US/S.KOREA has joint commando rescue plan for S. Korea workers stuck on N. Korean side at Kaesong

Sankei Shimbun in Japan (synopsis translation to English by Freeper) ^ | 29 May 2010 | AmericanInTokyo

[gaijin]

Slick Billy Jeff negotiated the release of the Chinese-American & Korean journalists imprisoned up there.

He might horn in this action also, playing the hero in grand style.

It'd be great to ask that genius wench HalfBright a little about all this, eh?

[AmericanInTokyo]

Hyundai Asan, for one (subsidiary of Hyundae).

[AmericanInTokyo]

One of the two of those will be up there, if this turns into a snag, you can be sure of it.

[JRandomFreeper]

Fortunately it takes less to defend than it does to attack.

3:1 if I remember correctly from school. ;)

/johnny

[jhpigott]

This is like a Mexican standoff. US and SK forces announce this plan, but I wonder under what circumstances they would put it into action. Would they wait for an official declaration from Pyongyang that they are closing down the border crossing and road and not letting the Kaesong workers leave? Or is the situation as it stands enough to send the US/SK forces into action. It sounds like, defacto, these S. Koreans have no real means available to them at the moment to get out other than to hoof it about 10kms thru the most heavily militarized area in the world.

[AmericanInTokyo]

They should check the true father of the baby the Laura Ling is currently carrying, I would say. That was a LONNNNNNNG ride back in that jet from Pyongyang to California with the Bent One, as I recall....

[Gabrial]

I wonder if “One Big Ass Mistake America” will be sober when this thing erupts, being on vacation and all.

Meanwhile the gulf is still belching oil.

Is he on vacation, or just hiding?

[Gabrial]

Flashpoint. This thing is going to blow.

[AmericanInTokyo]

yep. good analogy

[Squantos]

Pick pick pick..
.

[jhpigott]

who blinks first is the question?

I don’t see the benefit at this point for Kim to announce that he is taking these S. Koreans hostage, because as long as the transportation system isn’t running over the weekend, these folks are stuck.

AIT - what’s the protocol over at Kaesong for transportation back and forth from SK to Kaesong? Should it be back up and running on Monday? If that’s the case, Kim will have a decision to make Monday.

[AmericanInTokyo]

KAESONG. A word already very famous. May become famous again, 59 years later, before this is all finishited. This from TIME Magazine in June of 1951:

"At 8:50 a.m. Sunday, Korea time, two big green U.S. helicopters windmilled up from Munsan, the allied "advance outpost" for truce talks, and vanished to the north in the morning haze. They flew slowly. In ten minutes they were across the Imjin River; in a few more minutes their pilots sighted Kaesong, three miles south of the 38th parallel, the war-battered town the Communists had picked as the place to talk peace. Kaesong (meaning "open castle") was the first major South Korean town to fall to the North Korean invaders, in the war that began on another Sunday, 54 weeks earlier; it fell five hours after the aggressors crossed the frontier. Although the 1 Sunday meeting was only a preliminary to set the stage for cease-fire negotiations to begin this week, the West's hopes, fears and doubts converged, along with the green helicopters, on Kaesong. Matt's New Role. The man whose eyes were fixed most intently on Kaesong was General Matthew Bunker Ridgway. Rarely had a military commander found himself in the kind of situation that Ridgway was in this week. It was Matt Ridgway, successor to the late General "Johnnie" Walker, who had rallied the Eighth Army against the overwhelming Chinese onslaught last year, and turned his troops north again. To Ridgway, as to any soldier, the best way to finish the job in Korea could only be to defeat the enemy. Ridgway knew that, with more ground strength in Korea—and perhaps with air blows at Manchuria—he could drive the Chinese back behind the Yalu. Yet, with the Chinese licking the wounds that Ridgway's punches had inflicted on them, he was trying to negotiate a truce. The job was not designed for the liking of a hardhitting combat leader, but Good Soldier Ridgway did the job as well as he knew how. Battle for Face. The preliminary messages leading up to the meeting had been exchanged by radio. So far, the Communists had been fairly reasonable, except for constant jockeying and maneuvering to gain face. After the first three messages (TIME, July 9), the Reds had rejected General Ridgway's request for a meeting July 5, but suggested July 8, a date two days earlier than the earliest previously mentioned by them. Ridgway agreed to the date. He said he would send his representatives by helicopter if the weather on Sunday permitted; otherwise they would travel by jeep. At the same time, he requested a pledge of safe-conduct. The Communists gave the pledge. But they suggested that the U.N. negotiators travel in jeeps whether the weather was fair or foul. The implication was that the helicopters might be fired on by mistake. It was also possible that the Communists, who had no 'copters, were jealous of such a stylish mode of travel, and that even in this minor matter they wanted to save face. In any case, Matt Ridgway stuck to his decision: it would be helicopters, he told the Reds. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,889073,00.html#ixzz0pLjDELsC "

[JRandomFreeper]

There is no area of human interaction dysfunction that can't be corrected with the correct amount and placement of high explosives.

/johnny

[AmericanInTokyo]

I dont know all those details. I think a certain number of those South Koreans actually live their full time in Kaesong company housing for the manufacturing projects.

[pnh102]

More fallout from the stupidity of South Korea trying to make peace with North Korea.

[DrGunsforHands]

South Korea would win, but Seoul would be devestated. How do you defend against long-range, embedded artillary? We have some new systems that have been developed to deal with mortars/etc. in Iraq/Afghanistan, but how far along are they? And could they handle 10,000 incoming shells/rockets, fired all at the same time? I really want to know! Worried sick over this. Have friends who live in Seoul.

[JRandomFreeper]

South Korea would win, but Seoul would be devestated

The people would suffer greatly again. War sucks.

The only comfort I can offer you is the great number of Christian churches I saw being built while riding through Seoul to head to Osan. Sometimes, there is no earthly hope, but eternal hope remains.

/johnny

[matt1234]

[Pan_Yan]

Impressive numbers, but I wonder how much of that is rust and paint. I would have a hard time believing they could get 15 combat ready submarines to sea on their best days.

[caww]

Very tense situation to say the least....keep us posted...will be watching this thread as am sure others will be too.