US Military on High Alert As North Korea ends Truce

[The Hope Mobile]

Source: Truthout/AP


US Military On High Alert as North Korea Ends Truce

Jae-Soon Chang, The Associated Press: "The US and South Korea put their military
forces on high alert Thursday after North Korea renounced the truce keeping the peace
between the two Koreas since 1953. The North also accused the US of preparing to attack
the isolated communist country in the wake of its second nuclear bomb test, and warned it
would retaliate to any hostility with 'merciless' and dangerous ferocity.



Read more: http://www.truthout.org/052809R

---

Lets get in another war! That makes sense with our now limited manpower and resources!!

[No Elephants]

1. Thank God they're not already spread way too thin. Oh, wait.....

[The Hope Mobile]

20. Exactly! nt

[Deja Q]

2. NK's leader is acting like a rotten bully.

We're part of the world too, but many countries have expressed more than concern about the situation and it's not quite anti-US sentiment, sorry to burst peoples' bubbles.

But I agree, we shouldn't be the world's policeman.

[proteus_lives]

11. I don't think that we should be the world police either but...

Korea is not Iraq, it's a dangerous situation and we have a long-standing alliance with South Korea. We wouldn't leave Britain, Japan or Israel in a lurch either.

If that crazy midget up North decides to try anything stupid, the first force will a US/SK united front.

[The Hope Mobile]

21. It IS a very different situation than Iraq. My point was that

we're not really able to take on another war on another front when the two wars for oil that we're already in have depleted our resources.

[proteus_lives]

22. We might not have a choice in that situation.

If NK attacks the South, we have to defend them. It's not an option. It would suck but I don't see our government reacting differently in that situation.

[The Hope Mobile]

24. I understand that and I don't see how it could be different now either

It's just my way of venting my frustration and stating my fears. This could be disastrous for us and there's little we can do about it . . . but its more infuriating because it wasn't necessary for us to spread ourselves thin, destroy our economy and our reputation . . . you know, the usual frustrations around here. :banghead: :rant: :scared: :grr:

[proteus_lives]

26. The rant is understandable.

It bugs the hell out of me too. We've spread ourselves too thin and we reduced our ability to help in an area where we are actually needed and wanted. Sigh....

[The Hope Mobile]

27. Exactly!

Great minds think alike I guess!:hi:

[proteus_lives]

33. Got it in one!

:fistbump:

[ddiver]

3. I think lil kim will attack a ship in the next few weeks.

There are more than enough "disputed" waters around NK/SK. I'm not psychic, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. Depending which ship it is, he may be in for a nasty surprise

[tclambert]

10. Good call, and welcome to DU.

Yeah, a repeat of the 1968 Pueblo incident. That sounds very possible.

If anybody cares, North Korea keeps the USS Pueblo on display in Pyongyang as a tourist attraction.

[amandabeech]

14. LOL!!!! And welcome to DU! n/t

[Joanne98]

4. South Korea elected a conservative and he's already starting shit.

Let them deal with it!

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. BS. The new Gov quit giving in to the Elvis impersonator in the north

Kim is having a hissy fit that someone might tell him no and expect him to live up to agreements. His population is still starving

[newinnm]

34. What shit did he start?

[psychopomp]

37. War on the peninsula would be highly destabilizing

At the very least, it would be difficult for Japan to remain neutral given the outright hostility and threats that have been directed at Japan by Kim for the last fourteen some-odd years. Throw in Russia and China for good measure and you see why the US has to help resolve this matter.

[tclambert]

5. Think of it as a jobs program.

We'll have to hire lots more mercenaries! Big profits for Xe (Blackwater) and Halliburton! And we can look forward to M*A*S*H 2!

See? If you squint real hard and turn your head all the way around, you CAN find a silver lining.

[L0oniX]

6. If the Korean war was a UN thing, why are they not there? Why are we there but not them?

:crazy:

[proteus_lives]

9. Because of the truth of matter is...

The UN can't be trusted to run a lemonade stand let alone a demilitarized zone.

[tabasco]

13. The UN is operating dozens of peacekeeping and humanitarian operations

around the world.

http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/bnote.htm

Meanwhile, you sit on your ass at the computer.

Your statement is uninformed and stupid.

Hurry back with more of Pimple Ass's talking points!

[proteus_lives]

17. Yeah, they hand out food and meds (after the killing stops)

But Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Sudan, Congo, Timor, I/P, Somalia, etc. Sorry, I have no faith in the UN's ability to prevent or halt conflicts.

[Selatius]

19. Problem is in all of those examples you mentioned, somebody vetoed UN action on the Security Council

The US was not about to OK a mission into Rwanda during the genocide, for instance, since it just got out of a messy affair in Somalia that Clinton didn't want becoming another potential Viet Nam. The US representative on the Security Council at the time took the step of explicitly not calling it a genocide in order to avoid invoking Security Council protocols that would spring them into action.

[sofa king]

42. I concur.

You don't hear much about wars on the Golan Heights or in East Timor or Cyprus because the UN is sitting on those places hard enough to keep them quiet. Take them out of those places, and it would be a different story.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Selatius]

12. There are no good options left. North Korea has WMD as leverage.

Preferably, we don't go to war with a country armed with nukes.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. They have no reliable delivery systems.

And I expect they will get seriously spanked if the try anything with conventional weapons.

[Selatius]

18. Probably true, but they could easily plant one in front of us given their subterranean tunnels.

North Korea is almost literally honeycombed with underground bunkers and other facilities. They learned a harsh lesson in the last war and as a result began massive tunneling underground. We don't even know exactly how many underground facilities there are and where.

[Raskolnik]

29. But Seoul is within spitting distance of the DMZ,

so it wouldn't take a terribly sophisticated delivery system.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

30. If they are intent on self immolation there is little that can be done

Somehow I think the 1st and 2nd tier NK leadership is smarter than that and would prevent Lil Elvis from doing that

[Raskolnik]

31. I hope that's the case, but I don't know that it is certain. n/t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

32. You never do, which is why Lil Elvis and other unstable nations should not be allowed in the nuclear

club

[midnight armadillo]

40. It's called "artillery"

From a Reuters article in 2006:
South Korea's Defense Ministry said the North had amassed more than 13,000 pieces of artillery and multiple rocket launchers, much of it aimed at Seoul.


I seem to recall much of this stuff is hidden in tunnels and mountainsides and is very, very hard to find.

[totodeinhere]

16. Isn't it about time that we withdrew our troops from Korea?

Heck, the South Koreans are richer than we are. We are running a hugh budget deficit as we all know. They are not. They should be able to pay for and handle their own defense. Plus if we withdrew it would remove one of the North Koreans' main talking points and it might lead to a more peaceful situation than we have now.

[TheWatcher]

23. Because the US Must Police The World and spread democracy to every corner of it.

Like we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Get with the Program Citizen!

America! FUCK YEAH!

:sarcasm:

I'm MUCH more worried about US doing something stupid than Krazy Kim.

NK is just posturing at this point.

We've already gone ABOVE and BEYOND to prove how stupid we are willing to be.

[Raskolnik]

28. "I'm MUCH more worried about US doing something stupid than Krazy Kim."

Really? Who do you think is responsible for the current escalation of tensions?

[nolabels]

36. Steady as she goes mate

Second guessing your own moves while the offending party flails about looking for it's last gasp is not how to do it.

NK is getting so insular and isolated that one can even smell collapse from across the ocean

[TheWatcher]

38. And which nation has been invading soveregin countries, killing a million Iraqi's, and has

actually USED Nuclear Weapons, and because of the last dictator in chief, now holds the onus to use the them PRE-EMPTIVELY whenever we damn well feel like it?

Not to mention using Torture as POLICY, and not even bothering to prosecute those responsible?

North Korea has done nothing but posture.

Kim is nuts, but he's NOT going to commit suicide.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Meanwhile, our country has gone above and beyond to demonstrate it's stupidity through ACTIONS, not posturing.

And I've seen enough.

[newinnm]

35. Thats really an asinine statement!!!

[Kablooie]

39. WWIII here we come! Yahoooeeeeee!! (As Slim Pickens so aptly put it)

[sofa king]

41. The North Koreans love their rhetoric.

This is one of the things that's taken me years to understand. A number of Asian nations, China and North Korea most notably, like to spice up their diplomatic relations approach with extremely belligerent monologues, backed by unnerving actions. Both of those countries have in the past ratcheted up tensions specifically to test a new American President.

More or less as Joe Biden predicted.

In the case of North Korea, it really doesn't matter what they say or what they do short of war. It has long been assumed that they would not honor any agreements which were not beneficial to them. If they want a war, they'll start it, and they sure as hell won't tip us off by repudiating an agreement we never expected them to honor without the promise of massive retaliation. They're probably just throwing poo around their cage in hopes of scoring some food next winter.