2 Hours until S.Korea Launches Propaganda Balloons into N.Korea

S. Korea Prepares to Evacuate DMZ Citizens After Threat

South Korea is preparing to evacuate more than 800 residents along the demilitarized zone after North Korea threatened to fire on activists planning to send balloons across the border carrying leaflets critical of the communist regime.

Doom on?

VIDEO: S.KOREA ON HIGHEST STATE OF ALERT

VIDEO

(ATTN: ADDS more details on safety precautions in last 3 paras) SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military said Sunday that its troops are on heightened readiness to deal resolutely with any provocation from North Korea over the planned sending of propaganda leaflets this week by local civic groups.

North Korea warned on Friday it will launch a "merciless military strike" without warning if Seoul allows anti-North activists to send provocative leaflets to the communist country, according to a dispatch from the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Baloon Drop confirmed

in 2 hours time

Countdown clock

I predict...

Zero, drama from this. N. Korea is a lot of talk - not so much on action.

Monday 22 October 2012, Weather forecast for South Korea Seoul region

6am - 12am

Heavy Showers and Thunderstorms

Weather

maybe this will force cancellation of event

Can anyone confirm if there are any nearby US carrier groups in that region?

I'm sure Kim-Jong-Un is $#!t scared of balloons.

Maybe the South Koreans should consider sending balloons over with i-phones attached. The i-phones could be pre-loaded with "Team America. World police".

Regarding what is available for the US Navy, I'm checking on the carriers. The big ones aren't on this list that I saw. The little flattops are though and a few are in West-Pac or soon heading there from the West Coast.

U.S. navy - Deployment Status - Commander, Western Pacific.

Correction to add locations:

Map of Pacific Fleet Disposition

Sasebo and Yokosuka both look like they have quite a bit if Kim got frisky...and absolutely enough to call anything he did an act directly against US as well as Japan. 25,000 (roughly) U.S. troops sit in South Korea, so that's a given already for it being us as well.

WASHINGTON--Two aircraft carrier strike groups of the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet have been deployed since mid-September to the Western Pacific in an apparent attempt to keep the activities of the Chinese military in check amid growing Japan-China tension over the Senkaku Islands.

The two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are the USS George Washington, based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and the USS John C. Stennis, based on the U.S. west coast. The command of the 7th Fleet is also located in Yokosuka.

It is unusual for the U.S. Navy to simultaneously deploy two strike groups each comprising an aircraft carrier and escort ships to the West Pacific. Analysts believe the move is aimed to hold the Chinese military in check in light of the recent tension between Tokyo and Beijing over the islands in Okinawa Prefecture in the East China Sea. The deployment is also believed to be a response to China's launch of its first aircraft carrier in September.

Source

Looks like the Stennis and the George Bush are both in the Western Pacific..although a mental note...the Nuclear Carriers do not show up on the .gov Navy site on their other Pacific fleet data. maybe the CVBG's are considered commands more or less unto themselves? I don't know..but an interesting thing to note for hunting the data the next time.

oh Nena



Hope N. Korea leadership remains calm.

One hour, thirteen minutes to go at the time I posted this.

Originally posted by OccamAssassin
I'm sure Kim-Jong-Un is $#!t scared of balloons.

Maybe the South Koreans should consider sending balloons over with i-phones attached. The i-phones could be pre-loaded with "Team America. World police".

Ahaha! That would be priceless.

That movie was funny when it came out. Then I got a little older and saw the similarities of how the US "helps" everyone else. Blowing stuff up and calling it a day with a party and cocktails. They made the world a safer place.

Originally posted by RizeorDie
Can anyone confirm if there are any nearby US carrier groups in that region?

CVN-73 George Washington is in the South China Sea.
USS George Washington

And one last tidbit for the real nerds among us who just gotta have status on everything. lol... It took me a couple minutes to find a GOOD explanation describing what each level means. Camp Humphreys, which is one of the big bases over there, is currently at Threat Condition Bravo out of a 4 stage system topping with Delta. This explains it in detail..

U.S. Base Defense Condition information

and the Camp Humphreys home page. Current Threat condition set for the base is in the upper right. Can't miss it.

Camp Humphreys

Please, any vet correct me on anything I'm off for...but failing one dropping by...How I read this is simple enough.

Threatcon Alpha is 100% peace time and all is happy and dandy. Dogs and Cats are getting along everywhere one looks.

Bravo means there are terrorists out there somewhere... May be in town or may be 10,000 miles away. They're out there somewhere though...so shhh..... watch! ..but don't flip out or anything.

Charlie means they are expecting something as likely or imminent and odds are no one has to be told..as I doubt anyone is freely moving on and off post at that point.

Delta is what I saw on Stateside bases after 9/11 from the truck...and basically means a state of war already exists and if you're in a hurry to get on post... toooo bad. Patience is a virtue and you're getting good practice with it.

Reports just in, North Korean Air Forces on full alert, scrambling all available warplanes -

just in time?

UN chief congratulates Korea on Security Council entry

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday after his native country won membership with the U.N. Security Council and the right to host the secretariat of an international climate fund.

10-22-2012 10:08

KoreaTimes

DOOM OFF

Police and Military blocked everyone from going to launch site

reply to post by RizeorDie


Don't they know how many sea turtles that propaganda is going to kill?!!?!?!?!

Originally posted by Golf66
I predict...

Zero, drama from this. N. Korea is a lot of talk - not so much on action.

Fair point... it's not like they'd ever... oh, I don't know... open fire on an island or anything!!!!!

[/end sarcasm]

10:13 here, when are they dropping it exactly? Is there a live stream of the event?

reply to post by FidelityMusic


Ok 3:33 min. to WWW III
Ok OK here the second line
in 1:11 now

Originally posted by Trillium
reply to post by FidelityMusic

 

Ok 3:33 min. to WWW III
Ok OK here the second line

in 1:11 now

edit on 21-10-2012 by Trillium because: (no reason given)

Mark MacKinnon/马凯 ‏@markmackinnon
RT @W7VOA: Yonhap reporting provocative civil balloon launch at Imjingak canceled. #Korea

twitter.com...

S.Korea Backed Down

No WW3

Originally posted by RizeorDie
Monday 22 October 2012, Weather forecast for South Korea Seoul region

6am - 12am

Heavy Showers and Thunderstorms

Weather

maybe this will force cancellation of event

It is raining very heavily here and I really hope you are right. I'm at one of the closest camps to the DMZ and our soldiers haven't been told anything about this event. Seems like something we should have been warned about.

just out of curiosity, what is the link to the site people use to track US battleship locations around the world?
its one i would want to add to my bookmarks but im having issues googling it.