Posted on 01/29/2009 6:45:47 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
North Korea scraps all accords with South
By Jonathan Thatcher
1 hr 51 mins ago
SEOUL (Reuters) North Korea said on Friday it was scrapping all accords with the South, the latest in a series of verbal attacks on its neighbor that analysts say are more aimed at grabbing the attention of new U.S. President Barack Obama.
One analyst said the latest rise in tension increased the chances of a military clash on the heavily armed border that has divided the two Koreas for more than half a century.
"There is neither way to improve (relations) nor hope to bring them on track," North Korea's KCNA news agency quoted the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea as saying.
Tension had reached "such extremes" that "inter-Korean relations have reached the brink of a war," KCNA said, using a phrase commonly carried by North Korean state media.
South Korean officials were not immediately available for comment.
Friday's threat focused largely on a basic accord the two Koreas struck in 1991 that analysts said Pyongyang might feel inadequately reflects its position on disputed ocean waters.
Other deals were reached during a brief period of detente that followed a summit between the leaders of North and South Korea in June 2000, which led to reunions of separated families, communication systems to defuse military tensions and rail and road links across their heavily armed border.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Obviously, they hope that S. Korea caves to this threat, but if SK doesn't, they will follow up with their (military) response. This is not the usual bombastic rhetoric this time around. Still, I don't see any reason to cave to them.
There will be no fishing in this area for some time, though. By the way, this is also a way of indirectly pressuring U.S. to reach any kind of deal, even if it is lopsidedly in NK's favor. Obama is set to send to N. Korea U.S. delegation made up of former diplomats. NK notched up the tension just in time.
Ping!
0bama is in office now. There is no incentive of NK to behave.
Notwithstanding inter-Korean politics, don't you think this is aimed at Obama, designed to elicit a response and thus provide some measure of how he may react to a serious provocation?
Well now:
US official: NKorea will challenge Obama
By FOSTER KLUG,
Associated Press Writer
Wed Jan 7, 1:39 pm ET
WASHINGTON The Bush administration said Wednesday that nuclear-armed North Korea will be an early test for President-elect Barack Obama’s new administration, conceding that one of President George W. Bush’s top foreign policy initiatives is unlikely to be resolved before Obama takes office Jan. 20.
Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the long-running, often acrimonious and currently stalled nuclear disarmament talks among the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia have allowed envoys to pressure the North to follow through on its 2007 agreement to give up its nuclear program in return for aid and concessions.
But “North Korea will test the new administration by once again trying to split the six parties and renegotiate the deal, he said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
(cut)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090107/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_nkorea
I bet every tin-horn dictator is going to challenge our tin-horn president.
SCENARIO- North announces it will invade South Korea to ‘unify’ the country under its legitimate rule.
Obama says OK and orders the 28,000 US troops to stay in the barracks after making a deal that they would be repatriated to America in exchange for recognition and aid.
well, yeah, ya think?
Because of that, the entire line of officials responsible for SK affairs were purged. Now hardliners are in charge. Kim Jong-il himself has turned hardline.
Inside N. Korea, Kim Jong-il has a race against clock to put his regime on secure footing and pass baton to next generation. Economically and politically, NK has a lot of problem domestically. N. Korea needs to rein on them by creating external conflict.
Kim Jong-il is anxious to reach a grand deal to settle everything and normalize diplomatic relation with U.S. and want U.S. to sponsor NK as 'a normal country.' This will turn NK as a legitimate country in E. Asia. Most likely a country with nukes. This is a legacy he wants to leave behind. It would be billed as a justification for his totalitarian rule.
Currently, Obama is more pliant and S. Korea's stance is more hardened than previous two administrations. Kim Jong-il wants to pick a fight to cow S. Korea with the help of Zero, by dangling a carrot in front of Zero.
The Chinese puppet provokes Obama
“By the way, this is also a way of indirectly pressuring U.S. to reach any kind of deal...”
This IS a message to us, as well as to the South. That’s the reason for all the bluster, not just from NK but all over the world. All the scum of the earth are trying to push the envelope with the new administration, hoping that we will give and that they can advance their agendas. Sadly, they may be right.
“Chances are that they would gang up on Obama more or less simultaneously, stretching him really thin.”
My hunch too(sigh).
Not to worry, Obama will sit down with them, explain things clearly, and they will stop bickering with the South Koreans.
Great timing, and probably a good plan. (on their part) I’m sure O will concede something to them to bring them back to the status-quo. The world’s despots are going to play O like a cheap violin.
Iran - long military cooperation, including military training, missile development, and possible cooperation in nuclear weapons
Syria - long military trade/cooperation in chemical weapons, missiles, and nuclear weapons(a site bombed in 2007 by Israelis)
Pakistan - close cooperation in missile and nuclear weapons.
Current conflict in Mid-East — proxies of Iran and Syria, Hizbulla/Hamas against Israel
Pakistan — potential military conflict with India, or within tribal area bordering Afghanistan
These conflict could light up along with N. Korean provocations. Since they have long-standing contact, their actions are easily coordinated if they choose to.
I think they also sense that there is enough on Barry’s plate in the mid-East where he is already sending representatives. I think that they believe he cannot handle more than one full plate at a time and will let North Korea slide, and they may be correct. South Korea is going to have to step up to the plate this time. Any of that plausible?
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