North Korea Declares a State of War 628
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."
Go ahead (Score:5, Interesting)
But China won't help you out this time.
Actually scary (Score:5, Interesting)
I really think there is a chance that NK leadership has gone so bonkers they would actually try something like bombing SK. I doubt it would be effective unless they bring a nuke to the fight, but we're still talking about one of China's maybe-buddies. The USSR was scary, but they weren't so honking insane as these guys.
Hopefully, NK will just keep doing the "chest thumping" thing until they get tired. Or it's all just a bluff in the first place. I, personally, have had enough wars/actions/what-have-you for now. Too much death. Everyone (including the US) just chill and have a cup o' tea and a biscuit.
Re:Didn't they get the memo? (Score:5, Interesting)
The Korean "war" never ended. It has been ongoing since 1950
well how many times can you announce that you're going to attack? they don't have their own memos from last week(apparently memos are in trade blockage as well).
I'm more inclined to believe that the military is worried the middle rung layers of the military might start doing something enterprising, since their portions of booze and dried meat have lately gotten even smaller than usual.. hence the current state of things in which the entire north korean military is effectively in house arrest.
This little guy (Score:5, Interesting)
Are they really THAT brainwashed and misinformed (or uninformed) as to believe that they can just threaten nuclear war every time they don't get their way? It's like a little kid threatening to run away every time he has to eat his broccoli.
The only scary thing here is that sometimes, very rarely, the little kid DOES run away for an hour or so. Well, I hope for the sake of any innocent people in North Korea that this little boy doesn't run away, and instead learns to shut the fuck up and eat his broccoli.
nothing major (Score:5, Interesting)
Since i live in South Korea, I base my concern level on the people around me, rather than western media.
Today all the girls were out in their 6 inch skirts, 10 inch heels, and all the guys were out following them around.
Seems to be just another day.
Re:Actually scary (Score:3, Interesting)
This is one woman with whom they should not fuck. Seriously, her mother was killed by a North Korean assassin [wikipedia.org], and she was the de-facto first lady in her place. I'm think we might have a Korean Maggie Thatcher on our hands; she's not cowed by the North. From what I gather her attitude seems to be "we don't want this.. we won't start this.. but if you do, we're fucking bringing it hard."
Re:Nothing New (Score:3, Interesting)
Unified Korea and scores of dead North Koreans.
But the people in North Korea have created this mess, so it's only right they take the heaviest losses.
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. Even though these parties were so ideologically opposed to each other they could still agree that a powerful Korea would be bad for their interests.
Seriously; had Korea not been divided it would be immensely powerful economically and militarily, due to mineral wealth PLUS strong agriculture and industry; a genuine rival to China and more powerful than Russia in the region. It would have been a major threat to American control over Japan following WW2 due to the sway it would have had over the post-war Japanese economy.
So between them they engineered North VS South and divided the peninsula.
Re:Didn't they get the memo? (Score:5, Interesting)
Imagine you're a guy in your mid-30s, educated in Switzerland, a smart enough guy. You're not particularly interested in politics, just want to have a good time and enjoy the luxuries you've always been accustomed to. Then all of a sudden, you're dragged from your your cosy, relatively anonymous life and told you're the leader of one of the world's remaining military dictatorships.
You don't particularly want to lead, you'd rather continue your life as a pampered playboy, but the people around you are murderous, and will brook no signs of weakness. This is a roller-coaster you're on, you have very little control and you can't get off. How do you stop it? What do you do?
If you go soft, you'll be assassinated, you know that because it almost happened. One way might be to push harder than the generals expect and try to provoke the rest of the world into stopping the ride for you.
Just a thought...
Re:US Desires this - nad deliberately PROVOKED it. (Score:3, Interesting)
You know perfectly well why communist (or other) dictatorships go to war. They're close to losing control over their own country, either because the population is rising up (unlikely here) or because they're out of resources because they've built a state system filled with people used to divert state resources to personal ends (very likely the case here).
This won't end well, as it will force China and the US into a confrontation when the cleanup happens.
Re:Nothing New (Score:5, Interesting)
All four nuclear nations had designs and probably operational devices for enhanced radiation reduced blast weapons, aka neutron bombs, that released the neutrons generated by the initial phase of the bomb instead of the full ionizing and shock blasts. They did this with fission-fusion bombs with deliberate ineffective X-ray and neutron mirrors. The US W79-0 had a neutron bomb mode.
All such weapons were destroyed as part of SALT and SALT II, but who knows what still sits in a cupboard.
They ARE the memo (Score:2, Interesting)
Imagine the US is winding down it's two cash cow wars; almost done with Iraq, and Afghanistan's end is in sight, if not in fact.
Imagine the USMIC without a constant flow of cash.
We'll be needing -- and having -- a new war. Just watch. NK could be very convenient for the USA. And if not NK, then someone else. But NK has all the characteristics we want: A smallish country, an easily defeated military, a huge population to keep us there fighting in the bushes for 5-10 years, no particular economic value to be concerned about, has been described as part of the mythical "axis of evil"...
Yep, I'm pretty sure I smell another uptick in USMIC stocks.
Re:US Desires this - nad deliberately PROVOKED it. (Score:5, Interesting)
NK has value of a buffer. Neither South Korea nor NATO who's bases it houses are friendly towards China. North Korea is near Chinese heartland.
This is the same issue as "holy shit, USSR has tactical nukes in Cuba" for USA. Only imagine if Cuba had land access to US mainland. And USSR put their best tanks and tactical bombers in there as well.
There will be a cold day in hell before China lets North Korea fall to the West.
Re:Nothing New (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:US Desires this - nad deliberately PROVOKED it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually there was an attempted military coup in North Korea in November 2012 (Citation: http://intelnews.org/2013/03/15/01-1217/ [intelnews.org]) . Looks like the Party can't trust the military anymore. Hence, we have North Korea declaring war (that they cannot possibly hope to win).
Strange the grandparent attributes the declaration of war to Us actions. The US were simply not letting North Korea get away with the same provocations they did in the past. After 60 years of bad behavior and criminal acts from North Korea the patience of the US and South Korea have finally run out. However Jeremiah Cornelius would like to ignore the kidnappings (of South Koreans and Japanese actresses), assassinations, murders, drug running, weapon proliferation, DMZ shootings and axe attacks, and brutal oppression of the NK people by the NK leadership. Instead Jeremiah continues his bankrupt crusade to demonize the US at every opportunity, by selectively choosing facts. Shame on you JC ! and your ilk.
Re:Of course the North Koreans.... (Score:5, Interesting)
No one is paying attention to what Lil' Kim is saying (except you). The U.S. military watches for troop movements, equipment positioning, missile priming...you know, the things that actually count if you wish to start a war. If the Norks start that, the U.S. has already promised to ramp up.