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South Korea's Navy launched an anti-submarine drill off its west coast Thursday in its first show of military force amid escalating tensions with North Korea, which was found responsible for the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, military officials said.
About 10 warships, including a 3,000-ton KDX-I destroyer and three patrol ships, participated in the one-day drill, but it was held away from the Yellow Sea border near where the Cheonan was torn in two by the North's torpedo attack
With discord building up further, South Korea and the U.S. upgraded their alert level on the North to the second-highest level.
So far, the South's military has said there has been no abnormal activity by the North's military.
Originally posted by freetree64
reply to post by princeofpeace
So your telling me, I'm stuck with 20,000 "Stick it to Kim" T-Shirts....
Originally posted by Vitchilo
Now I'm off to watch again the SKorean movie ``Brotherhood of War``, excellent movie about the Korean war.
Originally posted by Nomad451
Yeah I'm not one of the mentioned ATS members who will be disappointed that there is no war, but I'm curious as to why you think its all over?
There is no visible military activity from the north, I don't really find that to be overwhelming indication that this is finished and there will be no war. Anything can still happen unfortunately...
I'll be saying "yay no war" when it is completely 100% over and done with finished no more to see!
If any of you want to have some fun reading the North Korea propaganda, here's their official news site
All seems good, no war...yay.
South Korea's presidential office said Thursday it will decide the timing and scale of widely expected changes in military leadership, depending on the results of an ongoing state audit into its handling of the March sinking of a South Korean naval ship.
I cant reveal my sources, but i promise-no war right now
time will let you know if i was telling you the truth if you choose not to believe now.
If the south Korean puppet forces show any sign of the slightest provocation, political, military and economic, against the DPRK, backed by the U.S. imperialists, we will immediately react to them by the just tactics of wiping out one by one, eliminate all rubbish of the nation from the Korean Peninsula and build on it rich and powerful reunified Korea where all Koreans enjoy prosperity.
But this isn’t quite the meltdown it appears to be. While Kim is publicly holding firm, behind the scenes his government seems to be trying to find a way out of the fracas. Its language has become more moderate, it may be contemplating an apology, and it may already have punished a naval commander in connection with the torpedo attack. That means the crisis is likely to fall far short of the “all-out war” the North initially promised. The softer side of Kim Jong-il’s regime, it seems, wants out of this crisis, stat.
Pyongyang has already begun laying the groundwork for an apology. In May—before the North was officially blamed for sinking the Cheonan—the National Defense Commission dismissed KimIl-chol, its highest-ranking naval officer, due to his “old age.” Kim Il-chol is said to be in his late 70s, but the dismissal makes little sense; the commission is full of old-timers in their 70s and 80s. The removal of the naval commander could be Pyongyang’s first step toward admitting culpability, albeit tacitly, and claiming to have punished the responsible party.
There are still plenty of signs of North Korean hawkishness, such as the CPRK announcement that the nation would sever all ties with the South—but these only mirror similar statements from Seoul. Pyongyang says it will no longer deal with the South while Lee is in office, but, just as likely, that is a message directed to China, calling for Beijing to mediate and sort things out for them. First, says Quinones, “there’s a gradual trend toward greater moderation, away from escalating the rhetoric. Secondly it appears the North Koreans are reacting rather than trying to seize the upper hand. And third, they seem to be trying to keep some hope open for eventual negotiations.”
The remaining problem is the level of discipline and restraint among the Korean People’s Army, as it still remains unclear whether the torpedo attack was directly ordered by Kim Jong-il. During his visit to Beijing earlier in May, Kim reportedly told Chinese President Hu Jintao that the North had no involvement with the torpedo incident. Given the close relationship of the two countries, it’s less likely that Kim would have lied but entirely conceivable that the attack could have been ordered by someone lower in the chain of command without his knowledge. If that’s true, Seoul’s decision to blast anti-North propaganda cross the DMZ could be a problem, as a commander of the KPA threatened to shoot down the loudspeakers if the South turns them back on next month. If lower-ranking members of the KPA take matters into their own hands, they could thwart upper-echelon attempts to stanch the flame war. But as long as Kim can do so without looking weak, he seems to be serious about finding a way out.
Originally posted by john124
Kim Jong-il is looking for a way out of the showdown his government caused by sinking South Korea’s warship.
But this isn’t quite the meltdown it appears to be. While Kim is publicly holding firm, behind the scenes his government seems to be trying to find a way out of the fracas. Its language has become more moderate, it may be contemplating an apology, and it may already have punished a naval commander in connection with the torpedo attack. That means the crisis is likely to fall far short of the “all-out war” the North initially promised. The softer side of Kim Jong-il’s regime, it seems, wants out of this crisis, stat.
Pyongyang has already begun laying the groundwork for an apology. In May—before the North was officially blamed for sinking the Cheonan—the National Defense Commission dismissed KimIl-chol, its highest-ranking naval officer, due to his “old age.” Kim Il-chol is said to be in his late 70s, but the dismissal makes little sense; the commission is full of old-timers in their 70s and 80s. The removal of the naval commander could be Pyongyang’s first step toward admitting culpability, albeit tacitly, and claiming to have punished the responsible party.
There are still plenty of signs of North Korean hawkishness, such as the CPRK announcement that the nation would sever all ties with the South—but these only mirror similar statements from Seoul. Pyongyang says it will no longer deal with the South while Lee is in office, but, just as likely, that is a message directed to China, calling for Beijing to mediate and sort things out for them. First, says Quinones, “there’s a gradual trend toward greater moderation, away from escalating the rhetoric. Secondly it appears the North Koreans are reacting rather than trying to seize the upper hand. And third, they seem to be trying to keep some hope open for eventual negotiations.”
The remaining problem is the level of discipline and restraint among the Korean People’s Army, as it still remains unclear whether the torpedo attack was directly ordered by Kim Jong-il. During his visit to Beijing earlier in May, Kim reportedly told Chinese President Hu Jintao that the North had no involvement with the torpedo incident. Given the close relationship of the two countries, it’s less likely that Kim would have lied but entirely conceivable that the attack could have been ordered by someone lower in the chain of command without his knowledge. If that’s true, Seoul’s decision to blast anti-North propaganda cross the DMZ could be a problem, as a commander of the KPA threatened to shoot down the loudspeakers if the South turns them back on next month. If lower-ranking members of the KPA take matters into their own hands, they could thwart upper-echelon attempts to stanch the flame war. But as long as Kim can do so without looking weak, he seems to be serious about finding a way out.
It will come down to whether the commander's on the ground on the north's side fire the first shots without direct orders. I fear this to be a likely spiralling effect.
[edit on 26-5-2010 by john124]
I rest my case............
Originally posted by john124
reply to post by princeofpeace
I rest my case............
Your source is newsweek?? Why didn't you just say so, instead of trying to take credit for someone else's source? Because that's how it appears.
Your earlier post was odd because you claimed to have a "secret" source, not because you didn't think there'd be war.
At least the author on newsweek doesn't jump to conclusions and analyses both scenarios. Not even Kim Jong Il will know for sure if his trigger happy commanders will start a war themselves. They may have been responsible for the torpedoeing in March, and it may not be limited to the officer removed from his command posting.