Posted on 03/27/2012 9:33:25 PM PDT by U-238
South Korea reiterated warnings to Pyongyang over future military attacks as South Korea commemorates the fatal 2010 sinking of the patrol ship Cheonan allegedly by North Korea.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said South Korea will "thoroughly retaliate against North Korea" if provoked again," a report by Yonhap news agency said.
Last week Lee and Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik visited the National Cemetery in Daejeon to pay respects to the dead sailors.
The 1,200-ton naval corvette Cheonan sank rapidly after an explosion from a suspected torpedo ripped the vessel in half in March 2010. It sank just more than 1 mile southwest of Baeknyeong Island near the de facto sea border with North Korea.
North Korea consistently denies it had anything to do with the sinking.
Tensions rose further that year after North Korea unexpectedly shelled the South Koran Island of Yeonpyeong, killing two marines and two civilians, as well as damaging houses and military buildings.
The latest warning by Lee comes after another South Korean warning over next month's planned test launch by North Korea of a long-range rocket with a satellite that Pyongyang said is for peaceful Earth observation work.
North Korea said it will launch the satellite between April 12-16 to mark the 100th birthday of the state's founder Kim Il Sung on April 15
(Excerpt) Read more at spacedaily.com ...
I'll believe it when I see it. As far as I know, South Korea has not fired arms in protest since the end of the Korean War, and they cowardly rely on US troops to man the front lines.
South Korea lifted the vessel from the sea and it was pretty conclusive a torpedo sank it, and they figure it was the North Koreans.
Why they didn;t retaliate at the time is beyond me.
We’re not talking damage here, or accidental collision, or a minor scuffle or engagement.
This vessel was deliberately sunk...destroyed wioth the loss of many sailors.
it was an overt act of war and should ahve been responded to with overwhelming force against one of their naval bases, particularly where their subs are located.
The South has more than enough naval power to have responded in higher proportion (whcih IMHO you ahve to do to deter tyrants), and yet they did not.
They are talking srtrong now, but they came off looking indecisive and weak after this happened.
If South Korea retaliates that might start a war. And if South Koreans ends up winning that war, then South Korea gets to be responsible for feeding and housing millions of starving North Koreans. I believe the technical military term for such a situation is 'heads they win, tails you lose.'
I have no idea either why the South Koreans did not respond to the sinking of the ship. Maybe partly the reason is the USFK presence there. According to the January 5, 2011 Korea Herald, since July 1953 North Korea has violated the armistice 221 times, including 26 military attacks.
http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110105000563
I believe ROK command need some sort consensus with the US/UN command since they will be taking the brunt of any North Korean attack. I think the South Koreans are tired of this and they will become more confrontational in the future.
I convinced the real reason the pissmire that is North Korea isn’t a smoking hole is South Koreans know that at the first opportunity hundreds of thousands of desperate, hungry North Koreans will flood over the border.
I think that the Chinese are worried that these same people will cross their border. This is the reason why they are propping up the current regime. To the Chinese, the North Koreans are not viewed in a favorable light.
China has been a long time ally of North Korea, thousands of Chinese were killed in The Korean War. While I’m sure they don’t want N. Koreans as refugees, they do their bit propping up the regime.
I agree.
The US Army has only a single combat division of less then 20,000 men station in Korea. South Korea, by contrast, has a standing army of more than 500,000, with reserves of more then three-million men, split into 52 divisions. And the South Korean military is fairly modern at that. So no, South Korean soldiers are what defend the bulk of the DMZ, with American troops pretty-much an afterthought in actual, immediate military terms. The main purpose of our troops being stationed there is to serve as a guarantee to South Korea that in the event of an invasion, the US will be at their side and not abandon them due to political expediency, as the US has a history of doing to our allies.
As for the Koreas - I read a study that said the North has between 15,000 to 18,000 artillery pieces aimed at the South, and that it is this threat towards Seoul that is the real problem even when compared to the budding nuclear issue. Many of these artillery pieces are just over 18 miles away from Seoul. By the time enough of those artillery pieces were removed from the equation the city of Seoul would be a sea of fire, and there is still no way to negate that artillery quickly (unless one considers a heavy nuclear attack all across the artillery locations - which is obviously something that is beyond the call of any American president, Democrat or Republican, for the last 2 decades). Without the threat of the artillery barrage I believe the South would be able to smite the North pretty hard ...they have an overwhelming qualitative advantage in the air (e.g. one of the most advanced F-15 variants, the F-15K), in the sea (one of the most potent AEGIS destroyers, and the most heavily armed, in the world, the Sejong the Great class), on land (they have one of the most powerful Main Battle Tanks in the world, with the K1A1 that is a variant of the Abrams tank, and the K2 which is said to not only be the most expensive tank in the world but arguably the best once its development is finalized). They have armed forces that know their job, and thus in a war could give the North Koreans a truly tough time.
However, there are still those artillery pieces.
Until they are taken care of there will be no way the South will retaliate against the North under any circumstances apart from a full-on full-scale assault. This means, in my opinion, the only time the South will retaliate against the North is if the North actually goes ahead and uses the artillery against Seoul. It is sort of like one of those circular loops in Excel ...the South will not attack because of the artillery, and the only time the South would attack is if the artillery is used in a big scale against them.
Until then, Pyongyang can order South Korean ships (like the Cheonan) to be sunk ...with no response. Pyongyang can order South Korean towns to be shelled (like what happened when a small SK town was shelled some time back) ...no response. Until there is a way to neutralize that artillery, Pyongyang can do (almost) anything to Seoul, apart from a massive attack, and nothing will happen. As long as that artillery
As long as that artillery is in the picture their hands are tied.
There's good reason why they looked "indecisive and weak" right after it happened. They were clueless as to how a sub could have gotten into the middle of their training exercise without being detected...
It took a 4-man team (that included my son) brought to SK to review the electronic systems of the planes flying patrol to find the specific problems that had been blinding the SK's for a lengthy period of time.
All of the problems were eliminated and both airborne and ground-based systems have been upgraded to state-of-the-art levels.
The SK's really are hoping the NK's try for a repeat.
Perhaps obammy instructed the South Koreans to stand down as he does Israel???
I have a son-in-law, CPO, career navy into sub fire control and he is into these things all the time. He's a squadron level now.
Thanks spetz for the note on my tagline...I've fixed it with this post.
South Korea cannot let the North continue such blatant infringements and acts of war. The artillery is a problem, but by using MLRS (if they had enough of them...and they would need a lot) they could nock out a lot of them. They should have all of that prepared before-hand, each MLRS carring it's eight missiles designed specifically for this type of thing, and have several battalions of them and then execute their response against the NKOR Navy.
At the first hint of any use of that artillery, they unleash barrages of MLRS at the artillery positions which are fairly well known.
I hope it never comes to that, but if they do not do something in response, the N Koreans will just keep upping the anty.
Artillery piece meets Hellfire Missile launched from Apache Attack helicopter— no more artillery piece. Hungry North Koreans say ‘’To Hell with Dear leaders kid, I’m outta here.’’ I truly think neither Korea wants a repeat of 1950.
A hypothetical attack on South Korea is going to be millions of starving North Koreans flooding over the 38th. parallel grabbing and consuming everything edible.
See OPLAN 5029
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