N. Korea fires artillery towards S. Korean island, official says (houses destroyed, fire broke out)

Yonhap News ^ | 11/23/10

[TigerLikesRooster]

N. Korea fires artillery towards S. Korean island, official says

SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Tuesday fired several rounds of artillery towards South Korean waters and an island near the tense west sea border, the South's military said.

The North's artillery shells fell at 2:34 p.m. in the South's waters off the island of Yeonpyeong, some of them landing directly on the island, said Col. Lee Bung-woo, spokesman at the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff. The South's military responded with its artillery firing.

[SE Mom]

Whoa...get out! Seriously? “very, very bad”? They really put it that way?

God help us.

[mware]

SE,it was a direct quote.

North Korea's behavior has been very,very bad.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Yongpyongdo Island"

Just a tip for the presstitutes who will be giving this more attention...in Hangul, the suffix, "-do" means "island" (i.e. Cheju-do, Koji-do, etc.) To write "Yongpyongdo Island" is like saying, "Yongpyong Island Island". They should either refer to it simply as "Yongpyong Island" or "Yongpyongdo".

[George Varnum]

Re your #371- “the sacrifice-in-place of 28,000 American Lives is considered ‘acceptable losses’??””

I got to ASCOM Depot just inland of Inchon 4 days before the Norks took the USS Pueblo, killing several USN personell in the process. I figured that the CIA must have known something was going down prior, as my orders were changed from VietNam to Korea about a month before I shipped out.

Here I thought we’d missed out on all the fun, but within the first week we were on serious full combat alert and I wasn’t all that sure I was going to see 19.

We could hear the tortured crew members “confessing” over NOrk radio for the whole year they were there. It was heartbreaking knowing there wasn’t anything we could do about it. It was against the law for a ROK citizen to even listen to Nork radio. What we take for granted!

We were told that the Pentagon had figured that should the Norks jump the line, two things would happen; Seoul would be flattened within hours, with millions of civilian casualties. Apparently it’s a bigger city now than it was then, in 1968.

Next they would come pouring South a couple of million strong, probably accompanied by the PRC again, and totally annihilate the entire 8th Army, about 50,000 of us at the time under Gen. Bonesteel.
Our best hope was to slow them down as best we could while we got slaughtered and the Pentagon flew air support and the 101 AB over, for whatever good that would have done.

We were told that the Norks were not planning on taking any prisoners, and from what the Veterans of ‘52 told us (we still had a few NCOs who had been there)you did not want to be a POW of the Norks. They said that if you had never seen a “human wave” assault coming at you, you did NOT want to, and we trusted them about that.

One KATUSA who survived the intial over-run - 1950 was it? - told me “MP die first”, as they ran the TCPs for retreating units and usually didn’t make it out.
He said they found the unfortunate MPs hanging by the feet from the ceilings of the same metal culvert-like quonset huts we were quartererd in, having been skun alive.

Another woman I worked security with was a little girl when the Kongsan came, and watched her parents being tortured to death because they wouldn’t reveal where the last bag of rice was hidden, so that she and her brother could survive.

Most of the survivors of ‘50-’53 are gone now, and I don’t think that many of the current generation have a clue as to who they are dealing with.

The 8th Army took about 36 casualties IIRC the year I was there, and the ROK Army wasn’t talking about, but they gave every bit as good as they took on the DMZ and other places where the Kongsans infiltrated in - frequently. About 27 of them assaulted the “Blue House” Presidential palace and raised a lot of hell until the ROK forces took care of them. Took one of them alive, and we almost pitied the poor bastard. They came ashore and took over a whole town for a couple of days down around Pusan. Fun times.

I came away with a profound respect for the Korean people, and especially their military. Toughest darn people I ever did meet...
they have to be.

[SE Mom]

I guess we have to take our comic relief where we can get it, eh?

[STARWISE]

I’m with you. I just didn’t know this monster
would bring us so much Hell on earth in under
2 years. God bless us all .. and thank you.

Pray, pray, pray.

[SE Mom]

Just turned on the tv- heard Jonathan Hunt discussing this with Shep- he (Jonathan) spoke with an “expert” on Korean affairs this morning who said this looks to him like the military powers-that-be flexing their muscles now that Daddy Kim is dying/close to death (like Arafat). He said for now Kim, the son is learning and not really in a position to have ordered this.

Of course IF the military wing of the power structure is gaining- it really could get serious.

[Thud]

South Korea should send North Korea more money whenever the Norks demand more. South Korea has already done this lots of times. It's what South Korea is for.

Someday South Korea might choose not to pay danegild. That day has not come.

[Canes101]

Wheres Hans Blix when ya need him?

[jhpigott]

Big White House meeting at 4pm on North Korea — includes Secretary of State Clinton, Def Sec Gates, Adm Mullen, more than dozen others

[Braak]

Sounds like the adults in the room, such as they are...are going to sit Bambi down and explain to him:

1. The apology tour is over. It's giving the Norks ideas.

2. Now's not the time to worry about party, or a second term. You want our allies to ever trust us again? Do as we say.

3. War is a certainty. Things are too unstable in Norkland right now, and we just don't know who's in charge. We shouldn't be saying we're willing to negotiate till we know with whom we can realistically do so. Seeing as how those folks are probably the architects of today's little outrage, one can rule that out.

4. Napolitano, Holder and other clowns will be told to STFU on this. Hillary! will be placed in charge, and she'll have enough brains to listen to Gates (if that doesn't happen, watch for some interesting things come out about the Obamas).

[gura]

"A few of the ROK marines with us unbutton their shirts, showing that they have claymore mines strapped to their chests and they have the clacker (firing mechanism) in their hands. They start yelling and waving at the KPA to come on over."

[Uncle Ike]

” Big White House meeting at 4pm on North Korea — includes Secretary of State Clinton, Def Sec Gates, Adm Mullen, more than dozen others “

Wouldja just love to be a fly-on-the-wall for that meeting??

(Do flies giggle??)

[Pan_Yan]

So who ordered the shelling?

1) Kim Jong Il
2) Kim Jong Un
3) Kim Kyong-hui and Jang Song-thaek (Il’s sister and BIL)
4) ?

[jersey117]

24 hours after the fact. Shouldn’t they have been in crisis mode shortly after the attack? We are talking about the shelling of civilians. Nothing seems to matter when it happens on obama’s watch.

[jhpigott]

I hope you are right. Hilary will listen, but will Gates/Mullen deliver the goods? Hopefully someone (even if it is Hillary Clinton) will reign Obumbum in before he forever ruins what remaining allied ties we have left around the globe.

[freedomlover]

“I don’t know much about artillery but I don’t think that’s a very good hit to miss ratio.”

---

WHAT?

(sorry, an old artillery joke)

[Thunder90]

I hear that his sleep was interrupted at 4 am because of this NK attack. There goes his bio-rhythm of the day. Must be a b*tch.:-)

Yes, but I knew about this situation before 0300 eastern time, thanks to FreeRepublic and Fox News (at about 0145 CDT)

[SE Mom]

Wheres Hans Blix when ya need him?

Oh lordy- there's a name I hoped I'd never hear again!

[surfer]

I am going to sleep soundly knowing the WH will TWEET a complaint RIGHT AT DPRK if this things escalates...