Posted on 02/20/2003 6:39:00 AM PST by RCW2001
14:00 - 20 February 2003
Relations between North and South Korea are now so grave that military commanders have warned a nuclear war could break out at any moment.
This follows an incident in which a North Korean fighter jet briefly crossed into South Korea but retreated after being confronted by two southern jets.
Anti-aircraft missile units have been put into battle position in the South Korean capital of Seoul
Only a few days ago the North threatened to abandon the armistice keeping peace along the countries' tense border.
The incursion, the first by a North Korean military jet since 1983, increased jitters on the peninsula, where the North is locked in a dispute over nuclear weapons development.
KCNA, the North's state news agency and a mouthpiece of the regime, said the situation on the peninsula was now "so alarming that a nuclear war may break out at any moment."
Tension has crept up since October, when US officials said North Korea had admitted having a covert nuclear weapons programme.
Washington and its allies suspended fuel shipments, and the North retaliated by expelling UN monitors, taking steps to restart frozen nuclear facilities and withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
This is exactly right. North Korea has nothing we need. Rather then play their game, Bush is making them play his. If we ignore North Korea, and go out of our way to not provoke them, they will fall. They may try and blame, threaten, cajole, and intimidate us and the locals, but if we don't take their bait, so much the better.
We do not want to get drawn into their game. They will accuse us of anything to attempt to scare us into thinking they are legitimately aggrieved. They may say or do anything, including faking an attack on themselves, to make us look like the bad guy, and cause the appeasenik crowd to blame us.
Leaving them alone, to collapse under the weight of their own ineptitude, is probably the best plan. There is nothing to be gained by talking to them. Their word is worth less than the paper it is printed on, they will break any treaty or pledge the moment it suits them, and blame us.
"I know what you're asking: did he fire six shots, or only five...Well in all the excitement, I kind of lost track myself..."
"I know what you're thinking. Did the skipper of the Nebraska fire 24 missiles or only 23? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, he kinda lost track himself. But being that this is a Trident submarine, the most powerful SSBN in the world, and one shot would blow Pyongang and its suburbs clean off the map, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?"
And Kim thinks his hair is a tangled mess now....
With a train.
I could be wrong, but I believe Korea is considered a hardship post, which means no dependents are allowed to reside there with the military personnel. Maybe someone who has been posted there can verfiy this, or correct me if I'm wrong.
At first -- back last spring I thought that was on account of fear -- SK having become in the past fifty years very concentrated in few cities, and thus very vulnerable to nuke attack. That's a bit of it -- it raises the anxiety.
But know I've come to think that the Koreans are confident in themselves and they see the North's time on the clock is essentially up, they are anxious to be fully self-reliant, and these dissings are like that of an older teenager just about ready to leave the house and go on his own -- wing flexing. South Korea is ready to fly on its own. More power to them! Hooray for them!
They're either "talking points" or "stalking horses." Dunno which. Unless, of course, Mr. Ed has come back to us...
This is so silly it's getting hard to take. The North need not threaten nuclear anything - any time they want to attack the South, Seoul is within artillery range from their side of the DMZ, and unlike the ostensible nukes they may or may not have, we know they do have artillery and they can use it.
I think they expect us, or more likely the South Koreans, to faint at the very sound "nuclear." It's going to take a little more than that.
Indeed. How does China benefit from North Korea's bluster?
ANSWER that question, and you have solved the puzzle.
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