North Korea ends peace pacts with South

[yray]

^it's metal gear

[kunoman1]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

the US sent a Radar platform/freighter over to monitor NK

like the one pictured here:



!!!!! dat size!!!

That looks insane!

In other news, tourists still going to North Korea o.0

Tourists say situation ‘normal’ in North Korea | The Raw Story

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Gridlock

Most likely scenario is he obtains "aid" in return for shutting up and being a good little 'fat boy'. It's worked so far

I agree that the old Kim Jong Il's crazy antics has paid off so far, but from what I've observed, even the final year or two when the elder Kim was still sticking around, the ploy was starting to get old and less effective. China was starting to lose patience on their occasionally uncontrollable lap dog, and the international community was growing increasingly frustrated as well.

And since the young Fat Boy took over the lead role, the US, in particular, is increasingly calling DPRK bluff.

Originally Posted by pastarocket

There's the "what if" scenario, where the U.S. could call fat boy Kim's bluff and say that it's all for show. The U.S. can send even more military hardware to defend South Korea.

How is this kid gonna react? Will he try to save face among the North Korean military and his people by blowing shit up or will he stand down?

I think fat boy is a bad poker player. He goes "all in" with his money and loses everything.

^^ I especially agree with the final comment here. When you play poker, you really gotta know what you are doing and what you're up against when you go all in. Maybe the Chubby Kid really doesn't have any other choice, but I can't see how painting himself into a lose-lose corner is a smart idea.

With the elder Kim, he had a much better idea of when to go big and when to back off. The Chubby Kid, on the other hand, only seems to know how to up the ante.

[StylinRed]

Well NK is withdrawing their workers at Kaesong and they'll also be conducting a "missile test"

North Korea withdrawing 51,000 workers from facility jointly run with South - The Globe and Mail
http://www.news.com.au/world-news/no...-1226614547853
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3032827.html

and SK is still banned from entering Kaesong

S.Korea urges North to lift Kaesong access ban - FRANCE 24

[willystyle]

Talk about respect for your Chinese neighbor, a day after Xi Jinping declares that no one should be able to threaten world peace. Kim continues to push his agenda.

All sabre rattling though, I'll see it when I believe it. Kim is really pushing himself into a corner.

[Graeme S]

A year before KJI died, I said "Three years after KJI dies, the state will collapse."


...I'm not sure how I feel about being this accurate.

[Graeme S]

Also: quick read for those of you interested in Kaesong:
Ask a Korean!: Korea Fact of the Day: Gaeseong Industrial Complex

Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) is an industrial complex in Gaeseong, North Korea, which is developed jointly by the two Koreas: South Korea supplies the corporations and capital equipments, and North Korea supplies the workers and the land. Every day, hundreds of South Korean workers--usually middle- and senior-managers--enter and exit North Korea to oversee the operations at the GIC.

As a part of its attempt to raise the tension in the region, North Korea has forbidden South Korean managerial workers from entering North Korea for the last six days. (South Korean workers who were at the GIC, however, were allowed to return home.) Yesterday, North Korea announced that it will shut down the GIC and withdraw all of its workers. Shutting down the GIC is probably the highest level of threat that North Korea may issue, short of actually attacking South Korea. This is because since its founding in 2005, the GIC never closed--not in the face of, for example, the shelling of Yeonpyeong-do in which North Korea actually attacked South Korean territory and killed four people.

Here is a collection of all relevant charts regarding the GIC, created by South Korea's Ministry of Unification. GIC hosts 123 corporations, which manufactured $460 million's worth of products in 2012. It employs over 53,000 North Korean laborers. Last year, nearly 246 vehicles crossed the Armistice Line from South Korea to North Korea every day to deliver supplies to the GIC.

Links in original.

[vyrospec]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

the US sent a Radar platform/freighter over to monitor NK

like the one pictured here:



!!!!! dat size!!!

ITS THE CEREBRO!!

[Razor Ramon HG]

N. Korea calls on foreigners living in S. Korea to devise evacuation plans

SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Tuesday called on foreigners living in South Korea to devise evacuation plans, further escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (KAPPC) said in a statement monitored in Seoul that foreign nationals should find out in advance where they can take shelter as well as examine evacuation plans to leave the country.

The committee, an organ of the ruling Workers' Party that oversees inter-Korean affairs, said the North does not want to see foreigners in the South hurt in the case of war.

"The committee informs all foreign institutions and enterprises and foreigners including tourists in Seoul and all other parts of South Korea that they are requested to take measures for shelter and evacuation in advance for their safety," the KAPPC's English dispatch said. There are some 1.4 million foreigners in South Korea.

"The United States and the South Korean puppet warmongers are now watching for a chance to start war against the DPRK after massively introducing weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear war hardware into south Korea," it said.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The statement, read by the organization's spokesman, warned that if conflict breaks out, the North will conduct an all out "merciless sacred retaliatory war". The official added the Korean Peninsula is on the brink of a thermonuclear war and current developments can pose grave challenges for the whole of the Asia-Pacific region.

The remarks come as the communist country has repeatedly said it will turn Seoul and Washington into a "sea of fire" and launch pre-emptive nuclear attacks against its enemies.

North Korea observers in Seoul said the latest rhetoric is part of an ongoing effort by the North to ratchet up tensions on the peninsula.

"Fueling tension has been a trademark tactic employed for decades by the North to deal with outside pressure against its bad behavior and win concessions," said a government official, who declined to be identified. Pyongyang has come under international criticism for conducting its third nuclear test on Feb. 12 and launching a long range rocket last December.

Others observers in Seoul speculated that pushing up tensions may have been timed with the launch of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile. There has been growing conjecture that the missile, carried on a mobile transporter, will be launched Wednesday. The missile has a range of 3,000-4,000 kilometers and could be programmed to target U.S. bases in Guam.

Besides threatening to attack its enemies with nuclear weapons, Pyongyang nullified the Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War (1950-53), saying it will no longer honor non-aggression pacts signed with South Korea and more recently said it would pull its workers out of the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

The complex, located in North Korea, is the only remaining economic link between the two countries, and its closure could act as a destabilizing force.

(2nd LD) N. Korea calls on foreigners living in S. Korea to devise evacuation plans | YONHAP NEWS

I'm in Korea right now. Not really scared of anything, but if shit goes down.. going to hate myself for moving closer into Seoul

[rsx]

if there's no troop mobilization then it should be your garden variety test and subsequent verbal reprimand from the UN et al.

[Gridlock]

I'm starting to formulate the theory that this kid is trying a sort of "best of" compilation album of 'hits' that have worked in the past.

Bear with me.

There is always the third generation problem in corporations. For those that don't know, a person begins a "something" such as Ford Motor Company. They struggle, and they sacrifice and build something out of nothing. The second generation, usually very well educated in comparison to the father, comes in and builds on the previous generation and fills it out-takes it global, or creates new products that fit with the original vision and sales compound. The third generation was born with a silver spoon in their mouth. They have no personal recollection of sacrifice or what it took during the lean years to create the company. They know only success, and excess. They are also left with a company where all they can do is maintain it, or screw it up. And they usually screw it up.

I think this is very applicable to North Korea. They may not have been "successful" in our eyes, and under our usual terminology, but having one family as supreme ruler for 60 years is impressive. But Fat Boy here has no personal recollection of what it took to put him where he is today. The "silver spoon" in his case, is both money and assumed privilege. He was and always will be destined to inherit the country. That messes with your mind.

So he steps into the role of leader. Keep in mind-he's very close to your age. He's a couple years younger than me. No experience building up to taking sole responsibility for his country.

So he turns to the playbook. What worked before? Well, when you rattle the saber a little bit, you can usually shake out some food and money.

And so he's trying it. I honestly believe he's bluffing. He needs to show that he's in charge, and that he can get results.

The thing is...he doesn't personally know what it takes to do it. Right now, he's stuck with a shit hand and a deadly poker face, and he's all in. And no one in the world right now wants a stable, strong North korea...let alone one that is unstable and nuclear armed. He's seriously working on possibly being called, as now is as good a time as any. I really don't think anyone wants to go back to Korea...it would be a very ugly mess. I have no doubt they'd play dirty. Plus, the population is going to fight to the death. Makes 10 years spent in Baghdad look like movie previews. Especially if you don't want to end up with ANOTHER North Korea after it all.

Dangerous time in Korea. I don't see how he can back down and have the world off his ass, without losing faith of the military and population.

[SkinnyPupp]

North Korea to 'launch missile TOMORROW' after warning foreigners to evacuate South | World | News | Daily Express

[danizer]

Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp

North Korea to 'launch missile TOMORROW' after warning foreigners to evacuate South | World | News | Daily Express

read that too...but i recall reading that the military has not been mobilized and the missiles arent aimed....

[willystyle]

There comes a point in time where we need to strongly consider removing Kim's regime. It's been proven again and again that we cannot co-exist with the DPRK and that none of the policy's that we had enforced in the past had worked. The lives of the people there aren't any better, their regime continues to be ever so ruthless. Their nuclear ambitions continues to advance on a yearly basis that it will only be a matter of time before their nuclear warheads can reach and accurately hit Canada and the US mainland.

It's better that we take care of Kim now before their missile guidance system matures enough where he can pose a greater threat later on.

[StylinRed]

remove a guy with nukes? lol that'll be something

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp

North Korea to 'launch missile TOMORROW' after warning foreigners to evacuate South | World | News | Daily Express

What concerns me is that I'm pretty positive KJU is merely posturing and bluffing. He's kind of given a hard deadline on when things are going to happen, but if that day comes and goes without any concessions on the West's part and he doesn't fire anything, everyone is going to know he's bluffing and is merely giving idle threats. Everyone will go back down to Defcon4 and go back to ignoring him. His generals may not like it and may end up going rogue if only to prove a point and save face (do Koreans follow that practice?).

I don't know. While I'm pretty sure nothing will happen, there's always these what-if scenarios that play in the back of my mind that kinda bother me.

[SkinnyPupp]

Sucks being in Tokyo, which is probably #2 on their target list

If they do launch anything, it would probably be shot down, and their country would be disabled in minutes.

[Graeme S]

Ask a Korean!: Can North Korea Back Out Now?

Can North Korea Back Out Now?
Dear Korean,

Are things so dire in North Korea that war is the only way out?

Paul R.

Normally, the Korean only accepts questions via email and not through Twitter, Facebook or other channels. But this question was just so spot-on that the Korean could not resist.

(If you have a problem with this, please refer to the AAK! Policies. It is my blog, and I will do whatever the hell I damn well please with it. Don't be surprised if you visit this blog tomorrow and suddenly run into a foot fetish porno site. You just never know.)

Let us elaborate the question just a little bit. As North Korea escalates the tension, there is a fear that Kim Jong-un is putting himself into a position from which he cannot exit without some kind of military action. The thought is: if Kim Jong-un threatens to use force, he can't not use force if he wishes to maintain any level of credibility.

Is this true? It may well be, but no one really knows. But here is the question we can actually answer: does this have to be true? For that question, the answer is a resounding no--because North Korea previously backed off after having taken even closer step toward the brink: it actually killed American soldiers at Panmunjeom.

Yes, this actually happened. In August 18, 1976, 11 soldiers--six Americans and five South Koreans--were overseeing a gang of five South Korean workers in the Joint Security Area near Panmunjeom. The South Korean workers were trying to cut down a large tree within the JSA that obstructed the sight line between the two watch posts.The tree was near the edge of the South Korean portion of the JSA.

The American soldiers and the North Korean soldiers have been engaged in low-level physical scuffles and yelling arguments for about a month prior to this incident. Several times, North Korean soldiers attempted to kidnap the U.S. soldiers from the post nearest to the Armistice Line. In one occasion, Capt. Arthur Bonifas, Joint Security Force Company Commander, had to cross the Armistice Line and force the North Korean soldiers to release a group of American soldiers, whom the North Korean soldiers held at gunpoint.


On August 18, 1976, the rising tension came to a head. When the South Korean workers began cutting down the tree, a number of North Korean soldiers appeared and demanded the work to be stopped, claiming that the tree was planted by Kim Il-sung himself. Capt. Bonifas, supervising the work, ignored the North Korean soldiers and ordered the work to be continued. Then the North Korean soldiers suddenly attacked with clubs, hatchets and pickaxes, aiming for the American soldiers. Captain Bofinas was bludgeoned to death. All but one person out of the 11 American and South Korean soldiers were severely wounded, and one American soldier--First Lieutenant Mark Barrett--died from his injuries. This is now known as the Panmunjeom Axe Murder Incident.

Three days after the killing, the U.S. implemented the Operation Paul Bunyan--the operation to cut down the tree, while being escorted by an overwhelming show of force. The U.S. military operated at DEFCON 2 during the operation. (DEFCON 1 is the state in which nuclear war is imminent; it has never been called.) More than 800 American and South Korean soldiers formed a task force to cut down the tree. Behind them were 27 helicopters, 20 F-111 fighters, 24 F-4 fighters, and three B-52 bombers. Aircraft carrier Midway was moved to just off the coast of Korean Peninsula.

When the U.S.-South Korea task force began cutting the tree, between 150 and 200 North Korean soldiers with assault rifles and machine guns took their position. It took more than 40 minutes to cut down the tree, after which the task force withdrew. As the task force was cutting the tree, the South Korean soldiers were loudly taunting the North Korean soldiers to cross the line and stop them. Later that day, the North Korean soldiers shot at an American helicopter circling over Panmunjeom, but no one was injured.

This moment is almost certainly the closest that the two Koreas approached the Second Korean War. To be sure, one can make a solid argument in favor of other moments. The U.S.S. Pueblo Incident in 1968 was close. So was 1993, when U.S. seriously considered a surgical strike against North Korea's nuclear facility, or the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island by North Korea in 2010. But in none of those cases did U.S. mobilize its forces and had them face off eyeball-to-eyeball with North Korean forces, as it did with the Axe Murder Incident.

At the moment, in 1976, it would have been fair to wonder if Kim Il-sung painted himself into a corner, such that a war was the only way out. But thankfully, the situation did not escalate from there. Incredibly, North Korea issued a half-apology, expressing regret over the incident and pledging not to engage in provocation.

So, to address the question. Will Kim Jong-un go to war? No one knows, and no one can know. Personally, I think that when North Korea shut off the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, the risk of war went from "trivial" to "small". But is Kim Jong-un in a place where he has no way out other than a war? No. It is not even close: his grandfather backed off from an even greater indignity. There is room for Kim Jong-un to back off. The million-dollar question is whether he will.

[rsx]

Lol over a tree.

[EmperorIS]

apart of me think North Korea is infiltrated and is being a puppet to lure the West to attack. Then have South take over; furthering the Western dominance around China

[CRS]

Originally Posted by EmperorIS

apart of me think North Korea is infiltrated and is being a puppet to lure the West to attack. Then have South take over; furthering the Western dominance around China

That's some CiC shit right there.

[StylinRed]

SK raising its threat level as it seems NK is going to test a medium range rocket

BBC News - South Korea raises alert with North to 'vital threat'

[rsx]

Apparently DPRK is hosting a marathon on the 14th. LOL.

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by EmperorIS

apart of me think North Korea is infiltrated and is being a puppet to lure the West to attack. Then have South take over; furthering the Western dominance around China

That's actually not THAT far off.

Of course everyone wants to take over North Korea. That's no secret. No one LIKES North Korea. It's a nuclear armed police state!

In fact, I think you'd actually have more support for going into North Korea(under justified parameters) then you ever would for Iraq or Afghanistan. Hmm...one pretended to have weapons of mass destruction and the other actually does.

I think there is a problem in terms of actually doing so. The Americans can no longer afford to be world police. They may be able to drop a few bombs on Libya and let them sort it out, but actual ground forces marching through the DMZ? Nope.

Now, I think its nuts to assume infiltration and all that...but make no mistake, no one WANTS to stabilize the North Korean regime. They may have to suck it up though because the other option is internal insurrection(which as we saw in Egypt doesn't always work in your favor) or imposed regime change(which as we saw in, well, everywhere else costs a bundle, and you are left rebuilding the country)

I bet there are quite a few conversations happening in high up places with people rubbing their heads saying, "fuck...what do we do?"

[willystyle]

Originally Posted by Gridlock

That's actually not THAT far off.

Of course everyone wants to take over North Korea. That's no secret. No one LIKES North Korea. It's a nuclear armed police state!

In fact, I think you'd actually have more support for going into North Korea(under justified parameters) then you ever would for Iraq or Afghanistan. Hmm...one pretended to have weapons of mass destruction and the other actually does.

I think there is a problem in terms of actually doing so. The Americans can no longer afford to be world police. They may be able to drop a few bombs on Libya and let them sort it out, but actual ground forces marching through the DMZ? Nope.

Now, I think its nuts to assume infiltration and all that...but make no mistake, no one WANTS to stabilize the North Korean regime. They may have to suck it up though because the other option is internal insurrection(which as we saw in Egypt doesn't always work in your favor) or imposed regime change(which as we saw in, well, everywhere else costs a bundle, and you are left rebuilding the country)

I bet there are quite a few conversations happening in high up places with people rubbing their heads saying, "fuck...what do we do?"

That will never happen under the circumstances that 99% of North Koreans are brainwashed to believe that their country is the best and that they are living in the best place on earth under Kim's guidance. If a majority actually knew what was going on, they would've overthrown a long time ago.