North Korea Attacks South Korea - Latest Update

[CardSharp]

YouTube - Video of North Korean attack aftermath, smoking ruins in Yeonpyeong

Some of those look like rocket tubes. I thought it was a howitzer attack.

 

[unicorn]

Senator John McCain regarding North Korean Attack

"I was deeply saddened and outraged to learn that two South Korean Marines were killed in this latest act of North Korean aggression. My thoughts and prayers today are with the families of the fallen, and I join the Korean people in mourning this tragic loss of life. North Korea's continued belligerence toward the Republic of Korea is unacceptable, and the United States stands ready to assist our Korean ally in defending itself.

"This latest attack is anything but an isolated incident. Together with recent reports that North Korea has assembled a new uranium enrichment facility and its sinking earlier this year of the South Korean corvette, Cheonan, which killed 46 South Korean sailors, today's attack is part of a long and troubling pattern of North Korean aggression, provocation, and total disregard for its own international agreements. Two decades worth of attempts to appease this North Korean regime have failed, and further attempts to do so will meet with the same result. The Chinese government has perhaps the most influence on North Korea, and for the sake of regional security and stability, I urge China to play a more direct and responsible role in changing North Korea's reckless behavior.”

 

[unicorn]

Pentagon: No Plan for Military Response to North Korean Attack

A Pentagon spokesman said the U.S. military is not working on any specific response to North Korea's attack on a South Korean island Tuesday, but is consulting with South Korea's military about steps that could ease tensions rather than increase them. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was to speak to his South Korean counterpart to discuss the situation.

The Pentagon spokesman, Colonel David Lapan, said that in addition to the ministerial phone call, the U.S. military command in Seoul is in close contact with its South Korean counterparts. But he said there is no particular plan for a response or for any increase in the joint U.S.-South Korean deterrent force, which includes 25,000 U.S. troops.

"I wouldn't say that we are looking at anything in particular at this point," said Lapan. "We are still monitoring the situation and talking with our allies. I wouldn't say that there's anything that's been initiated because of the incident."

Lapan said any military incidents on the Peninsula increase tensions. He indicated that U.S. and South Korean officials are taking a cautious approach, concerned that a military response, even after several North Korean attacks and provocative statements, might only make the situation worse.

"We are mindful of the tensions on the Peninsula and what actions may either exacerbate or calm them. So, it's too soon now to tell what actions may be taken as a result of this."

Separately, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell declined to speculate on why North Korea launched the attack. He told the MSNBC news channel the Pyongyang government is "extremely unpredictable," and said "they do things that you could not possibly have predicted in a rational world." Morrell also said it would be difficult to put any more sanctions on North Korea than it already has. And he added, "This is a regime that is determined to bypass the sanctions, to not abide by its international obligations."

Colonel Lapan said no U.S. troops were involved in the South Korean military exercise on the island that was attacked Tuesday, but he said Americans have participated in that event in past years. And, he said, there is no plan to cancel expected joint naval exercises off the Korean and Chinese coasts, not far from the island that was attacked. Both Pyongyang and Beijing have said they would see such an exercise as an aggressive act.

"We and the Republic of Korea, throughout the year, conduct exercises," said Lapan. "We always point out that these are not offensive in nature. They are to exercise our inter-operability with the Republic of Korea. And, they should not be seen as directed in a threatening manner at anyone."

Lapan said there is still no firm plan for when the naval exercise will be held. U.S. officials have said it will include an aircraft carrier, which is among the largest and most capable warships in the world.

 

[unicorn]

Stanford Scientist Who Toured N. Korea's Nuclear Facilities Gives Details of Trip

Tensions are high on the Korean Peninsula following an artillery exchange Tuesday between the two sides that left two South Korean marines dead. It was one of the most dramatic confrontations between the two sides since the Korean War ended in 1953. And it comes on the heels of a trip to North Korea by a team of top nuclear scientists, including Siegfried Hecker, the former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Hecker says North Korea is working on two new nuclear facilities, a water power reactor and a uranium enrichment plant. The latter is significant because it could produce enough highly enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon.

North Korea on Tuesday shelled a populated border island held by the South and South Korean forces promptly returned fire. The exchange forced the island's 1,600 residents to flee to shelters.

"I was lying down and watching television and I heard the bang bang sound," said a woman. "I thought that I would die."

North Korea watchers in the West are transfixed, especially following reports by top U.S. scientists that North Korea's nuclear capacity has advanced quickly since Western experts were last allowed in.

Siegfried Hecker is the former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, the top U.S. national security research institute. He described his reaction at seeing 2,000 working centrifuges at a sophisticated uranium enrichment facility.

"My jaw just dropped," said Hecker. "I was stunned to see what looked like hundreds and hundreds of centrifuges lined up two each ... it was just stunning in a clean facility, modern facility. Looking down I said, 'Oh my God, they did what they said they were going to do.'"

Hecker was not allowed to take pictures of the site, which he said is far from producing a bomb.

"To get from what I saw to a hydrogen bomb that's just an incredible step," he said.

North Korea analyst Marcus Noland says sanctions against North Korea have had limited effect.

"The problem with sanctions is that North Korea's largest trading partner is China, and China has shown absolutely no interest in implementing sanctions," said Noland.

Hecker and his team say Chinese scientists are surprised at the pace of North Korea's nuclear development.

North Korean analyst Victor Cha says the U.S. will need China on its side if it wants to get back to the nuclear weapons bargaining table with North Korea.

"It's what one person once described to me as the land of lousy options," said Cha. "You are never choosing between good and bad options. You are choosing between bad, worse and the worst."

Marcus Noland says it could be as simple as this:

"They want to convince us that they are a nuclear power and despite agreements they have signed in the past, they have no real interest in denuclearization," he said. "And we should simply get used to it."

 

[unicorn]

The above three posts give a very clear indication what USA is demanding from China.The only question now remains will China give its response.I think they should not.

 

[Meengla]

From the NK propaganda site, now with Google translation. I know, Google translation can be really funny for any language. But I also know that NK officials' choice of words are often too bizarre--hmmm, archaic!

Anyway, here is the translation. This one is about yesterday's attack.
??????? ?????????? ? ???????????? ???????? ????????? ? ????????????? ?????? ????????!

The South Korean puppets, who began military exercises "Hawk" against the DPRK, and thus heating up the situation on the Korean Peninsula despite our repeated warnings, still made the reckless military provocation, making the shelling of the DPRK's territorial waters near the island on the West Enphendo -Korean sea.

Number of artillery rounds fired by the South Korean puppets in the territorial waters of the DPRK, has a few dozen.

Current military provocation is a continuation of blatant attempts to defend razboynicheskuyu "northern dividing line" through repeated violations of the territorial waters of the puppet naval ships of South Korea under the pretext of "control of fishing vessels.

Our revolutionary armed forces standing guard over our sacred territorial waters take decisive military action to an immediate deposition of powerful physical punches in response to military provocation by the South Korean puppets.

On fire provocateurs reply hail of bullets - this is traditional way to answer our army.

Our revolutionary armed forces will continue to be applied without hesitation merciless retaliatory military strikes, if the South Korean puppets dare to invade at least 0.001 mm into the territorial waters of our country.

South Korean puppets should nick down stern warning of our revolutionary armed forces, who do not know empty words.

 

[StingRoy]

Seems like he is still living in stone age... usage of so many 'puppets' !

 

[Tigershark]

i guess the only right thing to do is to get kim to turn north korea over to US management

What gambit wants is for China to cut all ties with North Korea. The North Koreans starve. Millions of childrens die. The North Korean military rots. Then the next American president invents a pretext to invade. Millions more Koreans die. Kim Jong Il hangs by a noose. The US gains a vassal state at China's front door.

This is what happened to Saddam Hussein in the US-Iraq wars. It wasn't about WMDs--none were found--it was about US hegemony and extending American power into the Asian continent.

 

[Tigershark]

I dare say no one here have ever touched a live nuclear weapon. I have.

Is that true? Do people know if gambit has touched a "live nuclear weapon"?

 

[Nomenclature]

I just flied back to Beijing yesterday, and imagine how I shocked I was when I learned N.Korea and S.Korea had exchanged fire.

As a Beijing resident I'm kind of worried. If the situation get out of hand, Beijing is well within the range of North Korea's Nodong II missiles. I'm wondering if air defense around Beijing is up the task of facing any NK missile threats, afterall North Korea is a country who dumps its nuclear waste near Chinese border. If the mad dog decides there's nothing more to lose, there's no telling who it will bite.

I wonder if say a Type 052C destroyer is parked near North Korea water, will its air defense system be able to intercept missiles aiming at Beijing?

 

[Vassnti]

What gambit wants is for China to cut all ties with North Korea. The North Koreans starve. Millions of childrens die. The North Korean military rots. Then the next American president invents a pretext to invade. Millions more Koreans die. Kim Jong Il hangs by a noose. The US gains a vassal state at China's front door.
.

Try reading a little history before posting.

The ragged and ****** travellers whom Martin saw from his train stand in for all North Koreans in Becker’s account. He has moving passages about the ‘famine and flight’ that afflicted large sectors of the population, garnered mainly from talking to refugees who crossed into China. Becker freed Korean women from Chinese men, who kept them as sex toys by buying them outright, in one case for the equivalent of $24: a 28-year-old, she looked 50.

A friend of mine who worked for the Mercy Foundation used to patrol the border with $100 bills, hoping to buy back young Korean women from the hundreds – more likely thousands – of Chinese men who had done the same. Entire families swallowed poison, or stood by railway tracks proffering their babies, hoping someone might take them away and feed them.

Gangs of children wandered around the countryside, or ran across the border. Most people, however, just bribed the guards and crossed over in search of escape or food, going back and forth to feed their families. Becker believes that Kim Jong Il has the blood of four million people on his hands

Although sometimes the figure is said to be as high as more than 3 million, or 12% of North Korea's population

This is just the famine of the late90's 12% of his own population in a few years and the US is evil because they want some thing more than just more talks?

Children are already dying by the millions the question is for how much longer.

 

[no_name]

There are alot of developments and tensions around china recently.

1) Tanks deployed to afghanistan

2) India deployed troops along border with china

3) Incident with Japan at Diaoyu island

4) Vietnam quiet but no tell tale signs

5) This recent incident between koreas of which there is not much detail.

Obama visit to india + others probably talked about more than business opportunities, just my hunch.

 

[Tigershark]

Try reading a little history before posting.
Children are already dying by the millions.

That's right. Children are already dying and the Western media wants to "punish" North Korea by slapping on more sanctions and killing more children. I recently read a western article lambasting the UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon for requesting more international aid for the poor people of North Korea.

The US sanction on Iraq was especially instructive--we saw americans were willing to murder millions of Iraqi children to achieve their aim of world dominance. Their North Korean strategy is no different: isolate, sanction, invade.

The Chinese are absolutely right in expressing our censure of the North Korean government while continuing to extend aid to the people of North Korea.

 

[Dragon Emperor]

There are alot of developments and tensions around china recently.

1) Tanks deployed to afghanistan

2) India deployed troops along border with china

3) Incident with Japan at Diaoyu island

4) Vietnam quiet but no tell tale signs

5) This recent incident between koreas of which there is not much detail.

Obama visit to india + others probably talked about more than business opportunities, just my hunch.

All this should be justification for China to increase its military budget 3 times more in order to counter regional threats.

 

[gambit]

That's right. Children are already dying and the Western media wants to "punish" North Korea by slapping on more sanctions and killing more children. I recently read a western article lambasting the UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon for requesting more international aid for the poor people of North Korea.

The US sanction on Iraq was especially instructive--we saw americans were willing to murder millions of Iraqi children to achieve their aim of world dominance. Their North Korean strategy is no different.

The Chinese are absolutely right in expressing our censure of the North Korean government while continuing to extend aid to the people of North Korea.

So if a regime is murderous enough to starve its own citizens, it becomes the moral and economic burden of the rest of the world to feed those people......The regime bears no responsibility whatsoever.