North Koreans Attack South Korean Island: One Dead, 70 Houses Burning (photos, video)

Reaganite Republican ^ | November 23, 2010 | Reaganite Republican

[Reaganite Republican]

South Koreans return fire- scramble fighter jets

Some houses in South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island
in the Yellow Sea are ablaze as scores of rounds of artillery,
fired by North Korea at 2:34 p.m. on Nov. 23, hit the island. 

As revelations of secret advances made in Pyongyang's ability to enrich uranium come to light, some have suggested arming the South with nuclear weaponry... looks like Dear Leader didn't care for that prospect much...

North Korea on Tuesday fired dozens of rounds of artillery toward South Korean waters and an island near the tense west sea border, the South's military said, leaving at least four South Korean soldiers wounded. The North's artillery shells started falling in the South's waters off the island of Yeonpyeong from around 2:34 p.m., some of them landing directly on the island, said Col. Lee Bung-woo, spokesman for the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). 

The South's military fired back some 80 rounds, he said. The military is on its highest peacetime alert, he said. The Air Force has deployed fighter jets to the island. 

One marine was critically wounded and three others sustained minor injuries, according to Lee... Island residents said people are being told to evacuate. 

Officials said the North's shelling was intermittently continuing and that the South was also responding with return fire. The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said it was looking into the possibility that the North's firing was in protest to an ongoing South Korean military drill on the western coast. 

The "Hoguk Exercise," one of South Korea's three major annual defense exercises, began Monday with some 70,000 troops participating. The North had sent a message to Seoul denouncing the exercise earlier in the day, Cheong Wa Dae said. The president convened an emergency meeting of security ministers and instructed the government to ensure that the situation is contained. 

The western sea border was the scene of bloody gun battles between the navies of the two Koreas in 1999, 2002 and most recently in November of last year.

  

More/photos/video at Reaganite Republican...

[Ronin]

And where is “our” Dear Leader?

Hiding under a bed, most likely.

[blam]

Let’s see, they sink a SK naval ship and that’s okay? Now, they’ve bombarded a SK island. When will SK do something?

[antceecee]

And..ZERO from the “O”.

[4rcane]

Obama’s moment, will he live up to his reputation

[9YearLurker]

Do you think he gave Hill a 3 AM call?

[Netz]

How can SK respond when they know Barry is kind of at the helm in Washington and too busy golfing, shopping, bowing to other heads of state to deal with any real crisis? They know he won’t be there to back them up should they need it, the same is true for other US allies like Israel. Iran is now using other nations like NK to draw attention away from their Nuclear program...”it’s all a game Blythe” (from Band of Brothers).

[Bullish]

How long until ZERO goes out and blames the South Koreans?

[wiggen]

I would hope South Korea wouldn’t need help in taking on the North (short of nukes obviously). The interesting thing to watch will be Obamas response regarding the troops we still have there. They moved further from the border a year (was it 2?) ago. I doubt he pulls them immediately but does he do so in a month or two?

[calex59]

Eventually the South would win a conventional war, however, at the start of one the North’s artillery, of which they have thousands, would devastate the South.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

I would put a 500-pounder or a cruise missile in downtown Pyongyang.

And it would be difficult to aim artillery through tactical nuke mushrooms. China, sit down and shut up.

[Reaganite Republican]

Correct, that is more problem than the crude nuke they have imho

They have 15,000 heavy guns pointed at Seoul, well within range in the mountains over the border and only 40km from the Southern capitol.

AND many are on rails where they can roll the gun back into a cave if air strikes come from our side... they could level Seoul in the first two days, probably not deliver a nuke on the battlefield yet, and would lose the war after heavily damaging the South

[Carley]

Dear Leader and his idiot veep are headed to Kokomo, Indiana to celebrate the stimulus and bailout.

Lunching with firefighters and then off to an auto parts plant.

Kokomo claim to fame. They lowered their unemployment from 20% to 12%.........so 12 is the new 5?

[BiggieLittle]

“How long until ZERO goes out and blames the South Koreans?”

They were standing under those shells when they dropped. If they went somewhere else they would not have been injured. So it is their fault.

[Sprite518]

Good grief can the news get any better???

[Sprite518]

Drudge is already on it. Check it out.

http://www.drudgereport.com/

[Netz]

It is obvious that NK is testing the WEAK West once again. It is probing with a bayonet and so far they have met mush. First NK sank a SK naval vessel, now this shelling, what's next? Troops pouring over the 38th parallel? When will Barry act? Once the world sees that Barry has the jitters, you're going to see bad things happening all over the planet, actually it has already started - just wait for the coup d’etat in Lebanon by Hizbollah/Iran...

[Joe Boucher]

No,
He’s in the White House basement watching E.S.P.N.,
What a nothing obammy is.

[wiggen]

Will China act? Thats the biggest question. Without China the North Koreans would have to resort to cannibalism or over throwing the government which they appear to be too brainwashed to do.