N Korea threatens truce breach

bbc ^ | 2/17/03

[anniegetyourgun]

Then he just might see those nukes he's been dreaming of after all....

[Mr. Mojo]

I have never seen such conspicuous and desperate pleas for attention (and money).

[jimt]

Earlier on Monday, the United States and South Korea announced they would stage joint military exercises in South Korea next month, in a move which was thought likely to heighten tensions with the North.

For those of you who don't know, this is something the US and South Korea have done every year for the last 30 years, at least.

The shrill, bellicose statements of the North are what heighten tensions.

[Post Toasties]

Has anybody told Kim Jong Il what a repulsive depraved putrid little buffoon George Bush thinks he is? Or what a sick joke his tiny little tyranny is?

[justa-hairyape]

Did they provide any actual evidence of the US violating the agreement ?

[Caipirabob]

North Korean Cry-baby BUMP!

[Amelia]

Does anyone doubt that NK is doing anything other than *trying* to get invaded by the US?

Why?

Their economy isn't good, they don't have any food, people are starving, and people are getting tired of the communist dictatorship. Sort of like the Soviet Union just before it fell apart.

Kim Jung Il needs an enemy to unite his people and to blame all the problems on. If it's OUR fault, it's not HIS fault. If the country is in danger, perhaps the people won't try to revolt.

[CatoRenasci]

They're starving. Perhaps they've run out of food for the military.

[Ranger]

They are trying to extort some financial concessions from the US or S. Korea and they think now is the time to do it, while we are tied up with Iraq.

[Cyclops08]

Perhaps China is trying to distract us into beefing up defenses in NK so we won't be able to respond to a taiwan invasion.

just a thought.

[DAnconia55]

Man, how bad do they want an asskicking anyway?

What a temper tantrum.

[knak]

more from reuters:

N.Korea threatens to scrap armistice

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's army is threatening to abandon its commitment to the 1953 Korean War armistice if sanctions such as a naval blockade are imposed on the isolated communist state over its nuclear crisis.

"The KPA (Korean People's Army) side will be left with no option but to take a decisive step to abandon its commitment to implement the Armistice Agreement as a signatory to it and free itself from the binding force of all its provisions, regarding the possible sanctions to be taken by the U.S. side against the DPRK (North Korea)," said the North's army in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement said the United States was planning to bolster its military forces around the peninsula and to "conduct naval blockade operations which can be seen only between the warring states during the war and this is little short of an open declaration of war in the long-run".

"If the U.S. side continues violating and misusing the Armistice Agreement as it pleases, there will be no need for the DPRK to remain bound to the AA uncomfortably," said the statement published by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

In the early 1990s, Pyongyang announced that it would not adhere to the pact, signed in 1953 by China and North Korea on the communist side and by the U.S.-led United Nations Command on the side of the international community.

[Defiant]

This could be inspired by China, or it could be North Korea just realizing that they are next after Iraq, and deciding that they want to try to make some kind of deal with us before we have wiped Iraq out and they have a weaker bargaining position. I hope it's the latter, as I don't want to have to take on China at this stage. I don't think China wants to take us on, either, as they are enjoying the economic fruits of our relationship, but I don't think they have given up on overtaking the US, and they probably don't mind using others to explore American limits.

[Spirited]

Thank you so much for this history, knak. Fully appreciated.

We need statemen. We have politicos.

Sigh

[RightWhale]

What's next? Did N Kor sign the Magna Carta? They'll want to withdraw from that if this doesn't work.

[ScholarWarrior]

Bede, bede, bede, you got um, Buck.

This is a Chinese operation designed to stop us from going to Iraq. High stakes poker, and the NKs better back down because Bush will retaliate hard if NK strikes, and we could easily have High Noon at the SLBM Corral.

Not that I would mind, but I hate to have millions, including thousands of US troops and civilians, die unnecessarily in the process.

China would go out in one big blaze.

[Defender2]

Kim Jong Il is definitely ILL!!!! He's opened his mouth too many times and knows he is now next on the list.....Tick....Tick....Tick....Tick....Tick....Tick....Tick....and the clock counts down on him as well!!!!

[Reactionary]

I think China's involved, too. It looks as if this whole charade involving North Korea has been undertaken so the Chinese can declare war on Taiwan while we're busy in Iraq.

When it gets closer to war, look for the North Koreans to do something drastic. That will be a sure sign that the Chinese are about to stage an attack.