North Korea Jamming GPS Signals In South Korea 290
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the no-directions-for-you dept.
from the no-directions-for-you dept.
Fluffeh writes "North Korea has been looking for new and inventive ways to mess with South Korea. It seems that their missile launch fizzled a bit though, so those wacky folks from the North have bought a few GPS jamming trucks from Russia and are now blocking GPS signals around their city of Kaeson. While Kaeson is around 60 Km inside their borders, the jamming circle is around 100 Km, so it actually covers good parts of South Korea including the airports at Inchon and Gimpo. While no accidents have been caused as yet, it has caused quite some disruption and has made ocean going craft suffer as well due to their heavy reliance on GPS signals."
Re:Cyber Warfare (Score:5, Insightful)
The Korean War never ended.
Re:Legality? (Score:5, Insightful)
International law only works if backed up by threats of punishment if you don't comply. It works well for bullying small non-nuclear nations. When you have a huge army, nukes, and an appearance of "just crazy enough to push the red button" nobody will stop you from being a pest.
International law does not seem to apply to any state powerful enough (i.e. nuclear armed, and/or large conventional forces), as proved many times by the US (and probably others, but I can't think of any examples off the top of my head), and they are considered rational actors that will only use nukes as a last resort.
Hell, NK has shelled islands belonging to the South, and is believed to have been behind the sinking of a South Korean Navy Vessel. Lives have been lost due to this, both of which constitute acts of war, yet nobody responded.
I think jamming GPS is rather low on the "pest" scale, so I don't think anything major will be done about it (regardless of whether there is a law on the books against it).
Re:Cyber Warfare (Score:0, Insightful)
the USA does not care for international laws, unless they created them themselves...
Re:Legality? (Score:5, Insightful)
There is a way. But a law of war is that you should not use weapons that cost more than what you destroy with them.
Re:Legality? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Don't act hostile and seem like the bad guy... (Score:3, Insightful)
Abusive partner isn't the right metaphor for this situation. South Korea as a US ally is definitely the major power in this situation.
DPRK is more like a bully who knows they are weak, who knows they can't kick anybody without getting their face smashed in, so they throw insults around trying to annoy everybody else into doing something stupid. Hostility towards them is what they want, so that they can claim to be the victim.
take them out (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Legality? (Score:5, Insightful)
They are probably jamming GPS to make it harder for US drones to fly over them. There is probably an argument for defensive action to be made there.
Re:Good sign for their economy (Score:4, Insightful)
Good to know the North Koreans have extra money to send to the Russians and can afford to maintain jamming trucks.
It's not "extra money" it's a policy called military first or some such crap. Basically it means the people can go starve if the army needs the money for a new toy.
Re:Legality? (Score:5, Insightful)
Especially when you're (the aggressor) left footing the bill to pay for the rebuild. If we are not committed to forcing a nation to kneel before the United State of America in the form of a signed declaration of surrender, we have no business getting into a war. This whole middle eastern conflict has been handled all wrong by both administrations. We've been way to soft handed and playing the nice guy for way to long. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't know their history.
War is hell! Engage, or don't. There is no "try".
“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” George S. Patton Jr
Re:Legality? (Score:5, Insightful)
I am curious...as a non-USAian why you find the current president lacking in backbone military wise.
Because Obama is a Democrat, and as a matter of doctrine, all Democrats are spineless wishy-washy appeasers, and all Republicans are tough manly war heroes. If you want to understand US politics, you first need to understand that approximately half of our political establishment is operating in a world which bears only the most superficial resemblance to reality.