Posted on 02/01/2009 1:47:03 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
N. Korea warns Seoul of military conflict amid tension
SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Sunday further stepped up its rhetoric against the South, suggesting that downplaying Pyongyang's recent warnings could lead to military conflict between the two sides, according to the North's state news agency.
The Rodong Sinmun, a newspaper published by the North's Workers' Party, said in a commentary that "an escalation of tension in the midst of a cease-fire can lead to military conflict and war that is unpreventable and inevitable," according to a report by the Korea Central News Agency, monitored in Seoul.
The remarks come amid a recent announcement by a North Korean committee on unification and inter-Korean affairs, which stated that the communist nation will no longer honor any political or military agreements reached between the two Koreas.
Tension has considerably risen on the peninsula since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office 11 months ago. His recent nomination of a hawkish scholar as the new unification minister has further enraged North Korea. The two Koreas technically remain at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended only with a cease-fire, not a peace agreement.
Military conflict is an obvious measure in the midst of "the grave crisis in which the South-North relation cannot be revived," the paper said, underscoring that Seoul has deflected or downplayed the North's consistent warnings.
"(The South) must bear in mind that the end could only lead to destruction when it neglects our grave warnings," the commentary said.
Pyongyang has recently vowed to hold onto its nuclear weapons program until the U.S. removes military threats against the North. Many watchers see the North's latest brinkmanship not as a military threat, but a diplomatic tactic.
Still, if S. Korea does not cave, N. Korea would be forced to act. It won't be well received among S. Korea's general public let alone SK government. After a decade of appeasement and hundres of millions of dollars in aids, general public in S. Korea are decidedly tired of N. Korea's "ungrateful behaviors."
Ping!
Blah, blah, blah. The DPRK has been threatening the ROK since the cease fire was signed in 1953. Where will they get the gasoline & diesel fuel to invade the South? They have to know that we have nuclear weapons on the peninsula and aboard ships at sea. I served two years in Korea, and I wouldn’t want to fight the ROK Army, especially with stunted, malnourished troops vs. well-fed. We had a ROKA honor guard at I Corps (ROK/US) Group headquarters that were all over six feet tall. I doubt if the North could put one of those together from their whole army.
That is probably what they would do. Do some fireworks and claim a victory.
The problem would occur when it does not go as planned. If their provocation ends in a fiasco or get counterstrike after their initial attack.
How about joint USAF / ROKAF air raids on SAM sites and nuclear installations?
With obama as Commander in Chief?
Isn’t the ROK a G10 nation, whereas the DPRK might as well be Haiti? Yes, they have a strong military, on paper, but many of their weapons are from the 50’s and 60’s, while the ROK has F-16’s, M-48A5’s, their own design tanks, Patriot missiles and a modern navy. Only in men under arms and artillery does the North beat the South, IIRC. Even during my tours there (1978-79 and 1981-82) we half-jokingly said we were there to keep the South from invading the North.
They are Bin Laden's dream come true. Huge terrorist organization propped up by state tax-base.
I don’t know if I’d call people eating grass and tree bark much of a “tax base”, would you?
There hasn’t been a war in Korea in some time. I guess this is the Change that was promised.
We tried so much to prevent blow-up. Now, preventing it would not be feasible. Now the goal is to prevent unnecessarily big blow-up. Ready to take some collateral damage, but avert an outright disaster.
Not sure height amounts for much.
When I lived in Seoul I saw the ROK army and though many were short on stature they were well trained bad asses.
Peoples paradise has over a million man military ready to invade the South.
Seoul is only 32 miles south of the border and it has a giant bulls eye all over it.
Even if the ROK army blunted the assault it would be a very bloody affair.
South has lots to damage, North, not so much.
Good debates can be had on a head to head battle. While career military in the ROKA or ROK MARINES are very professional, there conscripts remind one of beetle Bailey at times. I feel there is an understanding without US intervention, the South would fall. Obviously we never had to worry about that coming to fruition as we would never accept a communist Korean Peninsula.
IMO the timing to all of this is to see how HC will react. I think she will try to make some political hay out of this to try and prove her foreign policy chops, and I am sure the North will get some type of concessions from the new administration.
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