A lot of good discussion does.
Posted on 10/11/2006 10:15:49 AM PDT by excludethis
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea stoked regional tensions Wednesday, threatening more nuclear tests and saying additional sanctions imposed on it would be considered an act of war, as nervous neighbors raced to bolster defenses and punish Pyongyang.
South Korea said it was making sure its troops were prepared for atomic warfare, and Japan imposed new economic sanctions to hit the economic lifeline of the communist nation's 1 million-member military, the world's fifth-largest.
North Korea, in its first formal statement since Monday's claimed atomic bomb test, hailed the blast as a success and said attempts by the outside world to penalize North Korea with sanctions would be considered an act of war.
Further pressure will be countered with physical retaliation, the North's Foreign Ministry warned in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"If the U.S. keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures," the statement, said without specifying what those measures could be.
President Bush called for stiff sanctions on North Korea and asserted that the United States has "no intentions of attacking" the reclusive regime.
He said he remains committed to diplomacy, but also "reserves all options to defend our friends in the region."
As Bush spoke, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Washington to hold one-on-one talks with Pyongyang, something the U.S. has refused to do.
"I have always argued that we should talk to parties whose behavior we want to change, whose behavior we want to influence, and from that point of view I believe that ... (the) U.S. and North Korea should talk," Annan said.
Annan also called on the communist nation not to escalate an "extremely difficult" situation.
North Korea's No. 2 leader Kim Yong Nam threatened in an interview with a Japanese news agency that there also would be more nuclear tests if Washington continued what he called its "hostile attitude."
Kim, second to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, told Kyodo News agency that further nuclear testing would hinge on U.S. policy toward his communist government.
"The issue of future nuclear tests is linked to U.S. policy toward our country," Kim Yong Nam was quoted as saying when asked whether Pyongyang will conduct more tests.
Along the razor-wired no-man's-land separating the divided Koreas, communist troops were more boldly trying to provoke their southern counterparts: spitting across the demarcation line, making throat-slashing hand gestures, flashing their middle finger and trying to talk to the troops, said U.S. Army Maj. Jose DeVarona of Fayetteville, N.C., adding that the overall situation was calm.
On the streets of North Korea's capital, it seemed like business as usual. Video by AP Television News showed people milling about Kim II Sung square in Pyongyang and rehearsing a performance for the 80th anniversary of the "Down with Imperialism Union."
South Korean Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said that Seoul could enlarge its conventional arsenal to deal with a potentially nuclear-armed North Korea.
Scientists and other governments have said Monday's underground test has yet to be confirmed, with some experts saying the blast was significantly smaller than even the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan during World War II.
North Korea appeared to respond to that Wednesday, saying in its statement that it "successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions."
In rare direct criticism of the communist regime from Seoul, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said the security threat cited by North Korea "either does not exist in reality, or is very exaggerated," according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
He spoke even as South Korea's military was checking its readiness for nuclear attack, Yonhap said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended improving defenses, possibly with state-of-the-art weapons to destroy nuclear missiles, the report said.
The top U.S. general in South Korea said American forces are fully capable of deterring an attack despite the North's still-unconfirmed nuclear test.
"Be assured that the alliance has the forces necessary to deter aggression, and should deterrence fail, decisively defeat any North Korean attack against" South Korea, U.S. Army Gen. B.B. Bell said in a statement to troops. "U.S. forces have been well- trained to confront nuclear, biological and chemical threats."
About 29,500 U.S. soldiers are deployed in the South, a remnant of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a cease-fire, not a formal peace treaty.
Bell said seismic waves detected after the claimed test were still being analyzed and it had not been yet determined if the test was successful.
Japan took steps to punish North Korea for the test, prohibiting its ships from entering Japanese ports and imposing a total ban on imports from the impoverished nation.
North Korean nationals are also prohibited from entering Japan, with limited exceptions, the Cabinet Office said in a statement released after an emergency security meeting late Wednesday.
"We cannot tolerate North Korea's actions if we are to protect Japanese lives and property," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said after an emergency security meeting late Wednesday. "These measures were taken to protect the peace."
A total ban on imports and ships could be disastrous for North Korea, whose produce such as clams and mushroom earns precious foreign currency on the Japanese market. Ferries also serve as a major conduit of communication between the two countries, which have no diplomatic relations.
Two dozen North Korea-registered trade ships are moored at Japanese ports, according to public broadcaster NHK. Local traders already were refusing to unload shipments to protest the alleged test, and the boats were expected to be ordered out, NHK said.
Tokyo already has halted food aid and imposed limited financial sanctions against North Korea after it test-fired seven missiles into waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula in July, including one capable of reaching the United States.
The North lashed out at the prospect of further economic sanctions.
"The enemy schemes to destroy us through economic lockout ... but that is merely a foolish illusion," said an editorial published by the state-run Rodong Sinmun, according to Radio Press.
Meanwhile, Japanese TV reports that North Korea may have conducted a second nuclear test stirred new anxieties, but one of the networks later issued a retraction and officials said it was most likely a false alarm.
NHK and Nippon Television, a commercial network, reported that "tremors" had been detected in North Korea, leading the government to begin investigating whether a second blast had taken place. The reports cited unidentified government sources. Nippon Television later apologized.
South Korean and U.S. seismic monitoring stations said they hadn't detected any indications of a second test, findings backed by White House spokesman Blair Jones.
With the United Nations debating how to respond to North Korea, China agreed to punishment but not the severe sanctions backed by the U.S.
Beijing is seen as having the greatest outside leverage on North Korea as a traditional ally and top provider of badly needed economic and energy aid.
The United States asked the U.N. Security Council to impose a partial trade embargo including strict limits on Korea's weapons exports and freezing of related financial assets.
All imports would be inspected too, to filter materials that could be made into nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
The North Korean government really has no redeeming qualities, and they keep threatening others and performing criminal actions to get what they want.
It's appalling that we have allowed them to get away with it for decades, and in the case of the Clinton administration actively rewarded them for such actions at the behest of Jimmy Carter.
Sanctions can be useful in containing such rogue governments, but they are ultimately very harmful to the civilian population while their effect on the government is less sure due to widespread breaking of such sanctions by other nations, and an unwillingness of the US to hold those who break them accountable.
There comes a point where the choices are using military force, or ignoring the threat and hoping that the government is overthrown from within and that the new government is an improvement.
We have been doing a lot of hoping, and taking very little action for a long time. The result is a lot of relatively small problems have grown to become large problems for the world as a whole.
Sticking our heads in the sand doesn't make problems go away.
Sing, "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!"
In order for the NK's to do much damage they'll have to MOVE that dug-in army of theirs...and light off their artillery.
Once these things start moving they become targets...and easy targets at that. China knows it. Russia knows it. Japan knows it. Even the NK generals know it. Our air dominance in any/all theatres ensures no real army can move without our tolerance of same.
Simply put, the best way to strike the NK's is to PROVOKE them into doing something stupid. Then it's slaughter time...
Yes, Seoul would take a BIG hit for a day or two...but it wouldn't be the US fault:)
That sawed-off little pant load that runs North Korea hasn't figured out that he can't treat the world like he treats his own citizens.
So, North Korea acts with impunity on the world stage. They break agreements with parties at will. Then, when the world decides to ignore them politically and economically, that is an act of war. I get it, it's like arguing with a toddler. Our next move should then be: "Mine is bigger than yours!"
Actually with 1000's of his toys aimed at Seoul, we're checkmate unless he starts something. Starve them out seems unfortunately to be the bst option.
A lot of good discussion does.
Time to tell Bejing we'll nuke their asses if they don't make Kimi STFU.
We don't need to preemptively strike NK. We just need to make it clear that if NK strikes South Korea, Japan or us in any military way we will nuke North Korea and deliver any and all weapons upon them that are required to annihilate the North Korean armed forces and the infrastructure that supports them entirely. China and Russia would not like this but we are still in a UN sanctioned state of war with North Korea, and after 50-60 years, plus provocation lately by NK, who could counsel further patience? We can take NK out and if provoked we will ultimately take them out after the first major move on their part against the United States, Japan or Korea. So, if the Russians and Chinese don't want the little tyke and his pissant regime fast fried, it would be in their interest to take him out, and take him out soon. They stood him up (and his papa before him) and they keep him up with economic and political viagra, but they can put him down and keep him down by withholding what he needs. Is it in Russia and China's best interests to wait for the United States to microwave the little weiner with all of the attendent implications or ramifications, or would it not be better for them to abandon him and let the country find a better way of being-in-the-world than pathologically dysfunctional for no apparent reason? Could it be that Russia and China really have no influence on the little twerp, but are embarassed to admit it? Could it be that North Korea is the ultimate godchild of communism, and an embarrasment to its godparents? Could it be that its godparents have propped up the regime for decades out of concern for what comes next, allowing it to ultimately morph to the point where they really need to be concerned that what comes next may be more dangerous for them than it is to anyone else in the region? One way or another, the North Korean regime has got to go and its (probably few) survivors given a place in the region-- hopefully a place where they can share in the prosperity that almost any government in that part of Asia other than theirs would have provided them long since, and freedom with all that it can deliver, philosophically, religiously, intellectually and economically and socially.
Most of the time was during the Cold War and the potential for direct conflict with the Soviets and/or Chinese again was a serious matter. The last fifteen years however have offered an opportunity which should never have been missed.
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