Topic: N Korea

[dixonbob]

SEOUL (Reuters) –  North Korea, facing international censure for this week's nuclear test, threatened on Wednesday to attack the South after it joined a U.S.-led plan to check vessels suspected of carrying equipment for weapons of mass destruction.
 Adding to mounting tension in the region, South Korean media reported that Pyongyang had restarted a plant that makes plutonium that can be used in nuclear bombs.
 In Moscow, news agencies quoted an official as saying that Russia is taking precautionary security measures because it fears tensions over the test could lead to nuclear war.
 The U.N. Security Council is discussing ways to punish Pyongyang for Monday's test, widely denounced as a major threat to regional stability and which brings the reclusive North closer to having a reliable nuclear bomb.
 North Korea's latest threat came after Seoul announced, following the nuclear test, it was joining the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, launched under the George W. Bush administration as a part of its "war on terror."
 "Any hostile act against our peaceful vessels including search and seizure will be considered an unpardonable infringement on our sovereignty and we will immediately respond with a powerful military strike," a North Korean army spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.
 He reiterated that the North was no longer bound by an armistice signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War because Washington had ignored its responsibility as a signatory by drawing Seoul into the anti-proliferation effort.

[littlebit]

I am soooo glad I am not in the ROK anymore.

[tpgunbiz]

I say we Blow his shit up So the rest of the world knows that america will  take over your country if you are suspected of having weapons of ,mass distruction. Isnt that why we are in IRAQ? whats the difference? Somebody explain. My grandfather dug the trenches and faught in em to keep that country free. Why are we stamering now. It just took a hint of a threat from IRAQ to cause us to obliterate the country. yet we sit and provoke this Jackoff to keep going. I love this country.

[dixonbob]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –  The United States is looking into putting North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism in response to its nuclear test last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview on Sunday.
 "We're going to look at it. There's a process for it. Obviously we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism," she said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
 Asked whether she had evidence of the North's support for international terrorism, Clinton said: "We're just beginning to look at it. I don't have an answer for you right now."
 The United States removed North Korea from its terrorism blacklist in October in a bid to revive faltering six-nation denuclearization talks that have completely broken down.
 The impoverished Communist-ruled Asian nation was taken off the list after agreeing to a series of verification measures at its nuclear facilities. It has been condemned internationally since its defiant May 25 nuclear test.
 "Obviously they were taken off of the list for a purpose, and that purpose is being thwarted by their actions," Clinton said.

[dixonbob]

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea convicted two American journalists and sentenced them Monday to 12 years of hard labor for crossing into its territory, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States.
The Obama administration said it would pursue "all possible channels" to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV media venture.
There are fears Pyongyang is using the women as bargaining chips as the U.N. debates a new resolution to punish the country for its defiant May 25 atomic test and as North Korea seeks to draw Washington into direct negotiations.
Washington's former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson called the sentencing part of "a high-stakes poker game" being played by North Korea. He said on NBC's Today show that he thinks negotiations for their "humanitarian release" can begin now that the legal process has been completed. Other South Korean analysts also said they expect the two to be freed following negotiations.
The journalists were found guilty of committing a "grave crime" against North Korea and of illegally entering the country, North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

[dixonbob]

There is no doubt that Ling and Lee will face an incredibly difficult ordeal. But what, specifically, will their prison be like? Details from the notoriously mum North Korea are scant. However, an article from the Los Angeles Times, written before the two journalists were sentenced, explains that "their future likely includes the possibility of hard labor, starvation, and torture in a penal system many consider among the world's most repressive." The article goes on to mention that labor camps, also known as gulags, put prisoners through "extremely hard labor under extremely brutal conditions." Death rates are high due in part to inadequate food.
Al Jazeera writes that while North Korea doesn't "publish any details of the camps or the detainees," accounts from former inmates and guards "paint a bleak picture." According to the article, human-rights groups estimate that 20%-25% of prisoners die every year due to the harsh conditions. The work consists of mining, logging, farming, and "industrial enterprises."

[dixonbob]

n other news: North Korea stepped up its rhetoric today, saying it would use nuclear weapons in a "merciless offensive" if provoked, The AP reported. The tough talk came as South Korea and the U.S. urged the United Nations Security Council to punish North Korea for the nuclear test it conducted on May 25 and subsequent missile tests. Amid the global power struggle, the relatives of two American journalists convicted of illegally entering North Korea urged that government to show some mercy. "We ask the government of North Korea to show compassion and grant Laura [Ling] and Euna [Lee] clemency and allow them to return home to their families," relatives said in a statement. The two Current TV reporters were sentenced yesterday to 12 years of hard labor for their "grave crimes."

[dixonbob]

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea responded to new U.N. sanctions with more defiance, promising Saturday to step up its nuclear bomb-making program by enriching uranium and threatening war on any country that dares to stop its ships on the high seas.
The North's threats were the first public acknowledgment that the reclusive communist nation has been running a secret uranium enrichment program. Suspicions of the program touched off the latest nuclear crisis in 2002.
The country also vowed never to give up its nuclear ambitions as a way to protect its sovereignty amid signs of preparations for naming its ailing leader Kim Jong Il's youngest son, Jong Un, as his successor.
Despite repeated assurances from Washington, North Korea has harbored deep-rooted suspicions that the U.S. could invade to topple its regime.
"It has become an absolutely impossible option for (North Korea) to even think about giving up its nuclear weapons," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea also warned that any attempted blockade by the U.S. and its allies would be regarded as "an act of war and met with a decisive military response."
The new threats came in response to tough new sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council over the North's second nuclear test on May 25.

[dixonbob]

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea's communist regime has warned of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula while vowing to step up its atomic bomb-making program in defiance of new U.N. sanctions.
The North's defiance presents a growing diplomatic headache for President Barack Obama as he prepares for talks Tuesday with his South Korean counterpart on the North's missile and nuclear programs.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told security-related ministers during an unscheduled meeting Sunday to "resolutely and squarely" cope with the North's latest threat, his office said. Lee is to leave for the U.S. on Monday morning.
A commentary Sunday in the North's main state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, claimed the U.S. has 1,000 nuclear weapons in South Korea. Another commentary published Saturday in the state-run Tongil Sinbo weekly claimed the U.S. has been deploying a vast amount of nuclear weapons in South Korea and Japan.
North Korea "is completely within the range of U.S. nuclear attack and the Korean peninsula is becoming an area where the chances of a nuclear war are the highest in the world," the Tongil Sinbo commentary said.

[dixonbob]

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea warned Wednesday of a "thousand-fold" military retaliation against the U.S. and its allies if provoked, the latest threat in a drumbeat of rhetoric in defense of its rogue nuclear program.
Japanese and South Korean news reports said North Korea is preparing an additional site for test-firing a long-range missile that experts say could be capable of striking the United States. Russia's deputy defense minister reportedly said it would shoot down any missile headed its way.
The warning of a military strike, carried by the North's state media, came hours after President Barack Obama declared North Korea a "grave threat" to the world and pledged that recent U.N. sanctions on the communist regime will be aggressively enforced.
Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met in Washington Tuesday for a landmark summit in which the two leaders agreed to build a regional and global "strategic alliance" to persuade North Korea to dismantle all its nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang claims its nuclear bombs are a deterrent against the United States and accuses Washington of plotting with Seoul to topple its secretive regime — led by the unpredictable dictator Kim Jong Il who is reportedly preparing to hand over power to his 26-year-old youngest son.
"If the U.S. and its followers infringe upon our republic's sovereignty even a bit, our military and people will launch a one hundred- or one thousand-fold retaliation with merciless military strike," the government-run Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary.
The commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, also called Obama "a hypocrite" for advocating a nuclear-free world while making "frantic efforts" to develop new nuclear weapons at home.
"The nuclear program is not the monopoly of the U.S.," it said.

[dixonbob]

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea threatened Wednesday to wipe the United States off the map as Washington and its allies watched for signs the regime will launch a series of missiles in the coming days.
Off China's coast, a U.S. destroyer was tailing a North Korean ship suspected of transporting illicit weapons to Myanmar in what could be the first test of U.N. sanctions passed to punish the nation for an underground nuclear test last month.
The Kang Nam left the North Korean port of Nampo a week ago with the USS John S. McCain close behind. The ship, accused of transporting banned goods in the past, is believed bound for Myanmar, according to South Korean and U.S. officials.
The new U.N. Security Council resolution requires member states to seek permission to inspect suspicious cargo. North Korea has said it would consider interception a declaration of war and on Wednesday accused the U.S. of seeking to provoke another Korean War.
"If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will ... wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all," the official Korean Central News Agency said.                 The warning came on the eve of the 59th anniversary of the start of the three-year Korean War, which end

[Coyote]

Have any of you seen the movie "Team America?"  If you haven't, please watch it....SO FUNNY!!  Depicts Kim Jong-il as the little goofball he really is.  It's by the South Park creators, so there you go.

[Geezer Glide Taz]

I really forsee this whole thing as the catalyst that starts World War III. Korea and Iran will join hands, which will suck China into it. Russia will see this as a way to regain its old regime.
The US Armed forces is going through a major draw down, because most of all its equipment is broke and instead of retrofitting the military, they are just going to take down units, and create a shell military....mmm repeating history, as we did this before WWI and WWII and we had to jump through our butts to rebuild. The bad news with this is, we had all the factories in our own country and were able to quickly build a new force.
All our industry is now over seas in the countries that will probably attack us.
OK, now that I have painted a grim picture, have a happy day   

[48fan]

You are so close to reality it hurts to think about it. We have been killing ourselves for many years by turning into a service society... Time will tell..

[dixonbob]

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea criticized the U.S. on Monday for positioning missile defense systems around Hawaii, calling the deployment part of a plot to attack the regime and saying it would bolster its nuclear arsenal in retaliation.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he ordered the deployment of a ground-based, mobile missile intercept system and radar system to Hawaii amid concerns the North may fire a long-range missile toward the islands, about 4,500 miles away.
"Through the U.S. forces' clamorous movements, it has been brought to light that the U.S. attempt to launch a pre-emptive strike on our republic has become a brutal fact," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary.
The paper also accused the U.S. of deploying nuclear-powered aircraft and atomic-armed submarines in waters near the Korean peninsula, saying the moves prove "the U.S. pre-emptive nuclear war" on the North is imminent.                 The commentary, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, said the North will bolster its nuclear arsenal in self-defens

[dixonbob]

I see storm clouds forming! This could get out of hand and become a nuke situatation. The worlds going to hell in a handbasket

[dixonbob]

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea fired two missiles off it eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, in yet another provocative move after U.N. sanctions were imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.
The missiles were fired between 8 a.m. (2300 GMT) and 8:30 a.m. (2330 GMT), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It did not say the range of the missiles.
"Our military is fully ready to counter any North Korean threats and provocations based on strong South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture," the statement said.
A Yonhap news agency report said North Korea fired two short-range missiles that appeared to be Scud missiles. The agency quoted a South Korean government official it did not identify. Yonhap originally reported the missiles were mid-range.
North Korea fired four short-range missiles off the east coast on Thursday.
Speculation had been high that the communist country might launch more missiles in coming days. North Korea had warned shipping to stay away from its east coast effective through July 10.
South Korea's military said Friday it was closely monitoring North Korean military sites, believing more missile launches were likely.
Saturday's launches came on July 4, or U.S. Independence Day. The North has a record of timing missile tests for the U.S. national day.

[dixonbob]

these people are really testing the United States and the United Nations.

[dixonbob]

Not only do I think Bill was a great great president look now what he has done for us. N Korea would only talk with him on the issue of the 2 ladies stuck in a filthy prison in a communist country. Bill brought them home! Again he has my kudos! GO BILL!!!!!!!!!

[dixonbob]

SEOUL, South Korea – The two Koreas briefly exchanged naval fire Tuesday along their disputed western sea border, with a North Korean ship suffering heavy damage before retreating, South Korean military officials said.
There were no South Korean casualties, the country's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, and it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties on the North Korean side.
The North's patrol boat crossed the disputed western sea border Tuesday morning, drawing warning shots from a South Korean navy vessel, the statement said. The North Korean boat then opened fire and the South's ship returned fire before the North's vessel sailed back toward its waters, the statement said.
The North Korean ship was seriously damaged in the skirmish while the South Korean ship was unscathed, a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
There was no immediate comment from North Korea on the clash.
Navies of the two Koreas fought deadly skirmishes along the western sea border in 1999 and 2002.
No South Korean sailors were killed in 1999, but six south Korean sailors were killed in 2002, according to the South Korean navy. It said exact North Korean causalities remain unclear.