Yellow Sea the drill is being held.

"If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea (Yellow Sea) at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences," the North's official news agency said Saturday.

[American Patriot]

SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States and South Korea began joint military exercises in waters west of the Korean Peninsula Sunday that have been opposed by regional giant China and have led to North Korea threatening "consequences."

The exercises, which Washington says are intended as a sign of deterrence to North Korea, come less than a week after the North shelled a South Korean island near the disputed maritime boundary and killed four people.

An official from U.S. Forces Korea told Reuters the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington had joined the four-day exercises.

The George Washington, which carries 75 warplanes and has a crew of more than 6,000, will be accompanied by at least four other warships.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told ministers and aides to be ready for further "provocation" by North Korea during the drill.

"There is the possibility that North Korea may do some unexpected action, so please perfectly prepare against it through cooperation with the Korea-U.S. joint force," Lee was quoted by a spokesman as saying.

North Korea's KCNA news agency said on Saturday: "If the U.S. brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences."

China has said it was determined to prevent an escalation of the violence in the Koreas and warned against military acts near its coast.

South Korea said China had sent senior officials including State Councillor Dai Bingguo to Seoul for a meeting Sunday with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan.

The U.S. military said the exercises, planned long before Tuesday's attack, were designed to deter North Korea and were not aimed at China.

"We've routinely operated in waters off the Korean peninsula for years," said Captain Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman. "These latest provocations have been by the North and they need to take ownership of those, not us."

(Reporting by Cheon Jong-woo; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

[American Patriot]

US joins South Korean war games

By Donald Kirk in Seoul

Sunday, 28 November 2010


The US aircraft carrier George Washington steamed into the Yellow Sea last night at the centre of a powerful naval strike force daring North Korea to make good on threats to turn the waters into "a sea of fire".

North Korea's warning of "unpredictable consequences" to the joint US-South Korean naval exercise were being taken with deadly seriousness after Tuesday's shelling of a village on a remote island.

North Korea apologisd for the deaths of two civilians in the attack but not for the two marines who were also killed. Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency said the civilian deaths were "very regrettable" but the fault of the marines for using them as "human shields".

Kim Kwan-jin, the former top general who is now South Korea's Defence Minister, said his country's forces needed "to hit back multiple times as hard" in retaliation. The commander of the South Korean marine corps was just as outspoken.

But President Lee Myung-bak seemed more worried about escalation of the crisis than the retaliation hawks are demanding. His office said he had warned of "a possibility that North Korea might commit wayward acts" during the exercises.

Nevertheless, more troops were ordered to bases on the islands, and more artillery pieces and other weapons were said to be on the way.

[American Patriot]

US-S.Korea naval exercises due after Pyongyang warning
Frank Zeller
November 28, 2010 - 9:04AM


The United States and South Korea are due to begin naval exercises in the Yellow Sea Sunday, days after a fatal North Korean attack on the South and with Pyongyang warning of "unpredictable consequences".

Washington insists that the drill is "defensive in nature" and was planned long in advance, but the show of strength is intended to send an unmistakable message to the volatile regime of Kim Jong-Il.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS George Washington and its battle group will be joined by a flotilla of South Korean destroyers and other warships.
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The aircraft carrier left its port in Japan Wednesday, only a day after North Korea stunned the world by launching a barrage of shells and rockets at a South Korean border island, killing two marines and two civilians.

The exercises are due to be held in international waters off the Korean peninsula but Pyongyang, which has kept the region on edge for years with its nuclear and long-range missile tests, issued an ominous warning.

"If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea (Yellow Sea) at last, no one can predict the ensuing consequences," its official KCNA news agency said.

The planned drill has also heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, which regards the Yellow Sea as its own ancestral waters and has refrained from condemning its communist ally Pyongyang over Tuesday's attack.

China has previously come out strongly against such exercises in its backyard, saying they risk exacerbating tensions, and its foreign ministry has said it opposes "any party to take any military actions in our exclusive economic zone without permission".

Washington has stressed that the manoeuvres are not aimed against China, which plays a key role as host of the stalled six-party talks seeking an end to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

China's state councillor Dai Bingguo, the country's top foreign policymaker, travelled to Seoul on Saturday and held talks on the situation with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, Beijing's official news agency Xinhua reported.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also held phone talks on Saturday with his Japanese and Russian counterparts.

The attack on Yeonpyeong island was the first shelling of civilians since the 1950-53 Korean war and has plunged the peninsula into its worst crisis in decades.

The KCNA report making the threat also labelled the United States "the arch-criminal who orchestrated the recent military clash".

The North claims it acted in retaliation Tuesday to a South Korean firing drill in what it regards as its own waters, and said two civilian deaths were "if true... very regrettable", but also charged they had been used as "human shields" by being placed near artillery positions.

Pyongyang has warned that the new war games mean the peninsula "is inching closer to the brink of war". It regularly engages in such aggressive rhetoric without following through with action, but remains deeply unpredictable.

In a security meeting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak warned that "there is a possibility that North Korea might commit wayward acts during the exercise," said a spokesman at the presidential Blue House.

Lee has come under pressure to take a tougher line against the North in the wake of the shelling and Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed South Korean military source as saying: "The intensity of the exercise will be greater than had been planned.

"Participating forces will carry out firing and bombing drills."

The 97,000-ton George Washington, which is escorted by nine surface combatant ships, can carry about 75 aircraft on its 1.8 hectare (4.5 acre) flight deck and has a crew of 5,500 service personnel.

Also taking part in the drill will be an embarked carrier air wing and vessels the USS Cowpens, Lassen, Stethem and Fitzgerald.

South Korea will deploy destroyers, patrol vessels, frigates, support ships and anti-submarine aircraft, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said without giving details of the numbers of ships or personnel, the Korea Times reported.

[American Patriot]

Countdown to Oblivion: North Korea artillery strike - the Start of the First Nuclear War?



By Tom Cain
Last updated at 6:08 PM on 27th November 2010

Top thriller writer Tom Cain imagines what would happen if the North and South Korea stand-off detonated the world's First Nuclear War in this fictional account.


At the time, people called it the Third World War. Now though, we refer to the ­terrible events of late 2010 in a different way. We call this the First Nuclear War.


It began on November 23, 2010, when North Korean artillery bombarded the small island of Yeonpyeong, which lies in the Yellow Sea, just south of the maritime border between the two Koreas.



More than 60 properties were set ablaze and four people were killed. South Korea’s staunch ally President Barack Obama immediately ­dispatched an aircraft carrier to take part in ­exercises with the South Korean Navy in the Yellow Sea.



Forward march: North Korean soldiers during a massive military parade



Meanwhile, China — a traditional supporter of North Korea — remained ominously silent, pointedly refusing to join in the chorus of ­international criticism that had followed the shelling. In the South Korean capital Seoul, President Lee Myung-bak called for restraint. But it was a lone voice of peace.


Meanwhile, the official North Korean news agency declared that: ‘North Korea will wage second and even third rounds of attacks ­without any hesitation, if warmongers in South Korea make reckless military provocations again.’


Inexorably, the rhetoric on both sides became ever more heated. Now, two of the most militarised nations on earth — North Korea had the world’s fourth-largest army, South Korea the sixth — found themselves trapped aboard a runaway political train.


Its ­momentum was unstoppable. And its destination was war.


The two nations faced one another across a border that ran across the Korean peninsula, roughly along the line of the 38th parallel.



President Barack Obama: Ally of South Korea



Their joint forces, including regular personnel and reserves, comprised a staggering ­13.7million trained men and women, enough to turn the two nations into a gigantic killing-ground. Added to them were the 28,500 personnel of the United States Forces Korea, based at Yongsan Garrison, Seoul, the former Korean HQ of the Imperial Japanese Army.


The two sides squared off across the most heavily fortified national border on earth, their forces separated by a two-and-a-half-mile-wide Demilitarised Zone, or DMZ. At its nearest point, the border was barely 25 miles from downtown Seoul.


If the North Koreans could cross the border and get to Seoul quickly enough, they could strike a blow from which the South would never recover.


For decades they had been planning just such a strike. On the North Korean side of the DMZ, gigantic underground caverns had been dug in which whole armies could ­assemble undetected. Four times they had tried to tunnel under the DMZ, attempting to get their forces in behind enemy lines. Each time they had been detected.



But no one detected tunnels five and six. Each had been dug more than 500ft down and was big enough to allow a 3,000-man division to pass through in an hour. At midnight on Wednesday, December 1, 2010, the first North Korean Special Forces went into the tunnels. At 3am they struck.


A thunderous barrage of heavy artillery tore into the American and South Korean defensive positions across the DMZ.



A dozen of the projectiles used were atomic shells, miniature atom-bombs with an explosive power equivalent to 400 tons of TNT, enough to ­devastate even the most hardened enemy bunker.


As the forces along the South Korean side of the DMZ struggled to recover from this hammer-blow, they were hit from the rear by what seemed like a never-ending surge of highly-trained, ruthless and utterly merciless North Korean troops.



By 5am, the North Koreans had punched a two-mile-wide hole in the South’s defences.



The start of something more? A South Korean Marine base burns after being hit by North Korean artillery shells on Yeonpyeong island in this November 23

Now their tanks, artillery and motorised infantry overran any ­pitiful remnants of resistance and raced south, heading for Seoul.


U.S. and South Korean pilots were scrambled and hit the advancing North Koreans from the air. The remaining U.S. troops at Yongsan ­Garrison were dragged from their beds and trucked north to meet the oncoming hordes. The South ­Koreans, too, charged to the defence of their capital.


The North Korean advance was finally halted on the outskirts of Seoul, along the line of Highway 100 which runs in an arc around the north of the city.



Washington DC is 14 hours behind Korean time. So it was lunchtime there on November 30 when the North Korean attack began.


South Korean President Lee Myung-bak



All through the afternoon, ­President Obama was locked in frantic ­discussions with his military and ­diplomatic advisers, fellow western leaders and his counterparts in ­Moscow and Beijing.


The use of nuclear shells against U.S. forces had shocked the nation and Middle America wanted revenge.


A few voices urged caution and a sprinkling of peaceniks took to the streets to demonstrate against the looming war. But they were far outnumbered by the masses baying for blood.


At 9pm, Washington time, just as the North Korean advance was grinding to a halt outside Seoul, President Obama addressed the people.


He informed them that he had issued an ultimatum to North Korea. Withdraw across the border within 24 hours, or face the might of U.S. ­military power.


Any sane opponent would have taken this warning seriously. But ­sanity has never been a concept ­associated with North Korea.


The country’s leadership was in ­transition as the Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il prepared to hand over to his 26-year-old son, Kim Jong-un.


This war was the young man’s rite of passage and — bitterly frustrated at his army’s inability to take the South’s capital — he wanted to force the issue.


Shortly after 2pm Korean time (midnight in Washington) Kim Jong-un gave the order for two nuclear missiles to be fired at the 24.5million people who lived in Seoul and its suburbs.


The first missile obliterated Incheon International Airport. The second hit the Yongsan district, instantly killing more than 250,000 people, sending a cloud of deadly nuclear fallout drifting across the city and wiping the U.S. forces’ HQ at Yongsan Garrison off the face of the earth.


President Obama did not act at once. In one final bid to avert all-out nuclear war, he amended his ultimatum.


Now the North Koreans had six hours to retreat across their border and surrender unconditionally, or he would, as he put it, ‘bring down the wrath of the American people on your heads’.



Respect: South Korean veterans salute during a memorial service for the marines killed in the bombardment this week



Meanwhile, in Moscow hardliners were urging Vladimir Putin to stand back and do nothing to stop the looming conflagration. Why not let Russia’s two greatest enemies destroy one another?


Moderates, however, saw this as a chance for Russia to appear ­statesmanlike on the world stage. They urged Putin to offer his help to avert catastrophe.


A similar argument was being played out in Beijing. The case for peace was very simple. China held $2trillion of U.S. debt. The U.S. was also its biggest overseas market.


The economic links between the two nations made war a financial disaster. But China was in a belligerent, ­muscle-flexing mood. With two hours to go before the U.S. deadline, Beijing made an announcement of its own. Any use of nuclear weapons by the U.S. on North Korean soil would be seen as an incursion into China’s sphere of influence and thus an attack on China itself.


Obama could not be seen to back down. When his deadline passed without any response from North Korea, he ordered cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads to be fired at North Korean military and government ­installations in the ­capital, Pyongyang. The country’s leadership was torn apart, but there were inevitably tens of thousands of civilian casualties too.



US military carrier: The USS George Washington set sail from Yokosuka naval base, south of Tokyo on Wednesday as tensions rose



But this attack meant that China had been defied and thus lost face. To reclaim its pride, it had to be seen to retaliate. For their target, the Chinese chose the massive new £8billion U.S. military base on the Pacific island of Guam.


One CSS-5 ballistic missile, armed with a 300 kiloton warhead, equivalent to 300,000 tons of TNT, ­crippled American power in the region at a stroke.


The U.S. was locked in a deadly game of tit-for-tat. China’s nuclear submarine base at Sanya, on the very southernmost tip of the Chinese mainland, vanished from the earth as another gigantic mushroom cloud spread across the sky.


The scale of the conflict was ratcheted even higher as the Chinese retaliated with a multiple strike on American missile silos at Malmstrom Air Force Base, ­Montana.
Chinese computer scientists launched a massive cyber-attack, hoping to cripple America’s ­computer and internet systems. On land, Chinese forces began moving into North Korea, coming to the aid of their North Korean brothers.

In response to a nuclear attack on American soil, Pentagon plans called for retaliation using weapons far more powerful than any that had yet been deployed.
But that could plunge the world into a nuclear winter and risk the ­destruction of civilisation itself.

It was a crazy gamble, yet no one dared back down. China and America were engaged in a nuclear-­powered game of chicken. And the survival of the planet was at stake.
Around the world, billions watched helplessly as Armageddon loomed.

In Britain, while a few jokers tried to raise spirits with old Dad’s Army catchphrases such as ‘Don’t panic!’ or ‘We’re all doomed!’, most people were gripped by gut-wrenching ­tension, fear and despondency.

In Whitehall, old Cold War-era plans for coping with nuclear attack were hurriedly dusted down. Meanwhile, for the first time in half a ­century, the Royal Navy ­prepared to use its ultimate weapon.

Britain’s nuclear deterrent, comprising 160 nuclear warheads (roughly comparable with China’s nuclear stockpile) was based aboard four Vanguard-class nuclear submarines, operating from Clyde Naval Base on the west coast of Scotland.

As always, one of the submarines was at sea on patrol — on this occasion on a secret route in the Pacific —- and David Cameron was privately thankful that its payload had not yet been halved from 16 Trident missiles to eight, as the 2010 Strategic Defence Review had suggested.

With Washington seemingly ­committed to nuclear war, Britain could find itself dragged into yet another American-led conflict.

On land, strategists and weapons technicians frantically attempted to select targets in China that would give the Prime Minister options from a single warning shot to a multi-­warhead attack.


Collapse: A damaged house on Yeonpyeong Island

Yet any UK action would be entirely dependent on the U.S. guidance satellites, without which British missiles could not find their targets.

And it would only happen in the event of a total nuclear war, in which Britain itself could well be annihilated by missiles fired from Chinese nuclear submarines.

So in the end, David Cameron was effectively helpless. All he could do was to sit, watch and pray, just like everyone else.

Others, however, were not sitting and waiting.

Just as 9/11 had been a good day to bury bad news, so this was a good day to get away with bad behaviour. For Israel, it presented a golden opportunity to strike at a target on which it had long had its cross-hairs sighted: Iran’s two ­uranium enrichment plants at Esfehan and Natanz.

Kim Jong Il: North Korean leader visits newly built apartment houses in Pyongyang

Israel had never confirmed or denied that it possessed nuclear weapons, but had long been assumed to do so. The assumption proved to be ­correct as a volley of submarine-launched Cruise missiles, each armed with nuclear warheads, ensured that, whatever its purpose, Iran’s enrichment programme no longer existed.

Israel’s enemies were equally opportunistic.

From his base in the mountainous Waziristan region of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden sent messages to Al Qaeda’s satellite organisations in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, North Africa and Europe.

Long-term plans for terrorist ­missions were to be activated as soon as possible.
On the basis that his enemy’s enemy was his friend, Bin Laden had sided with China. Now he would cause the maximum possible havoc as a means of demonstrating his support.
In Washington, Obama tried again for peace, pleading with the ­Chinese to see reason. He called for them to cease all attacks on the ­U.S., its forces and its allies, and withdraw Chinese troops from the Korean peninsula.

Arguing that the Chinese had made an unprovoked nuclear attack on the U.S., President Obama demanded the cancellation of all American debt to China as reparation for the destruction of the U.S. facilities on Guam and in Wyoming. The Chinese government were given just one hour to respond.

Twenty minutes went by...30...no word from Beijing. At the 40-minute mark, the launch procedure was initiated for more than 50 U.S. ­missiles armed with multiple warheads, each of which could destroy a city.

Worryingly, U.S. spy satellites were now reporting activity at all known ­Chinese nuclear missile sites. They were preparing for action.

Fifty minutes...at the UN, more than 150 nations called on the U.S. and China to seek peace.

Fifty-five minutes...the hardened tops of the U.S. missile silos drew back to reveal the apocalyptic weapons that lay within.

In Moscow, Putin was lost in thought, running through different moves in his head like a chess grand master.

Fifty-six minutes...57...Obama looked to the heavens and ­muttered a prayer of forgiveness for what was about to be done at his command.

At 58 minutes, Vladimir Putin reached for his telephone and ordered that he be put through to the leaders of the U.S. and China. The connection process took another agonisingly long 30 seconds.


Torched: South Korean activists burn a North Korean national flag and anti-North Korea placards during a protest in Seoul

Putin did not mince his words. He pointed out that any full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and China would cripple both nations.

It would also leave Russia as the one country on earth with an intact, large-scale nuclear arsenal. The lone superpower.

If the two leaders wished to destroy one another for Russia’s benefit, Putin had no objection. But if they wished to seek peace, even at this late stage, he was ­prepared to act as an honest broker.

‘Hold the countdown!’ Obama barked.

Now, silence fell on the line as the Chinese President Hu Jintao ­considered his options.

Obama was the first to speak: ‘Mr President, I can restart the countdown at any time.’
His voice was calm, but the threat in the words was overwhelming.

‘Very well,’ said Hu Jintao. ‘We will talk.’

War had, for now, been averted. The American eagle and the ­Chinese dragon had laid down their arms.

But as the world rejoiced at its deliverance from catastrophe, the Russian bear, its power and prestige restored to all its former glory, was preparing to growl once again.

And as the nuclear fallout from Israel’s strikes settled in Iran, the Islamic world became more ­determined to destroy the Jewish state.

And so, at this moment of ­apparent peace, a second nuclear ­conflict was already looming...


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/ar...#ixzz16XDkLxrB

[American Patriot]

N. Korea threatens retaliation if war games go on

View larger image
Protesters burn a portrait of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il and the national flag in front of the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010. (AP / Wally Santana)

View larger image Former South Korean marines burn images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, right, and his son Kim Jong Un, during a rally denouncing North Korea in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. (AP / Wally Santana)

Updated: Sat Nov. 27 2010 12:39:08 PM

CTV.ca News Staff
North Korea warns of retaliation if the United States and South Korea go ahead with naval exercises in the Yellow Sea.
The four-day military exercise is slated to begin on Sunday, but the two Koreas used strong language Saturday to suggest more violence is possible.
Resentment between the two sides has grown since Tuesday, when North Korea fired artillery onto the small fishing island of Yeonpyeong that claimed the lives of South Korean two marines and two civilians.
Protesters took their anger to the streets of the South Korean capital of Seoul on Saturday, not long after a national public funeral was held for the two slain marines. During the funeral, a military commander said "they will take the anger and hostility in their bones and strike back at North Korea," CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer told CTV News Channel Saturday during a telephone interview from Yeonpyeong.
"There's been a ramping up in the sharp words from both sides over the last few days. The latest from Pyongyang is that North Korean leaders are vowing a sea of fire if their territory is breached and if the U.S and South Korea go ahead with these joint military exercises, they should be seeing unpardonable provocation," Mackey Frayer said.
Mackey Frayer also noted that the South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, said he was going to review the rules of engagement and agreed that in the past, South Korea had been too passive when it comes to acts of aggression by North Korea. He cited the sinking of a South Korean military warship in March, where a North Korean torpedo was responsible for killing 46 sailors, according to a South-Korean led investigation.
Both the U.S. and South Korea have been urging China, North Korea's closest ally, to use its influence to help moderate the situation. Though China has assured it will do its best to ease tensions, the joint military exercise by the two countries is causing unease in Beijing.
On Friday, North Korea used a burst of artillery fire to signal its fury with South Korea and the U.S. North Korea warned the conditions brewing in the Korea peninsula have pushed it to the "brink of war."
The flash of artillery fire could be heard in Yeonpyeong.
Only a few dozen South Koreans have stayed behind on the island, which lies just 11 kilometres from the shores of North Korea. They ran to shelters after seeing the faraway flash of artillery.
The artillery fire did not hit any South Korean targets, though it was launched while U.S. Gen. Walter Sharp was touring the part of Yeonpyeong that came under attack.
The commander of the 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea called out the North Korean regime for violating the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953.
"We at the United Nations Command will investigate this completely and call on North Korea to stop any future attacks," Sharp said Friday.
But in North Korea, Pyongyang's government insisted that the U.S. was an aggressor, by stating an intention to take part in the joint military drills with South Korea in disputed waters.
A North Korean military official bragged about the Tuesday attack in which the military "precisely aimed and hit the enemy artillery base."
The official also made reference to a possible forthcoming "shower of dreadful fire."
In South Korea, more troops and better weapons were being deployed to the island, while the president and his government tried to pin down their next move against the unpredictable and defiant North Korea regime.
While the U.S. has sent a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the Yellow Sea to take part in the exercises with South Korea, there seem to be few options for cooling things down with North Korea.
As a result, South Korea and the U.S. are leaning on China to help drop the temperature of the feverish resentment that is building up in North Korea.
China is a rare source of influence on North Korea and Chinese state media announced Friday that Beijing's foreign minister had met with the North Korean ambassador.
With files from The Associated Press