"Thousands of South Korean troops start naval drills; North alleges a military provocation" by Jin-man Lee, Associated Press | August 6, 2010
ABOARD THE ROK DOKDO — South Korean troops fired artillery and dropped sonar buoys into the Yellow Sea as naval drills kicked off yesterday near the spot where a warship sank four months ago.
Some 4,500 South Korean troops aboard more than 20 ships and submarines as well as about 50 aircraft were mobilized for the five days of naval exercises off the west coast, including spots near the two Koreas’ maritime border, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
North Korea called the drills a military provocation that threatened to reignite war on the peninsula.
“If the puppet warmongers dare ignite a war, [North Korea] will mercilessly destroy the provokers and their stronghold by mobilizing most powerful war tactics and offensive means beyond imagination,’’ the ruling Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The agency reiterated the committee’s message in a separate report later yesterday, warning that North Korea will retaliate at “even the slightest sign of attack.’’
Soldiers aboard the 14,000-ton ROK Dokdo, an amphibious landing ship, patrolled the deck as Lynx helicopters dropped sonar devices into the sea in search of enemy submarines. A 1,200-ton frigate remained on standby, ready to bomb the target.
The fleet dispatched for the exercises also include three 1,800-ton submarines, a 4,500-ton destroyer, and some 50 fighter jets, Commander Won Hyung-sik of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in Seoul.
The drills come just weeks after South Korea’s joint military exercises with the United States off the east coast — maneuvers held in response to the March sinking of the Cheonan warship, which killed 46 South Korean sailors.
A five-nation team of investigators concluded in May that a North Korean torpedo fired from a submarine sank the 1,200-ton Cheonan as the warship carried out routine surveillance. North Korea denied sinking the ship.
The waters off the west coast have been the site of several naval clashes between the two Koreas, most recently in November 2009....
And here is hoping, right?
North Korea routinely issues such threats, especially when the South holds joint military drills with the United States. Pyongyang sees the exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion. The United States has 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect the longtime Asian ally.
South Korea was closely monitoring North Korea’s military but spotted no unusual activity yesterday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
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Yeah, the old man isn't as nutty and as unpredictable as the MSM had you believe -- especially when he is trying to smoothly pass of power to the kid.
War sure as hell does not benefit him or his legacy at this time -- but cui bono, readers?
"N. Korea captures boat from the South" by Chico Harlan, Washington Post | August 9, 2010
SEOUL — In a move that could agitate already-tense relations on a divided peninsula, North Korea yesterday seized a South Korean fishing boat that had apparently sailed into an East Sea zone the North views as its own.
The false-flaggers sent a fishing boat over to provoke a conflict?
Yup, FISHING AROUND for a f***ing WAR!
The boat, carrying seven people, is being held by North Korean authorities, the South’s Coast Guard said in a statement.
The seizure occurred at a time of fierce dispute between the North and South....
The South’s five-day military drills end today....
According to one report in the South Korean media, the boat was operating in a maritime area shared by North Korea and Russia, about 160 miles off the North Korean coast....
Looks like a VIOLATION of their waters to me!
In a separate development yesterday, South Korea’s president, Lee Myung-bak, appointed the nation’s youngest prime minister in 39 years yesterday in a Cabinet reshuffle that retained a tough policy on North Korea.
Under U.S. thumb.
The prime minister-designate, Kim Tae-ho, who will turn 48 on Aug. 21, will lead a Cabinet filled with career bureaucrats and politicians in their 50s and 60s in a society that values seniority.
Kim, who served as a popular governor of South Gyeongsang Province on the southern coast for two consecutive terms until June, is little known outside his home province.
SEOUL — North Korea fired about 110 rounds of artillery yesterday near its disputed sea border with South Korea, the South’s military said, amid high tension over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea.
Gee, they worked that ship sinking in right quick.
The fusillade erupted after South Korea ended five days of naval drills off the west coast....
And how many rounds they fire?
All the artillery shells landed harmlessly in the North’s waters and caused no damage to the South, a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
If it happened (a poor and impoverished nation wasting valuable artillery?) it was a waste.
South Korea considered the firing part of a military drill by North Korea but still bolstered its military readiness against further provocation, the officer said.
Yeah, I guess they also should be allowed to have them.
The South also warned Pyongyang over the firing by naval radio, he said.
“This was their way of saying, ‘We’ll respond to military drills with military drills,’ ’’ said Yang Moo Jin, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies.
The firing is also aimed at highlighting the instability of the Korean peninsula to pressure the United States to start talks on signing a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, Yang said.
Doesn't he know the U.S. can not be pressured (except by that one special country) -- especially towards peace?
The conflict ended with an armistice, leaving the peninsula technically at a state of war. North Korea has long sought a peace treaty and diplomatic relations with Washington to guarantee that the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, would not invade and topple Kim Jong Il’s government. The United States has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking the North.
But we WON'T AGREE to NOT DO IT, either!
Tension on the Korean peninsula is running high....
Good thing the war games are over.
You guys didn't happen to leave anything behind in the water. did you?
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