BS: WAR declared by North Korea

Subject: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: pdq
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 09:19 PM

It did not appear on the national news feed from my ABC radio affiliate.

However, the North Korean chief nut seems to have declared war on South Korea whom we will defend at all cost.

While the Right talks about limiting abortions and the Left talks endlessly gay marriage, the World is falling apart.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 09:55 PM

Isn't that news a couple of weeks old? The Korean war never ended and he called off the truce then.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 11:01 PM

Yes, JtS, that's correct.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 11:10 PM

No one is sure what they (or 'He') is thinking... whether this is serious or just a ploy... whatever, it show VERY bad judgment. I'm not sure they realize just how many eyes are watching and how any offensive act would be met with sad results.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Don Firth
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 11:14 PM

When I first heard that Kim Jung-un was mouthing off again (delusions of adequacy), I was a bit concerned. North Korea has conducted nuclear tests and they have also conducted missile tests. And I live in Seattle, which, apart from some places in Alaska, is one of the closest metropolitan areas to N. Korea.

But the Powers That Be have said that N. Korea doesn't have any missiles that could get as far as Guam or the Hawaiian Islands, much less to the continental United States.

China, on the other hand, is getting bit tired of N. Korea's perpetual posturing.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 11:19 PM

North Korea threats predictable but Kim Jong Un is not, analysts say

KCNA via EPA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a meeting with his generals where he ordered strategic rocket forces to be on standby to strike U.S. and South Korean targets.

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

Analysis

Is Kim Jong Un crazy -- or crazy like a fox?

Analysts said Friday there's a familiar method to the madness coming out of North Korea, where the rookie supreme leader has put rockets on standby, threatened to "settle accounts" with the U.S., and posed near a chart that appeared to map missile strikes on American cities. On Saturday, North Korea said it had entered a "state of war" against South Korea, according to a statement reported by the north's official news agency, KCNA.

Kim Jong Un's father and grandfather were also serial saber-rattlers when they headed the secretive regime, and experts said there are clear strategic reasons why the world's youngest head of state is ramping up the rhetoric now, after little more than a year in power.

But if the bluster is predictable, the results may not be.
North Korea has enhanced its nuclear capabilities and Kim Jong Un has something to prove to his people and the world. Some outside observers are warning that a misstep, or overstep, by Pyongyang could bring north Asia to the brink of war.

"I think there is always room for miscalculation and things spiraling out of control," said Sung-Youn Lee, professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. "But he is following the playbook set by his father and grandfather."

North Korea is "very adept at engaging at psychological warfare," Lee said. It cranks up the tensions, putting pressure on Seoul and Washington, and is rewarded with aid and concessions when it tones things down, Lee said.

"No leader wants a foreign policy crisis created by North Korea on their hands ... the impulse is to de-escalate," Lee added. "North Korea has been very good at playing this game -- nuclear diplomacy, even extortion -- for the past 20 years."

This time around, foreign-policy watchers said, a confluence of circumstances have set the stage for Kim Jong Un's provocations:

-- Pyongyang is stewing over the U.N. Security Council, with the support of China, tightening sanctions after satellite and nuclear testing that suggested they could one day attack the U.S.

-- There are new administrations in South Korea, China and Tokyo, and President Barack Obama is making second-term changes to his defense and national-security leadership, so the timing is right to test the waters.

-- Kim Jong Un may need to consolidate his political power at home. A strong response by the U.S. or South Korea, such as this week's B-2 bomber flyover, helps rally domestic support and distract from economic problems.

-- North Korea's last nuclear test showed progress. "You feel you can afford to threaten because you feel you have a deterrent," said Scott Snyder, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Joel Wit, visiting fellow at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, said that from the North Korean perspective, Kim Jong Un and his lieutenants "aren't crazy" and are falling back on a tried-and-true strategy.

"They're a very small country dealing with much more powerful countries, and they can't show any weakness. For them, the best defense is a good offense," he said.

Yet Snyder said Kim Jong Un's standing as a new, untested ruler is "the real wild-card factor that makes this different."

The 30-year-old appears to be modeling himself on his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, who is more revered inside the country than the recently departed Kim Jong Il, he said.

"But you have to remember that even though Kim Il Sung came into power in his 30s, the first thing he did was start a war with South Korea," Snyder said.

Stephen Noerper, senior vice president of the Korea Society, noted that 2013 has special significance: it's the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended that war.

Kim Jong Un's decision to cut the hotline used to arrange cross-border crossing by workers with Seoul was "worrying," he said.
"The wordage is hot and what you don't want is the evolution of a hot conflict," he said. "There should be heightened vigilance even if the expectation is that it will blow over."

A hit on U.S. targets seems highly unlikely and would be "suicidal," Lee said. But South Korea and Japan are within striking distance, and many experts say it's not impossible that Kim Jong Un could act rashly.

"While these weapons can't reach the U.S., it's an extremely tense situation, and wars don't always start logically," Wit said.

Experts were waiting to see the actual impact of North Korea's "state of war" declaration early Saturday.

"Talk is one thing, actions are another," Snyder said.

John

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 29 Mar 13 - 11:51 PM

"Seattle, which, apart from some places in Alaska, is one of the closest metropolitan areas to N. Korea"

There are a few easier targets.

Honolulu?
Sydney, Melborne, Canberra?
Tokyo?
Soeul?

Bejing?
Shanghai?
Hong Kong?

I'm sure there are a couple of others.

I think LA and San Francisco are much more significant targets.

They only have a half dozen A-bombs none small enough for a ballistic missile and no accurate ballistic missiles.

I hope that eases your mind a little.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: gnu
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 04:05 AM

China recently changed their take on the situation and not only joined the sanctions but urged that they be imposed. China talks... bullshit walks. If that little twit keeps up this crap, he ain't gnna live as long as his old man.

As for fox crazy, he may be just that. I pose a thought : might he be simply trying to control his own people due to serious problems in the economy and a food shortage?

On a note upon which I am more knowledgible, could the thread title be changed so that I don't immediately search the web for braaking news on something that didn't happen? No need to get technical... the title is misleading.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 05:19 AM

I see Guam is on their list of targets. Have Brett & Wakana got a shelter?

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 08:42 AM

There's no telling what Kim is after, but all this may be related to the routine US-ROK war games going on in the South.

From Kim's point of view - abetted by paranoid advisors scared crapless of missing something and thus being purged as traitors - the war games could be a real preparation for an invasion of the North. By declaring war, Kim accomplishes two things: making the imaginary "aggressors" think twice and, more significantly, making an opportunity for himself to proclaim the triumphant stopping power of the North Korean People's Army when the maneuvers end without incident.

Kim would have to be insane to start a real war on the South, never mind on the US, which would immediately be involved. It would be the end of the North Korean regime - to put it mildly. If nothing else, Kim has the example of Iraq to contemplate.

On the other hand, never underestimate the recklessness of world leaders. Yanking the cord on the hotline in an atmosphere of bellicose threats is plenty reckless.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: bobad
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 09:48 AM

"North Korea's threats are seen as efforts to provoke the new government in Seoul, led by President Park Geun-hye, to change its policies toward Pyongyang, and to win diplomatic talks with Washington that could get it more aid. North Korea's moves are also seen as ways to build domestic unity as young leader Kim Jong Un strengthens his military credentials."

By SAM KIM 03/30/13 08:54 AM ET EDT AP

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Newport Boy
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 10:18 AM

The BBC reports:

The jointly-run Kaesong industrial park is still in operation, however, and over 160 South Korean commuters entered North Korea yesterday to work in its factories.

The complex employs an estimated 50,000 North Korean workers and is a source of badly-needed hard currency for the North.

Phil

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 01:18 PM

According to a statement from P'yongyang earlier today:

"If the puppet traitor group continues to mention the Kaesong industrial zone is being kept operating and damages our dignity, it will be mercilessly shut off and shut down."

Must make sense to somebody....

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 06:39 PM

Kim Jung Un is a wacko but he ain't stupid...

Don't hold yer breath waiting on this new war...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 06:52 PM

You're right that he ain't stupid. I sent him a message, said if he wants to get tough with somebody, I'll fight him in the boxing ring anytime, just call me and we'll set up a time and place and I'll clean his clock. I ain't heard back from the little blowhard. Not a peep.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 07:45 PM

Nor will you, Chongz... This guy is a wuss...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Amos
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 08:01 PM

The hills are alive with the echoing thumping of a hairless chest. He may be a nutball but I doubt he's nuts enough to plummet his whole country into the kind of mass suicide a war against the south would entail. The possibility that he could be personally taken out by a drone before a hot war was two days old must have occurred to him.


A

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Mar 13 - 11:02 PM

Fire one nuke, get five in return: US, Britain, China, Russia, France. That's a pretty good investment!

Watch April 15 (Kim Il Sung's birthday) and June 25 (the date the 1950 invasion of the South started).

The loss of life, both civilian and military, would be catastrophic. Seoul is within regular tube artillery range of the DPRK side of the DMZ and there are MANY pieces of artillery emplaced. The special forces of the DPRK are pretty good, but their regular army is "iffy."

If you'd like to read reports from South Korea, here's a link. Read what North Korea says at this link.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Lighter
Date: 31 Mar 13 - 09:07 AM

If he's crazy enough to go to war (and I don't know one way or the other if he is), he's crazy enough to believe he's drone-proof too. (And maybe he is: it was grunts, not drones, who got Saddam Hussein.)

The rhetoric seems to have gone silent for the moment.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 31 Mar 13 - 01:33 PM

With a starving population of 24 million and billions spent on military arms while the people eat grass soup, the little twerp tries to justify his existance! Sad indeed!

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: gnu
Date: 31 Mar 13 - 06:05 PM

Sandy... yup. In line with what I said about trying to keep order in his country. Starving people can get kinda irritable.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Lighter
Date: 01 Apr 13 - 09:33 AM

Look like he's talking about "all-out war and nuclear war" again today, specifically against the US.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Apr 13 - 09:44 AM

If a DPRK nuclear missile explodes on take-off and goes boom, is that an act of war by the US? These jokers launched one about a year or so ago that fell apart on launch.

Why do I think that the Chinese leadership is trying madly to get Kim to stop acting crazy?

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 01 Apr 13 - 10:52 AM

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will strike back quickly if the North stages any attack, the new president in Seoul warned on Monday, as tensions ratcheted higher on the Korean peninsula amid shrill rhetoric from Pyongyang and the U.S. deployment of radar-evading fighter planes.
North Korea says the region is on the brink of a nuclear war in the wake of United Nations sanctions imposed for its February nuclear test and a series of joint U.S. and South Korean military drills that have included a rare U.S. show of aerial power.
The North, whose economy is smaller than it was 20 years ago, appeared to move on Monday to addressing its pressing need for investment by appointing a reformer to the country's ceremonial prime minister's job, although the move mostly cemented a power grab by the ruling Kim clan.
North Korea had said on Saturday it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea in response to what it termed the "hostile" military drills being staged in the South. But there have been no signs of unusual activity in the North's military to suggest an imminent aggression, a South Korean defense ministry official said last week.
"If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations," President Park Geun-hye told the defense minister and senior officials at a meeting on Monday.
The South has changed its rules of engagement to allow local units to respond immediately to attacks, rather than waiting for permission from Seoul.
Stung by criticism that its response to the shelling of a South Korean island in 2010 was tardy and weak, Seoul has also threatened to target North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and to destroy statues of the ruling Kim dynasty in the event of any new attack, a plan that has outraged Pyongyang.
Seoul and its ally the United States played down Saturday's statement from the official KCNA news agency as the latest in a stream of tough talk from Pyongyang.
North Korea stepped up its rhetoric in early March, when U.S. and South Korean forces began annual military drills that involved the flights of U.S. B-2 stealth bombers in a practice run, prompting the North to puts its missile units on standby to fire at U.S. military bases in the South and in the Pacific.
The United States also deployed F-22 stealth fighter jets on Sunday to take part in the drills. The F-22s were deployed in South Korea before, in 2010.
On its part, North Korea has cancelled an armistice agreement with the United States that ended the Korean War and cut all hotlines with U.S. forces, the United Nations and South Korea.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS "NOT A BARGAINING CHIP"
Park's intervention came on the heels of a meeting of the North's ruling Workers Party Central Committee where leader Kim Jong-un rejected the notion that Pyongyang was going to use its nuclear arms development as a bargaining chip.
"The nuclear weapons of Songun Korea are not goods for getting U.S. dollars and they are ... (not) to be put on the table of negotiations aimed at forcing the (North) to disarm itself," KCNA news agency quoted him as saying.
At the meeting, Kim appointed a handful of personal confidants to the party's politburo, further consolidating his grip on power in the second full year of his reign.
The most surprising appointment came on Monday as former prime minister Pak Pong-ju was re-appointed as premier, although the move likely signaled another power struggle in Pyongang staged by the country's leader Kim Jong-un.
Pak is viewed as a key ally of Jang Song-thaek, the young Kim's uncle and also a protege of Kim's aunt and is viewed as a pawn in a power game that has seen Jang and his wife re-assert power over military leaders.
Analysts said the move would not likely change Pyongyang's approach to a confrontation that appears to have dragged the two Koreas closer to war.
Pyongyang's on-off negotiations saw it take part in nuclear disarmament talks for five years aimed at paying it off in return for abandoning its atomic weapons program. Those talks fell apart in 2008. Some experts say the talks gave the North grounds to pursue a highly enriched uranium program that took it closer to owning a working arsenal.
Songun is the Korean word for the "Military First" policy preached by Kim's father who used it to justify the use of the impoverished state's scare resources to build a 1.2-million strong army and a weapons of mass destruction program.
CALLS FOR RESTRAINT
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said North Korea's announcement that it was in a state of war followed a "familiar pattern" of rhetoric.
China has repeatedly called for restraint on the peninsula.
However, many in South Korea have regarded the North's willingness to keep open the Kaesong industrial zone, located just a few miles (km) north of the heavily-militarized border and operated jointly by both sides, as a sign that Pyongyang will not risk losing a lucrative source of foreign currency.
Closure could also trap hundreds of South Korean workers and managers of the more than 100 firms that have factories there.
(Additional reporting by Paul Eckert in

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 01 Apr 13 - 11:29 AM

Gee, Bruce, ya ever consider just posting a link to the original articleinstead of your edited cut-and-paste jobs?

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 01 Apr 13 - 11:34 AM

Gee, Greg, ya ever consider just stop following my posts and making personal attacks???

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 02 Apr 13 - 04:18 PM

China has placed military forces on heightened alert in the northeastern part of the country as tensions mount on the Korean peninsula following recent threats by Pyongyang to attack, U.S. officials said.

Reports from the region reveal the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) recently increased its military posture in response to the heightened tensions, specifically North Korea's declaration of a "state of war" and threats to conduct missile attacks against the United States and South Korea.

According to the officials, the PLA has stepped up military mobilization in the border region with North Korea since mid-March, including troop movements and warplane activity.

China's navy also conducted live-firing naval drills by warships in the Yellow Sea that were set to end Monday near the Korean peninsula, in apparent support of North Korea, which was angered by ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills that are set to continue throughout April.

North Korea, meanwhile, is mobilizing missile forces, including road-mobile short- and medium-range missiles, according to officials familiar with satellite imagery of missile bases.

The missile activity is believed to be North Korea's response to the ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises that last week included highly publicized flights by two B-2 strategic nuclear bombers near North Korean territory as part of annual military exercises.

North Korea's government announced last week that since March 26 its missile and artillery forces have been placed on the highest alert status.

Specifically, Nodong medium-range missiles and their mobile launchers were spotted in satellite imagery, the officials said.

There are also indications North Korea will soon conduct a flight test of its new KN-08 road-mobile ICBM or its intermediate-range Musudan mobile missile. Test preparations had been detected in the past, the officials said.

A military provocation by North Korean forces against the South is not expected while the current war games are underway in South Korea, officials said.

However, the situation remains dangerous as hostilities could break out as a result of a miscalculation. South Korea's government has said it would respond to any North Korean military provocation with force.

The Chinese military activities near North Korea were detected in Jilin Province, and intelligence reports from the area on March 19 indicated that PLA forces were ordered to go to "Level One" alert status, the highest level of readiness.

Large groups of soldiers were seen on the streets in Ji'an, a city in Jilin, amid reports that the PLA had been ordered to combat readiness status.

PLA heavy armored vehicles, including tanks and armored personnel carriers, were reported moving near the Yalu River that separates China from North Korea.

The troops were part of the 190th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, stationed in Benxi, in Liaoning Province. The movements are believed to be related to increased tensions in Korea.

Additionally, PLA troops and military vehicles were seen near Baishan, in Jilin province, around March 21.

Low-flying PLA air force jets, believed to be fighters, also were heard and seen at several border locations in China, including Yanji and Yanbian in Jilin, Kuancheng, in Hebei province, and Dandong, in Liaoning province.

Chinese forces along the border responded to some unknown event in North Korea near Siniju on March 21 that involved Chinese fighter jets flying over the area.

The officials said the Chinese military activities appear to be based on concerns about a new outbreak of conflict between North Korea and South Korea and the United States.

China's military maintains a long-standing defense treaty with the North that obligates China to defend North Korea in the event it is attacked. The last time Chinese forces backed Pyongyang was during the Korean War when tens of thousands of Chinese "volunteers" drove south into the peninsula.

Chinese military spokesmen frequently refer to their relations with the Korean People's Army, as the North Korean military is called, as ties "as close as lips and teeth."

Other reports from China indicate that the heightened tensions have led to a disruption of trade between China and North Korea along the border between the two countries.

One sign of slowed commerce between China and North Korea was a Chinese Internet report from a restaurant owner in Dandong, China, a border city, who said commerce between the two countries was disrupted following North Korea's Feb. 12 underground nuclear test.

Since that time, it has been more difficult for the goods from North Korea to reach China because the North Korean Customs Office closed frequently as a result of increased Chinese inspections of North Korean goods.

U.S. officials and private analysts said the slowdown may be a sign of Beijing's displeasure at the North Korean nuclear test.

China also held up exports of crude oil to North Korea in February, according to customs data reviewed by Reuters news agency. The agency said in a report that it was the first time deliveries of oil were cut since early 2007.

However, in a sign of continuing close relations, the government of Jilin province announced March 27 that it plans to modernize railway links to North Korea to bolster cross-border economic and trade ties.

The China Tumen-North Korea Rajin Railway and China Tumen-North Korea Chongjin Railway will be upgraded under the Jilin government plan, China's official Global Times reported.

Additionally, the Chinese plan to set up a special highway passenger line to connect Tumen to North Korea over the next several years.

Other reports from the region stated that North Korean cities in the northern part of the country were placed on "combat" alert and have conducted evacuation drills, officials said.

The drills have been carried out in three-day to five-day intervals when power and water supplies were suspended as part of the exercises.

Chinese citizens living in border cities in China also reported hearing air-raid sirens as part of the exercises, officials said.

U.S. officials say China's main fear for its fraternal communist client regime in North Korea is a collapse of order that leads to large-scale refugee flows into China.

Reports from inside North Korea also revealed that North Korean soldiers have been issued bread, instant noodles, sausages, milk, and dried fish that appeared to be supplied by the United Nations as aid meant for the civilian population.

The Feb. 12 underground blast, North Korea's third, is credited by analysts with setting off the latest round of belligerence by the Pyongyang regime.

After the test, the U.S. government continued to refuse to acknowledge North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.

That prompted the regime of North Korea's Kim Jong Un to issue unprecedented threats to fire nuclear missiles at the United States.

The Pentagon responded by using annual military exercises with South Korea to fly B-52 strategic bombers and later B-2s near North Korea.

Frontline F-22 fighter-bombers, the Air Force's most advanced jets, were sent on Sunday to take part in the military drills.

North Korea's latest threats included announcing a state of war and cutting off military and other communications.

North Korea's ruling communist Korean Workers Party announced on Sunday that the nuclear arsenal is the "nation's life" and would not be given up even if offered "billions of dollars," the Associated Press reports.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 02 Apr 13 - 05:27 PM

You got a strange definition of "attack", there, BeeBee, never mind "personal attack".. I think its just your persecution complex again. How long since you've seen your alienist?

Now, how about the point I raised?

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 02 Apr 13 - 05:51 PM

Greg F,

Don't know if he has ever considered it. But he has been asked to do it many many times. Furthermore he has been asked to present a comment or opinion of his own with the cut and pastes.

On the other hand. I'll try to stop giving him the exquisite satisfaction of having provoked a reaction if you will.

Deal?

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Lighter
Date: 02 Apr 13 - 07:22 PM

All very interesting, but the Chinese want war with us about as much as we want war with them.

Any treaty to "defend" North Korea would be inoperative if the Chinese conclude that Kim struck first.

And Kim knows it.

Presumably.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: GUEST,Jim Knowledge
Date: 03 Apr 13 - 06:32 AM

I `ad that Kim Jong Il (which probably described `is condition) in my cab last year. `e was the Glorious and Eternel Leader, father of the present tubby bloke their generals like to wheel out, Nap-Po-Lee-"UN". `e was writing in this ruddy great book.
I said, "Morning Dong. What you writing in there then? Is it a new austerity grocery list for all your coolies?"
`e said, "Nah Jim. It`s my autobiography for my son."
I said, "Oh yeah. Where you up to then?"
`e said, "I `ve just got to the bit where I invented the mobile phone and where, on my first round of golf, I scored nine holes in one!!"


Whaddam I Like??

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Lighter
Date: 03 Apr 13 - 08:46 AM

Kim's just shut barred ROK workers from Kaesong:

http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-refuses-let-skoreans-enter-042653455.html

According to the report, this will cost NK a lot more in cash than it will SK.

And a leading Congressman now says that any threatening military movements in the North will result in a pre-emptive attack.

The situation is now less funny than a few days ago. Kim is miffed about the imposition by the UN (i.e., the whole world) of new anti-nuclear sanctions.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 03 Apr 13 - 08:49 AM

When I post my opinion, I am criticized for not posting the article.

When I post the article, I am criticized for not posting my opinion.

When I post the link, I am criticized because it is gone after a few weeks.

When I post ANYTHING, GregF and his supporters, who seem to have no probelem with Greg stating the "Black and a Democrat" is the same thing as "Dumb Ni**er", make attacks on ME, and no comment at all upon the posted information.


Typical Liberals- all fascists when it comes down to any discussion.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Apr 13 - 09:57 AM

Hey! Don't include ME in that! I'm just a pre-Fascist and pre-Communist and my application to be head of the Secret Police after ANY revolution has already been submitted.

If y'all had read the press from the Yonhap News Agency, as I suggested some posts back instead of calling each other names, you would have known about the Kaesong situation last night. ROK workers are still being delayed from exiting.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 03 Apr 13 - 12:32 PM

Rap,

I do not believe YOU have offered GregF any support in his attacks.




But Jack...

To comment on ME , because of my politics, without saying a word about GregF and his stated racist comments implies a level of support for him, and a desire to reduce freedom of speech for those you disagree with. Support him if you wish, but you are judged by those you give support to.


If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 04 Apr 13 - 08:34 AM

Beijing rejects North's envoy request
Apr 04,2013
BEIJING - Pyongyang has allegedly asked Beijing to send them an envoy in order to improve their soured relations, but Beijing turned it down, seen as a warning regarding the regime's recent warmongering rhetoric.

Multiple sources in Beijing told the JoongAng Ilbo on Tuesday that "North Korea asked China to send a high-ranking envoy at the deputy-ministerial-level, but China rejected it.

"China said 'if they want an envoy, North Korea should send their envoy [to China] first,'" the source said.

However, the North hasn't sent an envoy to Beijing so far, the sources said.

If they do, China is likely to pressure them to stop saber-rattling and return to the six-party talks.

Since the communist allies established diplomatic ties in 1949, they have exchanged high-level envoys, at the deputy-minister level, once or twice a year.

However, since Li Jianguo, a member of the Politburo of China, visited North Korea on Nov. 29, 2012, there has been no high-level meeting between the two countries.

It is the second time for the two countries to suspend high-level interaction over several months.

In 1992, when South Korea and China established diplomatic relations, the two allies were disconnected for some months as well.

The sources said China tried to send Wu Dawei, the special representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs, to Pyongyang, and urge them to scrap nuclear test plans, but North Korea reportedly rejected the envoy.

China also planned to send a ministerial-level envoy to North Korea in the wake of the regime's Feb. 12 nuclear weapons test, but it was also turned down.

In March, Beijing also tried to send Li Zhaoxing, the former Chinese Foreign Minister, to the regime and stop further provocations, but Pyongyang also refused it.

Frustrated by the repeated refusals, China finally joined the UN Security Council's adoption of a resolution to impose tougher sanctions on Pyongyang, and the bilateral relations between the two allies, which have been "a friendship in blood," have deteriorated.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Stu
Date: 04 Apr 13 - 09:41 AM

"If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck..."

It might be a decoy.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Apr 13 - 09:52 AM

Deteriorating blood. Sounds nasty. China is also moving more troops up to the Yalu River; the best guess is to stop a flood of refugees from entering China if Kim Il Dumb (called "Fatty Kim" by Chinese tweeters and facebookers) pulls the trigger. The UN Command is still active in South Korea....

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 04 Apr 13 - 10:46 AM

Hi, Jack -

On the other hand. I'll try to stop giving him the exquisite satisfaction of having provoked a reaction if you will. Deal?

Per Beardie,

Typical Liberals- all fascists

and

When I post ANYTHING, GregF and his supporters,

and

To comment on ME , because of my politics, without saying a word about GregF and his stated racist comments

Doesn't seem much point in the deal you propose. In the increasingly deep throes of his paranoia, he doesn't require any provocation whatsoever.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Lighter
Date: 04 Apr 13 - 12:49 PM

If Li'l Kim is seriously planning war, trumpeting it to the enemy weeks in advance doesn't seem like the best strategy.

Particularly if the enemy will strike first if it feels sufficiently threatened.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 04 Apr 13 - 12:54 PM

"The U.S. would oust the communist regime in North Korea if it uses its nuclear weapons or launches an all-out invasion on South Korea and the 28,500 American troops stationed there, national security sources say.
The Obama administration has not articulated such a far-reaching retaliation, even as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatens to attack both the South Korean and the U.S. mainland.
SEE RELATED: North Korea preparing missile launch on its east coast
But national security sources say it is a common assumption within the Pentagon and U.S. Pacific Command that a full-force attack by Pyongyang would put in place a contingency plan of massive retaliation against the North aimed at bringing down the Stalinist regime. President Obama then would be faced with making the war decision.
"I have been told by a senior general that an attack by the North means regime change," a senior congressional defense aide told The Washington Times. "I was told the same thing when I visited Pacific Command [based in Hawaii]."
The South Korean government would not allow the U.S. to launch a preemptive regime change of the North, as the George W. Bush administration executed in Iraq in 2003.
However, an all-out war by the North would change the reasoning.
The Bush administration was more open about its retaliation plans. Then-Vice President Richard Cheney said an invasion of the South or the use of nuclear weapons would mean the end of the Kim dynasty.
The Pentagon, with new strategic guidance from Mr. Obama in hand, has been updating its war plans for all regions, including the Korean Peninsula.

A source familiar with the thinking has told The Times that the plans include scenarios for the regime imploding on its own and an allied invasion in response to North Korea launching a war on the South.
The plan calls for the South Korean government and its armed forces to take the lead in post-war stability operations to transform the North and achieve unification of the Koreas.
As part of a show of force, last week the Pentagon dispatched B-2 stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to take part in joint exercises with the South Koreans.
The B-2 is an overt offensive weapon, and its use in a war would be to hit targets held dear by the North, such as headquarters, presidential sites and nuclear facilities.
"We would respond with massive airpower and destroy their air force and air defenses within 50 hours, which means we could destroy their ground forces, with South Korean ground forces, in less than 60 days," said retired Air ForceLt. Gen. Thomas McInerney. "Yes, there would be carnage, but North Korea would be defeated decisively and quickly."
Gen. McInerney, who did war planning on the Korean Peninsula in the 1980s, said it is China's responsibility to keep Mr. Kim from acting on his threats to attack the United States and invade South Korea.
"Don't worry about China. If they let it happen, it's their problem," he said. "They are not going to war. China is not going to throw in a hundred thousand troops. China has got to keep this guy on a short leash. China is making so much money. They don't want ill will around the world, trade embargoes. It's not in their interest."
Asked Tuesday if the Pentagon has a plan to preemptively strike the North, George Little, spokesman for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, said: "Let me be very clear that the United States position is, we want peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. For over 60 years, we've had an alliance with South Korea, and top priority of that alliance is to ensure peace and stability on the peninsula and in the region."
Mr. Little added: "We do have options at our disposal to respond effectively to any North Korean provocation. We have plans in place with our South Korean allies, and naturally we hope never have to put any of these plans into place. The goal — let me reiterate — is to protect peace and stability on the peninsula."
Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Tuesday: "The United States will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and defend our allies, Korea and Japan. We are fully prepared and capable of doing so. And I think [North Korea] understands that."


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/4/us-would-seek-regime-change-north-korea-if-attack-/#ixzz2PVxFE1jq
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 04 Apr 13 - 05:26 PM

also sprach Sun Myung Moon. Its gotta be true and unbiased.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 13 - 08:50 AM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9973353/China-shifts-position-on-North-Korea.html




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9973577/North-Korea-missile-threat-latest-live.html






http://www.france24.com/en/20130405-north-korea-second-missile-eastern-coast




http://freebeacon.com/shield-up/



But NOY to worry- GregF will let everyone ( of the right viewpoint) hide under his sheet and be protected from anything he disagrees with.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: number 6
Date: 05 Apr 13 - 10:40 AM

keep your eyes on Iran ... could this be a strategic ploy to lure the U.S. into a 2 front war ... which would be absolutely disastrous ... as the U.S. cannot even afford a (another) war on 1 front.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 13 - 10:47 AM

By Guy Faulconbridge and Ronald Popeski
LONDON/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has asked embassies in Pyongyang that might wish to get staff out if there is a war to submit plans to it by April 10, Britain said on Friday, as it upped the pressure as part of a war of words that has set the Korean peninsula on edge.
Initial reports by Russia's Foreign Ministry and China's Xinhua news agency suggested that North Korea had suggested that embassies should consider closing because of the risk of conflict.
The request came amid a military buildup by the United States in South Korea following the North's warnings that war was inevitable due to U.N. sanctions imposed for a nuclear test and what it terms "hostile" U.S. troop drills with South Korea.
"We believe they have taken this step as part of their continuing rhetoric that the U.S. poses a threat to them," Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement after the reports from Russia and China.
A British diplomatic official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that European Union embassies in Pyongyang had been summoned to deliver their evacuation plans.
Under the Vienna Convention that governs diplomatic missions, host governments are required to facilitate the exit of embassy staff in the event of conflict.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said earlier that North Korea had "proposed that the Russian side consider the evacuation of employees in the increasingly tense situation", according to Denis Samsonov, a spokesman for its embassy in Pyongyang.
A report from Chinese state news agency Xinhua chimed with the Russian report, saying that Pyongyang had asked embassies to consider evacuation if the situation deteriorated.
North Korea, ruled by 30-year old Kim Jong-un, has not issued any statement indicating which of the conflicting reports was true.
TWO ROCKETS DEPLOYED
In a fusillade of statements issued over the past month, North Korea has threatened to stage a nuclear strike on the United States, something it lacks the capacity to do, according to most experts, and has declared war on South Korea.
On Friday, South Korean media reported that North Korea had placed two of its intermediate range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them on the east coast of the country in a move that could threaten Japan or U.S. Pacific bases.
The report could not be confirmed. But any such movement may be intended to demonstrate that the North, angry about joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises as well as the sanctions for its third nuclear test, is prepared to demonstrate its ability to mount an attack.
Speculation centered on two kinds of missiles neither of which is known to have been tested.
One was the so-called Musudan missile which South Korea's Defence Ministry estimates has a range of up to 3,000 km (1,865 miles, the other is called the KN-08, which is believed to be an inter-continental ballistic missile, which is again untested.
The month-long verbal assaults from North Korea have set financial markets in South Korea, Asia's fourth largest economy, on edge.
South Korean shares slid on Friday, with foreign investors selling their biggest daily amount in nearly 20 months, hurt after aggressive easing from the Bank of Japan sent the yen reeling, as well as by the tension over North Korea.
"In the past, (markets) recovered quickly from the impact from any North Korea-related event, but recent threats from North Korea are stronger and the impact may therefore not disappear quickly," Vice Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho told a meeting.
While few observers believe that North Korea will launch a military attack, alarm has grown over the intensification of the threats.
The comments from the North could well continue until the end of April when the joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises are due to end.
"The rhetoric is off the charts," said Victor Cha, former director for Asian affairs at the White House National Security Council and now senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic Studies in Washington.
The youth of Kim Jong-un has become an issue. He is the third member of his family to rule in Pyongyang and took over in December 2011 after the death of his father Kim Jong-il, who staged confrontations with South Korea and the United States throughout his 17-year rule.
Counterbalancing that, the young Kim is surrounded by generals and advisers in their 70s who have been through this before, but there are concerns that he may view the risk of conflict as one worth taking.
"We don't understand this new guy at all. And if the North Koreans move to provoke the South, the South is going to retaliate in a way we haven't seen before," said Victor Cha, a former director for Asian affairs at the White House National Security Council.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 13 - 11:44 AM

LONDON (Reuters) - At the North Korean embassy in London, they are answering the phone but saying little.
"As far as we know, we are not giving any statements," a North Korean official told Reuters, declining to give his name and saying all necessary information was already available on the website of the North Korean state news agency KCNA.
In fact, the world, well beyond Asia, is perplexed by the mysteries of the nuclear-capable state's bellicosity and many fear mutual ignorance could help turn words into acts of war.
Many foreign analysts offer reassurance. No one, they say, really wants war. Missile and nuclear tests, threats of possible atomic strikes on the United States and military drills on both sides of the divided Korean peninsula, reflect rather a youthful North Korean leader and newly elected South Korean government both finding their feet at home and testing their strengths.
Yet neither 30-year-old Kim Jong-un, who succeeded his late father just over a year ago, nor South Korea's President Park Geun-hye is seen having much room or appetite to back down.
The risk of miscalculation or mistake sparking accidental conflict may be growing by the day - bringing with it the greatest risk in years of a regional nuclear exchange.
"We have had worrying times before, but this is bad," says Victor Cha, former director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council under President George W. Bush.
"The rhetoric is off the charts. We don't understand this new guy at all," added Cha, who is now a senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"And if the North Koreans move to provoke the South, the South is going to retaliate in a way we haven't seen before."
This month's joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises have sparked outcry from the North and could make for the most dangerous weeks on the peninsula in more than two decades.
"COULD GO VERY WRONG"
"There are number of ways this could go very wrong," says Ken Gause, chief North Korea specialist at the Center for Naval Analyses, a U.S. government-funded research institute that advises the U.S. military among others.
"You have two new governments in North and South Korea that are still finding out where each other's red lines are."
While there is uncertainty over whether North Korea is capable of firing a nuclear device across the border or over the sea at Japan or U.S. Pacific bases, even a conventional conflict could be devastating. Meanwhile, the risk of confrontation with Pyongyang's traditional ally China also worries Washington.
The likely human and economic cost, those with knowledge of events say, was one of the key reasons Washington held back from direct military action against the North Korean nuclear program in the 1990s to stop it completing a nuclear device.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 13 - 12:50 PM

'We will NOT back down': West slams North Korea after madman dictator is pictured brandishing a gun and warns that diplomats' safety is at risk after April 10

Rogue communist state issued a deadline of April 10 to every government

Russia in 'contact with U.S., China and South Korea' about staff safety

About two dozen countries, including the U.K., have embassies in North Korea - although the U.S. has no diplomatic relations
N Korea has moved second Musudan missile with 3,000km range
South Korea deployed two warships with missile-defence systems
Pyongyang releases footage of Kim Jong-un joining in with target practice
By JILL REILLY and DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 21:44 EST, 4 April 2013 | UPDATED: 11:21 EST, 5 April 2013


All government embassies have been instructed to evacuate staff from Pyongyang after dictator Kim Jong-un warned he could not 'guarantee the safety of foreigners.'
The rogue communist state issued a deadline of April 10 to every government that is represented in North Korea in a dramatic new escalation of the nuclear crisis.
As tensions escalate in the region, Pyongyang released footage of Kim Jong-un joining in with some target practice during a military drill. The Communist leader was seen brandishing a gun and looking at shots on a human-sized target mark as well as using his binoculars.
Scroll down for videos

Get out: All government embassies have been instructed to evacuate staff from Pyongyang after dictator Kim Jong-un warned he could not 'guarantee the safety of foreigners'

Watchful: The rogue communist state issued a deadline of April 10 to every government embassy that is represented in North Korea in a dramatic new escalation of the nuclear crisis
Advice for tourists is set to change after North Korea moved a second missile to its east coast, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Today the British Foreign Office confirmed it had been told its staff were at risk while Russia said it was in 'close contact with the U.S, China and South Korea' about airlifting workers out.
But it said that it has 'no immediate plans to withdraw' Britain's embassy in Pyongyang and condemned 'provocations' by the North Korean government.
About two dozen countries have embassies in North Korea - the U.S. doesn't currently have diplomatic relations with North Korea and the State Department told MailOnline it doesn't have a figure on the number of Americans who may be in the country.
U.S. citizens in the country are likely to include adventure seeking tourists and some defectors and prisoners who remained following the end of the Korean War in the 1950s. Sweden acts as the protecting power of U.S. interests in North Korea for consular matters.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304287/North-Korea-latest-Get-ALL-embassies-told-evacuate-staff-Pyongyang-Kim-Jong-Uns-warning.html#ixzz2PbmBUjGd
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 05 Apr 13 - 02:26 PM

will let everyone ( of the right viewpoint) hide under his sheet

That doesn't even make sense, Beardie. You're getting more hysterical & incoherent by the hour.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 13 - 02:47 PM

Tell that to your fellow Klansmen, Greg.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 05 Apr 13 - 06:06 PM

RE my Post 02:26 PM - QED, Beardie. I appreciate your confirmation.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 08 Apr 13 - 08:50 AM

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email [e-mail] to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5895dd0e-9f98-11e2-968b-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2PsLu39bT

April 7, 2013 5:28 pm
Seoul on alert over North Korea threat
By Anna Fifield in Washington, Song Jung-a in Seoul and Jamil Anderlini in Bo'ao, Hainan
©Reuters
The crisis over North Korean belligerence deepened on Sunday as officials in Washington and Seoul warned that Pyongyang could act on its threats to launch a missile this week, ahead of the anniversary of founding president Kim Il-sung's birthday on April 15.
The former leader's birthday is usually marked with great fanfare, sometimes including demonstrations of military might, and North Korea often chooses significant dates for provocations such as missile tests.
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ON THIS STORY
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UK diplomats in North Korea to stay put
US to send missile defence unit to Guam
Kurt Campbell US best to play long game on N Korea
IN NORTH KOREA
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The US postponed an intercontinental ballistic missile test originally planned for this week, amid concerns it risked heightening tensions further.
In Seoul, a senior South Korean security official said North Korea might fire a missile on or around Wednesday, following Pyongyang's warnings that foreign diplomats and South Korean companies operating in the joint Kaesong industrial park on the northern side of the border should submit departure plans by that day.
Kim Jang-soo, President Park Geun-hye's national security director, said the notice to diplomats and Kaesong workers were all "calculated acts".
"We think North Korea may engage in some provocative acts such as a missile launch around the date," Mr Kim told other security officials at a meeting on Sunday, adding that the threats appeared to be aimed at pressuring Seoul to change its North Korea strategy and start dialogue with Pyongyang.
Earlier, Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, said in a speech to the Bo'ao forum in Hainan province that no country should be allowed to throw Asia into chaos, in a veiled rebuke to Pyongyang, which counts Beijing as its closest ally.
Mr Xi, who has come under pressure from the US and its allies to do more to rein in North Korea, said "no one should be allowed to throw a region, or even the whole world, into chaos for selfish gains," without naming any specific country.
"Countries, whether big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, should all contribute their share in maintaining and enhancing peace," he said at a Chinese business forum attended by dozens of national leaders from Asia, Africa and Europe.
Western diplomats attending the conference on Sunday said Mr Xi's intentionally ambiguous wording appeared to be a veiled warning to Pyongyang not to push things too far but could also have been partly directed at Washington, which is often accused by Chinese leaders of meddling in the region.
North Korea's warning to diplomats is the latest in a series of provocations, after the UN tightened economic sanctions following its third nuclear test in February.
North Korea has declared a "state of war" with its southern neighbour, blocked access to Kaesong and threatened a nuclear attack on the US. In response, the US has deployed a missile-defence battery to Guam, a US territory and one of the key American military bases in the Asia-Pacific region, and flown nuclear capable B-2 bombers across the Korean peninsula.
Meanwhile, Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to US President Barack Obama, said the White House "wouldn't be surprised" if North Korea conducted a missile test, amid evidence it had been preparing launch sites.
He declined to discuss "hypotheticals" about how the US would respond if North Korea did launch a missile, saying that Mr Obama believed North Korea and its volatile young leader, Kim Jong-eun, "needs to stop its actions".
The Pentagon has also decided to delay the launch of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, initially scheduled for Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The test is not related to North Korea or to the joint military exercises that the US and South Korea have been conducting.
"But given recent tensions on the Korean Peninsula, it's prudent and wise to take steps that avoid any misperception or chance of manipulation," a senior defence official told the Financial Times. "The US will conduct another test soon and remains strongly committed to our nuclear deterrence capabilities."

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 08 Apr 13 - 09:35 AM

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Monday it will suspend operations at a factory complex it has jointly run with South Korea, pulling out more than 53,000 North Korean workers and moving closer to severing its last economic link with its rival as tensions escalate.
The Kaesong industrial complex just north of the Demilitarized Zone is the biggest employer in North Korea's third-largest city. Shutting it down, even temporarily, would show that the destitute country is willing to hurt its own economy to display its anger with South Korea and the United States.
Pyongyang's move follows weeks of threatening rhetoric and provocations aimed at Seoul and its U.S. ally following U.N. sanctions punishing the North for its third nuclear test, on Feb. 12. In recent days there have also been signs in Seoul pointing to an even larger provocation from Pyongyang, including another possible nuclear test or rocket launch.
The point of the threats and possible future provocations, analysts say, isn't a full-scale war, which North Korea would certainly lose. It's seen instead as an effort to force new, Pyongyang-friendly policies in South Korea and Washington and to boost domestic loyalty for Kim Jong Un, the country's young, still relatively untested new leader.
The statement about Kaesong came from Kim Yang Gon, secretary of a key decision-making body, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. It did not say what would happen to the 475 South Korean managers still at the Kaesong industrial complex. The statement also did not say whether the North Korean workers would be recalled immediately, and a South Korean manager at Kaesong said he had heard nothing from the North Korean government.
"North Korean workers left work at 6 o'clock today as they usually do. We'll know tomorrow whether they will come to work," said the manager, who declined to be identified because he was not allowed to speak to media. North Korea had asked South Korean managers to say when they intended to leave by Wednesday; the manager said he did not know whether he and his South Korean colleagues now will be forced to leave.
Members of South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is responsible for relations with the North, were meeting Monday to discuss the South Korean managers' status but had yet to issue a statement.
The Kaesong complex is the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean rapprochement projects. Other cooperation projects such as reunions of families separated by war and tours to a scenic North Korean mountain became stalled amid confrontation between the rival Koreas in recent years.
The complex combines cheap North Korean labor and South Korean know-how and technology. It is the last remaining inter-Korean rapprochement project from previous eras of cooperation.
North Korea previously cut the communications with South Korea that had helped regulate border crossings, and last week barred South Korean workers and cargo from entering North Korea. Operations continued and South Koreans already at Kaesong were allowed to stay, but dwindling personnel and supplies had forced about a dozen of the more than 120 companies operating at Kaesong to close by Sunday.
"The zone is now in the grip of a serious crisis," Kim, the party secretary, said in remarks carried by the Korean Central News Agency. He said it "has been reduced to a theater of confrontation with fellow countrymen and military provocation, quite contrary to its original nature and mission."
"It is a tragedy that the industrial zone which should serve purposes of national reconciliation, unity, peace and reunification has been reduced to a theatre of confrontation between compatriots and war against the North," said Kim, who visited the complex Monday.
Kaesong is a rare source of foreign cash for North Korea. South Korea's Unification Ministry estimates 53,000 North Korean workers in Kaesong received $80 million in salary in 2012, an average of $127 a month.
North Korea objects to portrayals in the South of the zone being crucial to the impoverished country's finances. Kim said North Korea "gets few economic benefits from the zone while the south side largely benefits from it."
South Korea's finance minister, Hyun Oh-seok, said Monday that it is "quite ridiculous" for North Korea to be closing the border at Kaesong. "North Korea has nothing to gain from these kinds of things," he said at a news briefing.
Hyun said the government is looking at ways to help Kaesong firms.
A South Korean worker in Kaesong reached by the Associated Press on the phone said she did not know if North Korean workers would come to work Tuesday. She also said she didn't know when she would return to the South.
"Everyone left work (for their living quarters at Kaesong) before we heard the news from North Korea," she said. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not allowed to speak to reporters without authorization.
Daemyung Blue Jeans Inc., which does business in Kaesong, has not received any news from North Korea, CEO Choi Dongjin said. He said he heard news of the withdrawal on TV. He said he was trying to get in touch with his managers in Kaesong and hadn't spoken with them since Monday morning.
"We have seven (South Korean) workers in Kaesong. We don't know what to do about them," Choi, who is in Seoul, said by phone.
North Korea has unnerved the international community by orchestrating an escalating campaign of bombast in recent weeks. It has threatened to fire nuclear missiles at the U.S. and claimed it had scrapped the 1953 armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War.
Last week it told foreign diplomats based in Pyongyang that it will not be able to guarantee their safety as of Wednesday. Embassy workers appeared to be staying put as of Monday but foreign ministries around the world were continuing to evaluate the situation.
North Korea has found itself increasingly isolated. China, its most important ally, drafted the U.N. sanctions with the U.S. and expressed unusual disappointment when Pyongyang announced last week that it was restarting a plutonium reactor to produce more nuclear-bomb fuel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a visit to Germany, praised the U.S. for postponing a missile test in California that had been set for this week, in the name of lowering tensions. Putin said at a press conference that a conflict on the Korean Peninsula would make the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl "look like a children's story."
The North's threats against the United States are widely dismissed as hyperbole. North Korea is believed to have a handful of relatively crude nuclear weapons, but analysts say they've seen no evidence it can build a warhead small enough to put on a missile that could hit the U.S. mainland. A direct attack on the U.S. or its allies would result in retaliation that would threaten the existence of the ruling Kim family in Pyongyang, but there are fears the North could launch a smaller-scale attack.
Another possibility is a fourth nuclear test, or a missile test.
The South Korean defense minister said Thursday that North Korea had moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east coast, possibly to conduct a test launch. His description suggests that the missile could be a Musudan missile, capable — on paper at least — of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles).
Pyongyang's warning to diplomats prompted South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security director to say Sunday that North Korea may be planning a missile launch or another provocation around Wednesday, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing.
During a meeting with other South Korean officials, the official, Kim Jang-Soo, also said the notice to diplomats and other recent North Korean actions are an attempt to stoke security concerns and to force South Korea and the U.S. to offer a dialogue. Washington and Seoul want North Korea to resume the six-party nuclear talks — which also include China, Russia and Japan — that it abandoned in 2009.
The possibility of a fourth North Korean nuclear test has existed for some time. South Korea has long said the North prepared two tunnels for a nuclear test, but used only one Feb. 12.
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae generated confusion about South Korean intelligence on the issue Monday in a parliamentary session. When a lawmaker asked whether there was an indication of increased personnel and vehicles at the North's nuclear test site, Ryoo said "there is such an indication."
After Ryoo's initial comments, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said there are vehicle and personnel activities at the northeastern test site but they are seen as "usual" activities, not an "indication for a nuclear test." Kim said North Korea can conduct a nuclear test anytime if decides to do so.
The comments in a parliamentary session were recorded on video, but Ryoo later told lawmakers he couldn't remember making them and didn't mean to say them. He said he was "startled" by reports carrying his earlier comments.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: kendall
Date: 08 Apr 13 - 01:11 PM

All he wants is respect. This is a strange way to go after it. He can only end up looking foolish. For them to attack us would be like them throwing corn flakes at a tank.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 08 Apr 13 - 03:50 PM

China confirms military exercises near N. Korean border
   
   
BY: Bill Gertz        
April 8, 2013 4:59 am

China's military and defense ministry on Sunday confirmed that military forces in a border region near North Korea conducted live-fire drills amid tensions between North Korea and the United States.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, canceled a planned test launch of a Minuteman III ballistic missile to avoid further upsetting ties with North Korea.

Intelligence sources said signs continue to indicate that North Korea is planning to conduct a flight test soon of its intermediate-range Musudan missile that has enough range to reach Guam.

Two Musudan missiles have been readied and the flight test may take place around April 15, the anniversary of the birth of the late leader Kim Il Sung, grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un.

Additionally, North Korea may conduct another underground nuclear test in the coming days, the sources said, based on intelligence indicators of increased activity at North Korea's northern nuclear testing facility.

Tensions remain high as North Korea's communist regime in recent weeks issued a string of threats to conduct nuclear missile attacks on the United States and South Korea, whose militaries are currently engaged in large-scale military exercises that include flights of B-52 and B-2 strategic nuclear bombers near the peninsula.

Regarding the Chinese troop movements, the Communist Party newspaper Global Times reported Sunday that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) carried out live fire maneuvers in Shenyang, near the North Korean border, on April 1.

The newspaper, quoting the official newspaper PLA Daily and the Chinese Defense Ministry, said tanks and armored vehicles from a Shenyang military region mechanized infantry unit took part in the drills during a snowstorm.

The forces "zigzagged through bomb craters, muddy holes, while climbing over small hills that were training items designed to constantly prepare for real combat capabilities," the report stated.

The brief item published in Global Times included photos of two weapons systems used in the exercises, including a Type 07 122 millimeter automatic cannon and a Type 59 tank painted white for camouflage during winter operations.

In an unusual twist that apparently sought to link the exercises to tension in Korea, the same headline for the article, "The military disclosed in the Shenyang Military Region, April 1st armored brigade combat exercises," appeared above two photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, one showing him standing with soldiers in what appears to be a border observation post and a second photo of Kim standing behind a soldier firing a pistol.

The Free Beacon reported April 3 that PLA troops and tanks were mobilized in several locations in northeastern China, including in Daqing, located in northeastern Heilongjiang Province, and in the border city of Shenyang, in Liaoning Province.

U.S. officials said the movements were mainly part of 190th Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Benxi, Liaoning Province. The brigade is believed to be part of PLA's Shenyang Military Region and is the frontline combat unit that would respond to any regional conflict or refugee flows. Troops and tank movements also were reported in Dandong, in Liaoning Province.

Regarding the U.S. missile flight test, a senior defense official confirmed that a Minuteman 3 ICBM test planned for launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., was postponed.

"This test was long planned and was never associated with North Korea to begin with," the official said. "But given recent tensions on the Korean Peninsula, it's prudent and wise to take steps that avoid any misperception or chance of manipulation."

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel canceled the test on Friday, the Associated Press, which first disclosed the action, reported on Sunday.

Another flight test will be conducted "soon," the official said, adding the United States "remains strongly committed to our nuclear deterrence capabilities."

White House official Daniel Pfeiffer, appearing on Fox News Sunday, denied the administration was caving in to North Korea in canceling the test.

"No, absolutely not," Pfeiffer said when asked if canceling the Minuteman 3 flight test was "caving into threats" from Kim Jong Un.

However, it is not the first time the Minuteman 3 test was postponed for political reasons. Defense officials said last year that political factors were behind several such delays.

The Air Force Global Strike Command, located at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., had planned the Minuteman 3 flight test for early 2012 and delayed the test three times.

The command blamed a faulty mechanism in the missile's self-destruct mechanism for the delays in a planned flight test of a Minuteman 3 that was put off until after the November presidential election.

Three ICBM launches were put off last year, including launches March 1, April 10, and May 16, all due to the same technical problem, officials said.

The command had planned to conduct four test launches in 2013.

Defense officials said concerns that the flight tests would upset China or Russia were behind earlier delays.

The officials said many senior policy officials in the Obama administration hold views similar to anti-nuclear weapons activists who are opposed to modernizing and testing of strategic nuclear forces.

Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) said the latest North Korean crisis is the result of Pyongyang's "brinksmanship." McCain criticized China for not reining in its communist client.

"China does hold the key to this problem," McCain said on CBS Face the Nation. "China could cut off their economy if they want to. Chinese behavior has been very disappointing, whether it be on cybersecurity, whether it be on confrontation in the South China Sea, or whether their failure to rein in what could be a catastrophic situation which—more than once, wars have started by accident. And this is—this is a very serious situation."

China's leader Xi Jinping issued a veiled criticism of North Korea on Sunday in a speech that "no one should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain."

The Free Beacon first reported last week that Chinese military forces were mobilized in border regions near North Korea. The Free Beacon also was the first to report that North Korea was planning a test launch of the Musudan, a mobile intermediate-range ballistic missile, after movements of the mobile launchers were detected traveling from west coast areas to an expected launch location on the east coast of North Korea.

However, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters last week that there were no large-scale troops movements in North Korea or China. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden also told reporters there were no unusual troops movements last week, a comment contradicted by news reports.

Several newsletters and blogs disputed the Free Beacon's reporting on the Chinese military movement, incorrectly asserting there were no unusual troop movements.

The Nelson Report, a newsletter that reflects liberal State Department officials' views, dismissed unspecified reports of Chinese troop mobilization as "rumors." The newsletter quoted a source "up on the China-North Korea border" April 5 saying, "Chris, the only thing 'massing' up here is the news media. Hasn't been any PLA movement or reinforcement worth mentioning. The whole story is nonsense."

Nelson declined to comment.

The Foreign Policy blog "Passport" reported April 1 that Carney was "pushing back" against a report in the Free Beacon on North Korean missile movements and asserting North Korea "has not altered its military posture" amid heightened tensions.

"Despite the harsh rhetoric we are hearing from Pyongyang, we are not seeing changes to the North Korean military posture such as large-scale mobilizations and positioning of forces," Carney said April 1.

Four days later, asked about the missile movements, Carney said: "We've obviously seen the reports that North Korea may be making preparations to launch a missile, and we're monitoring this situation closely, and we would not be surprised to see them take such an action."

Commenting on the Free Beacon's report, blogger John Hudson wrote that another spokesman "reiterated that all was quiet in North Korea."

"Jay mentioned a couple examples, but his broad point was that we are not seeing changes to the North Korean military posture," National Security Council spokeswoman told Foreign Policy.

However, a day later, reports contradicted the statements indicating North Korea was moving two Musudan missiles.

The Foreign Policy report suggested the Free Beacon report was tenuous because it "did not display the satellite imagery relevant to its report."

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 08 Apr 13 - 03:52 PM

TOKYO (AP) — It's easy to write off North Korea's threats to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile as bluster: it has never demonstrated the capability to deploy a missile that could reach the Pacific island of Guam, let alone the mainland U.S.
But what about Japan?
Though it remains a highly unlikely scenario, Japanese officials have long feared that if North Korea ever decides to play its nuclear card it has not only the means but several potential motives for launching an attack on Tokyo or major U.S. military installations on Japan's main island. And while a conventional missile attack is far more likely, Tokyo is taking North Korea's nuclear rhetoric seriously.
On Monday, amid reports North Korea is preparing a missile launch or another nuclear test, Japanese officials said they have stepped up measures to ensure the nation's safety. Japanese media reported over the weekend that the defense minister has put destroyers with missile interception systems on alert to shoot down any missile or missile debris that appears to be headed for Japanese territory.
"We are doing all we can to protect the safety of our nation," said chief Cabinet spokesman Yoshihide Suga, though he and Ministry of Defense officials refused to confirm the reports about the naval alert, saying they do not want to "show their cards" to North Korea.
North Korea, meanwhile, issued a new threat against Japan.
"We once again warn Japan against blindly toeing the U.S. policy," said an editorial Monday in the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of its ruling party. "It will have to pay a dear price for its imprudent behavior."
Following North Korea's third nuclear test in February, Japanese experts have increasingly voiced concerns that North Korea may already be able to hit — or at least target — U.S. bases and major population centers with nuclear warheads loaded onto its medium-range Rodong missiles.
"The threat level has jumped" following the nuclear test, said Narushige Michishita, a former Ministry of Defense official and director of the Security and International Studies Program at Tokyo's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
Unlike North Korea's still-under-construction intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, program, its arsenal of about 300 deployed Rodong missiles has been flight tested and is thought to have a range of about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles).
That is good enough to reach Tokyo and key U.S. military bases — including Yokota Air Base, which is the headquarters of the U.S. 5th Air Force; Yokosuka Naval Base, where the USS George Washington aircraft carrier and its battle group are home-based; and Misawa Air Base, a key launching point for U.S. F-16 fighters.
Michishita, in an analysis published late last year, said a Rodong missile launched from North Korea would reach Japan within five to 10 minutes and, if aimed at the center of Tokyo, would have a 50-percent probability of falling somewhere within the perimeter of Tokyo's main subway system.
He said Japan would be a particularly tempting target because it is close enough to feasibly reach with a conventionally or nuclear-armed missile, and the persistent animosity and distrust dating back to Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula in 1910 provides an ideological motive.
Also, a threat against Japan could be used to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Washington. North Korea could, for example, fire one or more Rodong missiles toward Tokyo but have them fall short to frighten Japan's leaders into making concessions, stay out of a conflict on the peninsula or oppose moves by the U.S. forces in Japan to assist the South Koreans, lest Tokyo suffer a real attack.
"Given North Korea's past adventurism, this scenario is within the range of its rational choices," Michishita wrote.
Officials stress that simply having the ability to launch an attack does not mean it would be a success. They also say North Korea is not known to have actually deployed any nuclear-tipped missiles.
Tokyo and Washington have invested billions of dollars in what is probably the world's most sophisticated ballistic missile defense shield since North Korea sent a long-range Taepodong missile over Japan's main island in 1998. Japan now has its own land- and sea-based interceptors and began launching spy satellites after the "Taepodong shock" to keep its own tabs on military activities inside North Korea.
For the time being, most experts believe, North Korea cannot attack the United States with a nuclear warhead because it can't yet fashion one light enough to mount atop a long-range ICBM. But Japanese analysts are not alone in believing North Korea has cleared the "miniaturization" problem for its medium-range weapons.
In April 2005, Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that North Korea had the capability to arm a missile with a nuclear device. In 2011, the same intelligence agency said North Korea "may now have" plutonium-based nuclear warheads that it can deliver by ballistic missiles, aircraft or "unconventional means."
The Pentagon has since backtracked, saying it isn't clear how small a nuclear warhead the North can produce.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 08 Apr 13 - 05:04 PM

ATTN: MudElves: what became of the 1 screen limit for cut-and-paste jobs? Just curious.....

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 08:15 AM

Attn: Mudelves

What ever became of the ban on posting only to attack a person, and stalking???

Or does that only apply to those yu disagree with?

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 08:37 AM

beardedbruce ought to know by now, no one reads over one screen length anyway.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 08:49 AM

Sometimes I don't read any screens at all. Sometimes I read several. It depends on the content.

BRUSSELS, April 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korea should stop its provocations that are posing a threat to regional and international security, the chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said Monday, expressing deep concern over recent developments on the Korean Peninsula.

   "We are watching the development in the Korean Peninsula with great concern," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency Monday at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

   "North Korea's rhetoric, attitude and actions are provocative. North Korea's actions pose a threat to regional and international security. They're irresponsible; they are in defiance of the international community.

   "So I have a very clear message to North Korea. Stop what you are saying. Stop what you are doing."

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 08:50 AM

Less than half the screen on a MacBook 17".


Not my fault if GregF is cheap as well as a racist scumbag.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 09:43 AM

Beardie #1 post:

What ever became of the ban on posting only to attack a person, and stalking?

Beardie #2 post:

GregF is cheap as well as a racist scumbag

Beardie #3 post:

Tell that to your fellow Klansmen, Greg

Beardie Post #4:
you are harassing me...you are a bigger scumbag

Beardie Post #5:

GregF- I don't have a feed from the Racist Nazi sites that YOU look at

Beardie Post #6:
Don't you have some sheets to wash before the next Klan meeting?


What's wrong with this picture (or mind?)

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 09:57 AM

So, greg, would you care to explain why you post attacks on me that do not even attempt to relate to the thread you post in, and are quoting MY REPLIES to your scumbag lies???

And all the liberals keep quiet, and just let you do it, since you support whatever it is I am disagreeing with.

What's wrong with THIS picture?

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 11:29 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U.S. military commander in the Pacific said Tuesday that North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles represents a clear and direct threat to the United States and its allies in the region.
Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Kim Jong Un, the country's young and still relatively untested new leader, has used the past year to consolidate his power.
Locklear concurred with the assessment that the tension between North Korea and the West was the worst since the end of the Korean War in the early 1950s. The admiral insisted that the U.S. military and its allies would be ready if North Korea tried to strike.
Locklear said North Korea is keeping a large percentage of its combat forces along the demilitarized zone with South Korea, a position that allows North Korea to threaten U.S. and South Korean civilian and military personnel.
"The continued advancement of the North's nuclear and missile programs, its conventional force posture, and its willingness to resort to asymmetric actions as a tool of coercive diplomacy creates an environment marked by the potential for miscalculation that, and controlled escalation, could result from another North Korean provocative action," Locklear told the panel.
Increasingly bellicose rhetoric has come from Pyongyang and its leader, with North Korea urging foreign companies and tourists to leave South Korea and warning that the countries are on the verge of a nuclear war.
During an exchange with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Locklear said he was confident that U.S. missile defenses are capable of intercepting a ballistic missile launched by North Korea. But Locklear said a decision on whether such a missile should be intercepted should be based on where the missile is aimed and expected to land.
The admiral said that assessment can be made very quickly.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., told Locklear that the North Korean regime's threats "appear to exceed its capabilities, and its use of what capabilities it has against the U.S. or our allies seems highly unlikely and would be completely contrary to the regime's primary goal of survival.
"Nonetheless, its words and actions are not without consequences," Levin said.
The Democrat did question the Obama administration's decision to delay a long-scheduled operational test of an intercontinental ballistic missile amid the North Korea rhetoric.
Locklear said he agreed with the decision to delay the test through a tenuous time.
"We have demonstrated to the people of the region, demonstrated to the leadership of North Korea, our ability and willingness to defend our nation, our people, our allies and our forward deployed forces," Locklear said, citing several of the other steps the U.S. military has taken in recent weeks.
The U.S. has moved two of the Navy's missile-defense ships closer to the Korean peninsula, and a land-based system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam. The U.S. also called attention to the annual U.S.-South Korean military exercise that included a practice run over South Korea by B-2 stealth bombers.
Levin mentioned that President Barack Obama recently talked to China's new president, Xi Jinping, about the U.S. efforts to deal with North Korea. Locklear said he has not had similar conversations with his Chinese counterparts.






SIDEBAR: When I post with just my comments, or the link, after the link is no longer available I am accused of false statements. Thus I post the entire article.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 11:33 AM

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea intensified threats of an imminent conflict against the United States and the South on Tuesday, warning foreigners to evacuate South Korea to avoid being dragged into "thermonuclear war".
The North's latest message belied an atmosphere free of anxiety in the South Korean capital, where the city center was bustling with traffic and offices operated normally.
Pyongyang has shown no sign of preparing its 1.2 million-strong army for war, indicating the threat could be aimed partly at bolstering Kim Jong-un, 30, the third in his family to lead the country.
The North, which threatens the United States and its "puppet", South Korea, on a daily basis, is marking anniversaries this week that could be accompanied by strong statements or military displays.
The warning to foreigners in the South, reported by the KCNA news agency, said once war broke out "it will be an all-out war, a merciless, sacred, retaliatory war to be waged by (North Korea).
"It does not want to see foreigners in South Korea fall victim to the war," the agency quoted the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee as saying.
"The committee informs all foreign institutions and enterprises and foreigners, including tourists...that they are requested to take measures for shelter and evacuation in advance for their safety."
None of the embassies in Seoul appeared to have issued any directives to their nationals and airlines reported no changes in their schedules. Schools catering to foreign pupils worked without interruption.
The warning, read out on North Korea's state television in a bulletin that interrupted normal programming, was the latest threat in weeks of high tension following U.N. sanctions slapped on Pyongyang for its latest nuclear arms test.
It followed the North's suspension of activity at the Kaesong joint industrial park just inside North Korea, all but closing down the last remnant of cooperation between the neighbors. North Korean workers failed to turn up on Tuesday.
North Korea had said South Korea was trying to turn the Kaesong complex into a "hotbed of war".
Speculation remained high that the North may launch some provocative action this week - perhaps a missile launch or a nuclear arms test.
In a previous appeal, its authorities urged diplomats in Pyongyang to leave on grounds their safety could not be assured beyond Wednesday. None appeared to have taken any such action.
"VERY DANGEROUS" SITUATION
Also featured in broadcasts were country-wide reports of celebrations marking Saturday's 20th anniversary of the current leader's father, Kim Jong-il, taking over North Korea's leadership and next Monday's birth date of his grandfather, post-World War Two state founder Kim Il-Sung.
A spokeswoman for South Korea's presidential Blue House dismissed the warning, saying no one felt under threat.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 02:54 PM

I hope it goes as we sort of expect it to..."thanks to negotiations from Switzerland/Camaroon/Bolivia we have postponed the planned attack but will not tolerate further provocation." That is what we hope, if this registers on us at all. But you can not predict what fanatics who are backed up against a wall with famine etc...will do. They can talk themselves into their rhetoric. I do think that they will be totally destroyed if they try anything at all and their people will either die or suffer tremendously..as will some of our allies. They could be helped to be so much better off in terms of mining, manufacturing, tourism, farming if they would just not be so paranoid.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 02:56 PM

Agreed. The real victims here are the starving people in N Korea, who have no say in whether they live or die.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 03:05 PM

Let's get past April 15, Kim Il Sung's birthday, first.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 03:09 PM

Nothing wrong with HOPING for no "Fireworks"...




What if we reacted to any attack by carpet bombing N Korea- WITH BAGS OF RICE?

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 06:55 PM

And all the liberals keep quiet, and just let you do it...

You bet, Beardie - that vast, left-wing conspiracy is persecuting the piss out of you. Poor pitiful you.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Amos
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 07:04 PM

My prediction: no war, just an awful lot of hot air and posturing in an effort to gain internal PR points on the part of Little Penis.

It seems patently obvious that if he were planning to start a war he would not be broadcasting advance warnings. The fact that he is broadcasting them indicates his intent is otherwise, possibly to seek reparations or some other benefit. Anyone see the Mouse that Roared?


A

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 08:25 PM

Nothing is patently obvious in love or war. Sometimes people do what they say they are going to do. Someone with a big ego and a small..intelligence.. can do some awful things and can back her/himself into a corner.

Never ever underestimate Koreans, North, South, DMZ, whatever.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 09 Apr 13 - 09:27 PM

Yeh, well, never misunderestimate what the good ol' U S of A can get up to, either - the record is pretty sordid..

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 Apr 13 - 09:05 AM

North Korea: US 'ready to intercept up to THREE missiles'

NORTH Korea has completed preparations for up to three missile launches, sources in Seoul have revealed, while the South has appealed to China and Russia to intervene over the provocations.

By: Charlotte MeredithPublished: Wed, April 10, 2013

South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se confirmed today that North Korea has moved a mid-range Musudan ballistic missile to its east coast and Pyongyang is prepared to launch the missile "at any time."

"According to intelligence obtained by our side and the U.S., the possibility of a missile launch by North Korea is very high," Yun said, adding that North Korea can launch the missile "at any time from now."

The Foreign Minister said the Musudan missile has a range of 3,500 kilometers – which could hit the U.S. territory of Guam – and "it's up to North Korea how far it would fly."

South Korea fears Pyongyang could launch up to three missiles after weeks of threats, according to local reports.

One unnamed official told the Yonhap news agency: "There are clear signs that the North could simultaneously fire off Musudan, Scud and Nodong missiles."

Yun added that his government has asked China and Russia to help restrain North Korea from making military provocations as tensions on the Korean Peninsula mount over the expected mid-range missile launch by the North.

"Throughout close coordination with China and Russia, the Korean government has been continuing to make efforts to persuade North Korea to change its attitude," Yun told a parliamentary committee meeting.

South Korea and the United States have meanwhile upgraded their surveillance status in preparation for the imminent missile launch.

The United States "is ready" to intercept a ballistic missile launched by the North, the top US military commander in the Pacific has said.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said yesterday that she is exasperated by the "endless vicious cycle" of hostile behaviour from the North.

The worrying appeal to Russia and China from the South came as speculation heightened that North Korea has pulled its ambassador out of the UK after a shipping container was pictured outside the London embassy yesterday.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: bobad
Date: 10 Apr 13 - 10:55 AM

Ex-North Korea spy says Kim Jong-Un struggling to control military

"A former North Korean spy who bombed a South Korean airliner said Wednesday that the North's leader Kim Jong-Un is struggling to control his military and using war talk to shore up support.

Kim Hyun-Hee, who said she was ordered by Jong-Un's father Kim Jong-Il to bomb the airliner in 1987 killing 115 people, said she believes the son is still trying to establish himself following his father's death in December 2011."

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 10 Apr 13 - 02:11 PM

South Korea raises alert with North to 'vital threat'

The BBC's Lucy Williamson reports from the Korean border

South Korea has raised its alert level to "vital threat" amid indications the North is preparing for a missile test.

At least one ballistic missile with an estimated 3,000km (2,000-mile) range is fuelled and ready for launch, US and South Korean sources say.

Pyongyang has been making bellicose threats against South Korea, Japan and US bases in the region.

The threats follow tough new UN sanctions imposed on North Korea last month after its third nuclear test.

Separately, an initial investigation by the South into a major cyber attack last month that affected a number of banks and broadcasters has said the North is to blame.

'Anytime now'
North Korea is believed to have completed preparations for a missile launch after it moved two Musudan missiles to its east coast, Yonhap news agency says.

In anticipation, the South Korea-US Combined Forces have raised their alert level to Watchcon 2, to increase surveillance monitoring, Yonhap quoted a senior military official as saying.

North Korea unveiled the Musudan missile during a military parade in 2010 but has yet to test it. There are reports, however, that it may have been sold to Iran and tested there.

The launch could happen "anytime from now", South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told parliament.

A test launch would be a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1718, passed in 2006, which states the North "must not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile".

North Korea has tested intermediate range missiles before and during periods of crisis and tension, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul.

So while another test launch would certainly be seen as provocative, it is unlikely to have any major, short-term military significance unless it goes wrong, our correspondent adds.

The Musudan, also known as the Nodong-B or the Taepodong-X, is an intermediate-range ballistic missile. Its likely targets are Okinawa, Japan, and US bases in the Pacific
Range estimates differ dramatically. Israeli intelligence suggests 2,500km, while the US Missile Defense Agency estimates 3,200km; other sources put the upper limit at 4,000km
These differences are due in large part to the fact that the missile has never been tested publicly, according to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Its payload is also unknown

He says one key date for a launch could be Monday - the birthday of the North Korean state's late founder, Kim Il-sung.

Yonhap also reported that the South's National Police Agency had raised its state of alert by one level from "attention" to "caution".

It said that patrols had been increased at 770 sites, including at embassies and key underground stations.

Japan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said his nation was on "high alert", with anti-missile defences deployed in Tokyo as a precaution.

A number of travel agencies in China have reported that tourist trips into North Korea have been suspended.

One travel agent in the north-eastern city of Dandong told Reuters news agency: "All [tourist] travel to North Korea has been stopped from today and I've no idea when it will restart."

The border remains open to commercial traffic.

Meanwhile, an official investigation by the South into last month's cyber attack traced the malicious codes used to six computers in the North.

"We've collected a lot of evidence to determine the North's Reconnaissance General Bureau led the attack, which had been prepared for at least eight months," a spokesman for the Korea Internet and Security Agency said.

The attack on 20 March severely affected the KBS, MBC and YTN broadcasters and operations at the Shinhan, NongHyup and Jeju banks.

'Uncontrollable'
The North has warned foreigners in South Korea to take precautions in case of war.


"Looks comical but is deadly serious" - John Sudworth profiles the North Korean leadership
On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the crisis on the Korean peninsula may become "uncontrollable".

He once again urged North Korea to tone down its "provocative rhetoric" and to keep open a joint North-South Korean industrial complex.

North Koreans failed to report for work at the Kaesong complex on Tuesday, suspending one of the few points of co-operation with South Korea.

Since the UN sanctions were imposed, Pyongyang has threatened to use nuclear weapons and has said it will restart a nuclear reactor.

The North has also shut an emergency military hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang.

Last week, it warned it would not be able to guarantee the safety of foreign embassy staff after 10 April, and that countries should begin evacuating their diplomatic staff.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Greg F.
Date: 10 Apr 13 - 06:21 PM

Another timely installment from Beardie's Clipping Service - thank God, we'd never be able to find or read the news for ourselves without his help.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 11 Apr 13 - 07:44 AM

Was not sure you could even read, Greggie, much less find your own ass.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Apr 13 - 09:09 AM

When I speak about Korea it's from knowledge gained from personal experience there when the Defcon went to Two. When US and other people from other nations died because of the actions taken under Kim Il Sung, and no, this was much later than 1953. In 2010 the United Nations Command had listed an average of slightly more than 28 violations of the 1953 Armistice per day.

The Koreans are wonderful people. I do not want to see war or even "provocations" imposed upon them.

I shan't post here again. It would be too personal.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 12 Apr 13 - 04:06 AM

US intelligence reports that they could have a nuclear warhead.
If they have they would want everyone to know.

That makes it a little more worrying that a missile test looks imminent.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 12 Apr 13 - 04:12 AM

Wall street Journal
A new U.S. military intelligence assessment says for the first time that North Korea may have developed a nuclear device small enough to mount on a ballistic missile, but said such a weapon's "reliability would be low."

In an assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency, a branch of the Pentagon, analysts appeared to upgrade U.S. estimates of North Korea's nuclear-weapons abilities, according to a portion of the report disclosed by a lawmaker at a House hearing on Thursday.

There was disagreement in Washington over the extent of North Korea's capabilities, with Obama administration officials and the Pentagon press office saying there isn't evidence that the country could use such a weapon.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: GUEST,Lavengro
Date: 12 Apr 13 - 05:24 AM

If this situation does escalate into anything other than words and posturing I'm afraid that KJU will be safe from harm in some bunker, whilst the civilians in NK will be very much on dangerous ground.

I personally would be surprised if the USA and her allies would want to commit yet more ground troops to another potentially protracted conflict. I think we would more likely see (relatively) short term bombing raids throwing down a lot of ordnance with the inherent risk to civilians despite best efforts.

Also, does anyone know why the NK news readers all sit there like shouty ventriloquist dummies? I would rather watch Fox "News" than sit watching that stuff!!

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 12 Apr 13 - 08:52 AM

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/inside-north-korea-video-photos-1826234

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: Lighter
Date: 12 Apr 13 - 12:34 PM

The U.S. defense analysts quoted have "moderate confidence" that Kim has a bomb he can mount on a missile, and if he does have one it will "probably" be unreliable.

Other intelligence estimates are that Kim "probably" doesn't yet have the right kind of bomb and/or missile.

Net result: "Maybe he does, and maybe he doesn't. Can't really be sure. It'd be better if he didn't.... But if he does....Huh!"

Your high-tech intel tax dollars at work.

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: bobad
Date: 12 Apr 13 - 04:01 PM

Missile launch is North Korea's exit strategy, analysts say

Faced with annoyed allies and unblinking enemies, North Korea is likely to pull the plug on the current crisis by test-firing a missile or two and declaring victory ahead of a national celebration on Monday, analysts say.

http://nbcnews.to/YQRfsR

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 15 Apr 13 - 11:59 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-tipped-hand-084500657--politics.html

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 16 Apr 13 - 09:06 AM

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — After a day of festivities to mark the 101st birthday of its first leader, North Korea on Tuesday offered new prickly rhetoric against the United States and South Korea, which are watching closely for signs whether it will conduct a medium-range missile test in defiance of international concerns.
State media said the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army issued an ultimatum demanding an apology from South Korea for "hostile acts" and threatening that unspecified retaliatory actions would happen at any time.
The statement, relayed through the KCNA state media agency, came after a day of festivities in North Korea's capital that featured art performances, public dances and crowds thronging to giant bronze statues to pay homage to the late leader Kim Il Sung,
The renewed rhetoric was sparked by a protest in downtown Seoul, where effigies of Kim Il Sung and his son and successor, late leader Kim Jong Il, were burned. Such protests are not unusual in South Korea and this one likely gave the North a pretext to react negatively to calls for joining in dialogue with its neighbors than an actual cause for retaliation.
The North's statement said it would refuse any offers of talks with the South until it apologized for the "monstrous criminal act." North Korea often denounces such protests, but rarely in the name of the Supreme Command, which is headed by Kim Il Sung's grandson and North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong Un.
"If the puppet authorities truly want dialogue and negotiations, they should apologize for all anti-DPRK hostile acts, big and small, and show the compatriots their will to stop all these acts in practice," the statement said, referring to North Korea's official name.
South Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday it had received no such ultimatum officially, noting that there is no communications line between the two Koreas.

http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-marking-leaders-birthday-shows-more-ire-052153500.html

Subject: RE: BS: WAR declared by North Korea
From: beardedbruce
Date: 16 Apr 13 - 09:47 AM

"North Korea vows blitz attack on South warning 'retaliation will start without notice'

NORTH Korea's military has today issued a stark warning saying it will launch retaliation against South Korea without warning if "anti-North Korean" activities continue.

By: Charlotte Meredith
Published: Tue, April 16, 2013

North Korea has upped the temperature on its neighbours in the South

"The supreme command of the Korean People's Army Tuesday issued an ultimatum to the South Korean puppet group," Pyongyang's official news agency, KCNA, said.

Threatening that it would not give any advance notice before attacking South Korea, the North warned: "Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now."

North Korea said it was responding to insults from the "puppet authorities" in the South, who yesterday held a rally against the North in Seoul.

Branding the rally a "monstrous criminal act," the North warned "all the service personnel and people of the DPRK are simmering with towering resentment" towards the South.

"Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now as such thrice-cursed criminal act of hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK is being openly committed in the heart of Seoul under the patronage of the puppet authorities."

"The DPRK's revolutionary armed forces will start immediately their just military actions to show how the service personnel and people of the DPRK value and protect the dignity of the supreme leadership."

"The military demonstration of the DPRK's revolutionary armed forces will be powerful sledge-hammer blows at all hostile forces hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK."

North Korea celebrated the 101st anniversary of its founder's birth yesterday

The renewed threats came a day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged the regime in Pyongyang to halt its nuclear program and tame its fiery rhetoric if it wants to hold talks.

However, today the North responded by saying "if the puppet authorities truly want dialogue and negotiations, they should apologize for all anti-DPRK hostile acts, big and small, and show the compatriots their will to stop all these acts in practice."

The Secretary of State's visit followed weeks of dramatic threats by Kim Jong Un's regime, including that of a nuclear strike on the United States and South Korea."