North Korea attacks South Korea.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/2 ... 87294.html


SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea shot dozens of rounds of artillery onto a populated South Korean island near their disputed western border Tuesday, military officials said, setting buildings on fire and prompting South Korea to return fire and scramble fighter jets.

The skirmish came amid tension over North Korea's claim that it has a new uranium enrichment facility and just over a month after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il unveiled his youngest son Kim Jong Un as his heir apparent

South Korea's YTN television said two people were injured, several houses were on fire and shells were still falling on Yeonpyeong island. The station broadcast pictures of thick columns of black smoke rising from the island.

Yonhap news agency, quoting a military official, said four soldiers were wounded. President Lee Myung-bak ordered officials to make sure that the firing wouldn't escalate, according to Yonhap, quoting a presidential official. YTN said between 1,200 and 1,300 people live on the island, citing an island resident.

A South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official said dozens of rounds of artillery landed on the island and in the sea. The official says South Korea fired back. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of JCS rules, said South Korea's military is on alert. He had no other details, and could not confirm the reports of casualties.

The firing comes amid tension over North Korea's claim that it has a new uranium enrichment facility and just over a month after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il unveiled his youngest son Kim Jong Un as his heir apparent.

Tensions between the two Koreas also remain tense after the sinking in March of a South Korean warship in which 46 sailors died. Seoul has blamed a North Korean torpedo, while Pyongyang has denied any responsibility.

The countries' western maritime boundary has long been a flash point between the two Koreas. The North does not recognize the border that was unilaterally drawn by the United Nations at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War.

North and South Korea have fought three bloody skirmishes near the maritime border in recent years, most recently in November 2009.

 

Also this.

South Korea considers return of US tactical weapons



South Korea's defence minister today raised the possibility that US nuclear weapons could be deployed in his country for the first time in nearly 20 years, after it was revealed that Pyongyang had built an advanced uranium enrichment plant.

Kim Tae-young was speaking to a parliamentary committee about the North Korea plant, when he was asked whether the government would consider the return of US tactical weapons for the first time since they were withdrawn by President George Bush Sr in 1991.

He replied that the matter would be "reviewed" by a joint US-Korean committee on deterrence set up last month. His remarks drew attention as the issue has been treated as taboo in the highly-charged atmosphere of the Korean peninsular.

Korean government officials were anxious to play down the significance of his comments, and insisted the taboo remained in place. A Korean defence ministry statement said the redeployment of nuclear weapons had not so far been raised. The Pentagon said there were no immediate plans to redeploy nuclear weapons in South Korea.

The US envoy on Korea, Stephen Bosworth, who was in Seoul for talks on the deteriorating situation, also said that talks were still possible, despite the discovery of the plant, which was shown to an American nuclear scientist by the North Koreans earlier this month.

"This is not a crisis, we are not surprised," Bosworth said, on the first leg of an east Asia tour. Asked whether six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear programmes could be salvaged, he said: "My crystal ball is foggy but I would never declare any process dead. We have hope that we will be able to resuscitate [them]."

Even before the visit of Siegfried Hecker, the former chief of the US nuclear weapons laboratory at Los Alamos, to the North Korea enrichment plant, the US and South Korea had insisted that the regime would have to cease other nuclear activities and apologise for the sinking of a South Korean warship before the stalled six-party negotiations could resume.

Hecker said the enrichment plant at Yongbyon, near Pyongyang, had up to 2,000 centrifuges and was surprisingly modern. He said it appeared to be designed for the production of low enriched nuclear fuel for power stations, but acknowledged it could easily be reconfigured to make highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.

 

Does anyone see a WWIII scenerio escalating from this?

 

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJQU-IbVwv4&feature=related[/video]

 

Obama Sends Aircraft Carrier to South Korea After North’s Attack

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-1 ... ttack.html

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. sent an aircraft carrier to take part in exercises off the Korean Peninsula in a show of strength after North Korea fired artillery onto South Korean soil for the first time in half a century.

President Barack Obama talked with South Korean counterpart Lee Myung Bak for 30 minutes by phone and dispatched the USS George Washington from Japan today to take part in the drills. These will take place off the South’s western coast from Nov. 28-Dec. 1, the U.S. Forces Korea said in an e-mailed statement. There are about 25,000 American troops stationed in South Korea.

“The United States stands shoulder to shoulder with our close friend and ally,” Obama told Lee, according to a White House statement. North Korea must stop its “provocative actions, which will only lead to further isolation.” The two leaders agreed that further sanctions against North Korea may be necessary, Lee’s office said in a statement.

South Korea raised its military alert status to the second- highest level after North Korea yesterday fired onto the island of Yeonpyeong, killing two soldiers and injuring 20, including four civilians, Defense Minister Kim Tae Young said today in Seoul. Two dead civilians were found on the island after the attack, said a Coast Guard official, who declined to be named in line with government policy.

It was the North’s first land attack on its rival since the 1950-53 Korean War.

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi Index fell 0.2 percent to 1,925.98, after earlier dropping as much as 2.4 percent. Defense-related companies surged. The won dropped to a two-month low against the dollar.

Rising Tensions

Tensions with Kim Jong Il’s regime have risen in the past year after the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March killed 46 sailors. Obama this week dispatched envoy Stephen Bosworth to Asia after a U.S. scientist reported that North Korea said it had built a uranium-enrichment plant.

“The combination of the enrichment revelations and then this artillery attack really make it a front-burner issue” for the U.S., said Victor Cha, who holds the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

North Korea fired about 170 artillery shells, 90 of which landed in the water, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Lee ordered his administration to see if the military’s battle manuals can be revised to “respond more actively” to provocations and bolstered military capabilities on islands on the western border, according to a statement from his office.

Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan today called the incident a “barbaric act.” His government will consider fresh sanctions against North Korea, Economy Minister Banri Kaieda said.

Japan’s Korean Residents

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said the government may exclude North Korean citizens from tuition subsidies at high schools. Japan in May tightened controls on sending money to North Korea in response to the Cheonan sinking, lowering the cap on undeclared cash transfers to 3 million yen ($36,000) from 10 million yen.

Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. said they suspended business travel to South Korea as a result of yesterday’s attack.

Before speaking with Lee, Obama met in the White House Situation Room with National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen and United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, the White House said.

Obama’s challenge is to get China to put more pressure on North Korea, said Cha, a former deputy head of the U.S. delegation to the six-party talks involving the U.S., China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and North Korea. Those talks are aimed at getting the government in Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

China’s Influence

Obama said in an interview with ABC News that China needs to do more to make North Korea abide by international rules. China is North Korea’s biggest economic and political ally.

“We hope the parties do more to contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing yesterday.

North Korea initiated the exchange of artillery fire, Bosworth told reporters in Beijing yesterday after meeting with Chinese officials.

North Korea accused South Korea of opening fire first and warned of more “merciless military attacks” if its territory is violated. The North Korean army’s Supreme Command made the statement via the official Korean Central News Agency.

“The North Korean issue is a tinder box for the region,” said Gavin Parry, managing director of Hong Kong-based Parry International Trading Ltd. “They like to saber-rattle for attention, but on the heels of a nuclear inspection that indicated they could have bomb capabilities, markets can’t afford to ignore any instability for the region.”

 

The US is really the axis of evil itself. I'm sure tensions are rising. and the threat of war is made more possible by our amazing democratic elect Barrack Obama. China called for calm amongst both ends, and to me that seems reasonable, but western "democracy" must prevail, Obama is kissing too much right wing ass, and at this point seems like he wants to be a war-time president. Really the best choice, to me at least is letting this boil over, not showing US imperialism by sending in an aircraft carrier to run drills with south Korea. Fuck this is a dangerous situation. This is why sometimes, I wish, like minded people would actually "hold" office. If an all out war is to happen, I hope it is met with as much, or even more resistance than with the first Korean war was met. The Black Bloc needs to take a strong stand in the anti-war protests. If there's more of a time then ever for revolutionary thinking and tactics in America, that time is now.