North Korea Declares a State of War

paysonwelch writes "North Korea has declared a state of war against South Korea, stating that neither peace nor war has ended. Quoting the news release via Reuters: '1. From this moment, the north-south relations will be put at the state of war and all the issues arousing between the north and the south will be dealt with according to the wartime regulations.' The DPRK goes on to say that this will be a 'blitz' war and that they will regain control of the south, and destroy U.S. bases in the process." Great line from the declaration: "[The U.S.] should clearly know that in the era of Marshal Kim Jong Un, the greatest-ever commander, all things are different from what they used to be in the past." A senior U.S. official called this statement "pot-banging and chest-thumping." The official said, "North Korea is in a mindset of war, but North Korea is not going to war."

Didn't they get the memo?

[Lawrence_Bird]

The Korean "war" never ended. It has been ongoing since 1950

Re:Ut oh.

[firex726]

Well China has recently voted in favor of sanctions against NK; previously they did not.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21710919 [bbc.co.uk]

Kaesong Industrial complex still open...

[spanky_poppagasket]

The Kaesong Industrial complex [wikipedia.org], a North/South industrial park, is apparently still open for business which means economic relations are undisturbed. Most news sources are highlighting this as a sign that the North isn't serious about the threats. If I were NK, though, I'd keep that puppy open as long as possible considering the new sanctions.

Re:They got the wrong idea from the Korean War

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually no. Such people don't know they're seriously off the rails. Psychopaths and narcissists tend to stick to their program of superficial showmanship and imagery.

Re:This little guy

[Attila Dimedici]

Quite simply, it is twofold. First China does not want Korea unified under an nominal U.S. ally (South Korea). Second, China finds NK a useful catspaw to find out how far they can provoke the U.S. before the results become unpalatable. There is a third element that purely involves NK, but that only works because of the first two. Every so often the situation in NK becomes so bad that they need an infusion of outside aid to keep things from completely collapsing. They have learned that by rattling their cage and threatening violence, they can gain such aid. If the outside world does not respond with sufficient aid soon enough, NK starts various low level acts of violence against those in the vicinity, gradually escalating until the aid is forthcoming (which is why ignoring them is not an option).
If NK ever stops being useful to China, they will cease to exist.

Re:Didn't they get the memo?

[data2]

I realize reading TFA is frowned upon, so just for you:

"The state of neither peace nor war has ended on the Korean Peninsula."

Re:Ut oh.

[roc97007]

Yeah, I think that's what's going to be different this time. There are signs that China is getting tired of North Korea's crap.

Re:Nothing New

[gtall]

N. Korea attacked first. History is always an interesting read.

Re:WARNING: this is not me... apk

[tolkienfan]

You need help.

Re:Nothing New

[Black Parrot]

The situation on the Korean peninsula wasn't exactly created by the Korean people. It was engineered by the Americans, Chinese, Russians and Japanese; because a unified Korea would have been so economically powerful NONE of the above wanted it to exist.

When this situation was 'engineered', "Made in Japan" wasn't even a joke yet, "Made in Korea" came along even later.

Re:This little guy

[Subm]

This series of posts describes North Korean strategy at a high level -- http://joshuaspodek.com/north-korea-strategy-preview [joshuaspodek.com]

Re:Nothing New

[Luckyo]

They are pretty useless in modern theatre, which is why no one really objected to their destruction. They were originally meant as tactical weapons, as they have very low range, to take out massed tank forces. They became utterly inefficient as armour on tanks became thick enough to effectively prevent terminal effect of neutron bombardment around 70s-80s.

They could still be used against uncovered enemy, but their low range makes them largely unfeasible for this purpose. If you're willing to use nuclear weapons, you're much better off with conventional nuclear warheads that produce the destructive effect through combination of high temperature and pressure shockwave.

Re:Nothing New

[DragonWriter]

The situation on the Korean peninsula wasn't exactly created by the Korean people. It was engineered by the Americans, Chinese, Russians and Japanese; because a unified Korea would have been so economically powerful NONE of the above wanted it to exist.

Not really true. Japan might not have, but no one was really listening to them at the end of WWII. America and Russia both wanted a United Korea to exist, and both wanted to direct how it was going to be set up. Same as in Germany, they each saw half a loaf and not fighting a war with each other immediately as superior, in the short term, to any other alternative that was on the table.