South Korea on alert as tension grows

Well this is Bush's new "Axis of Evil"

Syria, Iran and North Korea.

It's good to see Obama has broken away from his predecessors policies by replacing Syria with Venezuela in that axis of evil. Indeed Barry Soetoro is a man of peace.

Obama: U.S. Ready to Fight North Korea
abcnews.go.com...

This sort of posturing is escalated but is similar to tactical alerts in the 2nd Infantry Division. It was common for the US Army 2nd ID to go on alert. Maybe a plane flew too close to the border, or infiltrators tried to swim across the Imjin river. A few swimmers from the north were taken out by mines when I was attending a portion of the Korean Rangers school, and I heard a few soldiers got killed on the DMZ in 'training accidents' (probing patrols each side did to test the responsiveness on the other side).

The difference is that the 2nd ID alerts were tactical, and the issue has become strategic.

The Korean Won exchange rate went from 1,109 to 1,196 this month. www.exchange-rates.org...

Though this still might be posturing, it is certainly bringing the world closer to the realization that there will probably, within the next few years, be a war on the Korean peninsula.

My question is, what is China's role in stoking the flames, here? Students of history remember that the main reason there are two Koreas today is because of Chinese involvement in the First Korean Conflict. Notice, if they go to war, we are going to start having to throw "First" in front of the name.

Just as a reflection, isn't it funny that, the more things change, the more they stay the same? Two wars in the Gulf, two wars in Korea, Iran making trouble, Israel about to go to war with its neighbors, Russians pressuring eastern Europe... and, even though they bad mouth the United States all the time, as soon as something bad happens, the rest of the world comes sprinting to the United States when TSHTF

Look, I am usually a bit of a hawk, so take the next statement in that light... Dear Mr. President, stop the saber rattling and take the thing out of its scabbard. Show the world the true nature of the only superpower on Earth.

Of course, with Obama in charge, things will just continue to unravel. Such a shame...

My uncle was a combat engineer in the Korean War. He said the Chinese were coming over the hills like ants. He said they had their machine guns layed out to where they would shoot one till the barrel got hot then move to the next one and then the next one and the next one.
Truman should of let McArthur go up into China for killing our troops. My uncle didn't care for Ridgeway.

Hopefully this is just more bluffing by both sides.

www.bloomberg.com...

North Korea Severs Ties With South on Ship Sinking (Update3)

By Bomi Lim and Nicole Gaouette

May 26 (Bloomberg)
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“There is no need to show any mercy or patience for such confrontation maniacs,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported late yesterday. North Korea will “abrogate the agreement on non-aggression” and handle all issues with South Korea under wartime law.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told the military to be combat-ready in a message that coincided with the announcement, a Seoul-based dissident group reported, prompting the Korean won to weaken 3 percent against the dollar and the Kospi stock index to fall to the lowest in more than three months yesterday.
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Kim’s military order was broadcast on May 20 by O Kuk Ryol, vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, according to the website of North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, a group run by defectors from the communist country.

“For Kim Jong Il to be giving such an order is pretty serious,” said Kim Yong Hyun, professor of North Korean studies at Seoul-based Dongguk University, adding that he doubted that such a direct order was given.
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While Kim doesn’t want war, North Korea is ready to counter any attacks, O said in the message, according to the dissident group, which cited an unidentified person in the country. The organization was among the first in South Korea to report on North Korea’s botched currency revaluation late last year.
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