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originally posted in:Secular Sevens
Edited by Dr. Phil:
4/4/2013 1:51:52 AM
14
North Korea Approves Nuclear Strike
|[url=http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=860197&vId=3891861&cId=Top%20Stories]Source[/url]|
[quote]
North Korea says it has approved nuclear attack on the United States in its latest threat as US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Pyongyang to back down.
The White House and Pentagon would be notified that 'reckless operations' using nuclear weapons had been approved, North Korea's supreme military command said in a statement quoted by South Korean news agency Yonhap.
'The moment of explosion is approaching fast,' the North Korean military said, warning that war could break out 'today or tomorrow'.
Analysts have said North Korea is not technologically capable of carrying out a strike on the US mainland but could target US troops stationed in South Korea or Japan.
The North Korean announcement came shortly after the US said it will deploy a ballistic missile defence system on its Pacific island of Guam as part of Washington's efforts to beef up its military presence in the region.
The land-based Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) 'will strengthen defence capabilities for American citizens in the US territory of Guam and US forces stationed there,' the Pentagon said.
Hagel called on Wednesday on Pyongyang to back down from its 'dangerous rhetoric.'
'We take those threats seriously. We have to take those threats seriously,' Hagel said at the National Defence University in Washington.
The US had taken measured, reasonable steps in response to North Korea's recent moves, he said, noting the danger of being wrong about the seriousness of the threats.
'It only takes being wrong once, and I don't want to be the secretary of defence who was wrong once,' Hagel said.
North Korea on Wednesday blocked South Korean employees from entering an industrial complex operated jointly by the two countries, only allowing workers to leave, a Seoul official said.
In recent days, Pyongyang has threatened to close the Kaesong facility, which lies at the western end of the border inside its territory, amid heightened tension on the peninsula.
It notified Seoul that it would block entry to Kaesong for South Koreans, a spokesman for the South Korean Unification Ministry was quoted as saying by the Yonhap News Agency. Workers were waiting on the south side of the checkpoint, a ministry spokeswoman said.
Workers would be allowed to leave normally, Pyongyang reportedly said.
The Kaesong complex, 10km north of the border, opened in 2004 as part of reconciliation agreements between the once-warring neighbours. The park is one of isolated North Korea's only sources of hard currency, earning an estimated $US80 million ($A76.90 million) a year.
South Korean Defence Minister Kim Kwan Jin told legislators from the conservative ruling Saenuri Party that using military force to free hundreds of workers at the industrial area was a possibility if they were held hostage, Yonhap said.
Officials in Seoul said the likelihood of North Korea holding South Korean workers hostage was slim, according to the report.
North Korea last week cut the hotline with the South used to co-ordinate traffic movements in and out of Kaesong, after previously cutting another hotline between the countries' Red Cross offices on March 11.
Tensions have been rising since Pyongyang's third nuclear test in February led to a tightening of international sanctions against it.
The isolated communist regime has said its recent threats against the South and the US were in response to the sanctions and to recent US-South Korean military drills.
North Korea was the topic of a phone call on Wednesday between the defence chiefs of the US and China, North Korea's chief ally.
Hagel told Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan that the two nations should co-operate to halt North Korea's 'growing threat,' Pentagon press secretary George Little said.
Unease and irritation toward North Korea has risen internationally. Australia has condemned its 'belligerent behaviour' and said it was considering further sanctions against Pyongyang.
Germany called for 'utmost prudence' from both sides and urged China to use its influence to help quell North Korean aggression.
Pyongyang said that it would restart a nuclear plant with the capacity to produce weapons-grade plutonium, after it shut down and partly demolished the facility in 2007 in return for promises of international aid.[/quote]
This is quite possibly some of the strongest rhetoric to come from the DPRK, although I don't think they'll strike the U.S. (because they can't), I am starting to second guess the rationality of North Korea.
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Only thing to worry about is where China will stand. Who knows, why can't we all just get along.
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He's just hungry is all
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Well at least they gave us warning, I wonder if they will do a countdown too.
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Not to sound over the top or anything, but let's just bomb the shit out of them already.
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You see the fundamental problem with making serious threats of this magnitude, is that after they're used again and again and no action is taken, then everything you say will hold little to no weight. Like the boy who cried wolf, but with asians and nuclear weapons.
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:/ Why the hell is it set to question? I ain't got no question...
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North Korea is trying to get the US to strike preemptively. They know that China won't back them up if they hit first, but so do we. The US definitely won't attack first unless we get some serious confirmation from China that they will not honor the defensive treaty they have with North Korea. We can't afford to upset China by attacking North Korea, because we rely too much on Chinese labor and economic support. China doesn't want to support North Korea because they know how costly a war with their biggest customer would be. I'm pretty sure the only reason China is letting North Korea stay there is because they want a buffer zone beween themselves and a US ally like South Korea. China has moved troops and equipment to the North Korean border, most likely in anticipation of an exodus of refugees should fighting break out. China is North Korea's only "ally", and they don't want North Korea to start a war. North Korea would be shooting themselves in the foot if they attacked South Korea, Japan, or the US.
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Edited by Diplomat: 4/4/2013 2:14:07 AMSo, essentially, Kim Jong Un is acting in bellicose ways in an attempt to strengthen his hold on the North Korean regime. Despite his people's overall loyalty to him, without military support, an authoritarian state is nothing. Especially in North Korea's case, where the military accounts for over a million combatants in a country of merely 23 million people. It's a state heavily wrapped around having a large military force. Thusly, Kim Jong Un, a 28 year old with no military experience, needs to maintain the military's loyalty to him. After initially coming into office, many analysts believed that in order to stave off a coup, he would need to prove his mettle. Many scholars believe that's what is going right now, a right of passage to earn the firm support of his military. When it comes down to it, Un is expected to be a master at brinksmanship and creating scenarios which nearly thrust the region into war. They need to do this in order to stay relevant, which is a prerequisite for getting all that nice international aid they receive from the United States and South Korea. Aside from proving his mettle, Un is carrying on with a regular cycle conducted by the hermit nation. If you look at the past 25 plus years of North-South relations, you'll notice that North Korea will make some extremely provocative move every 2 to 4 years. In 1994, they shot down a U.S. helicopter. In 1996, they sent in a Spec Ops team via submarine. in 1999, they incited a series of naval clashes during the World Cup. In 2002, they re-ignited these clashes. They did some more shit in the 2000's, but I can't name all of it off the top of my head, unfortunately. Anyways, skip forward to 2010, and Kim Jung Il sunk a South Korean corvette and shelled a border island. So, with this in mind, we're due for another limited attack by N.K. here soon should the cycle continue. What scares me about this is the fact that South Korea has reached the end of its political rope. They've already said that they'll respond with military force should the North attack in even a limited manner. Because of this, I'm not so worried about conflict erupting from a massive attack by North Korea, but rather by slow escalation that results in the armistice being pragmatically thrown away. In regards to China, I don't think that they'll do anything. While they dislike the idea of losing their ever crucial buffer, there exists, in my opinion, a de facto agreement between the United States and China that the PLA will not directly engage in operations against the U.S. in event of war. China is just trying to prevent conflict altogether, because by voluntarily abstaining from the conflict, thus allowing for their ally to fall, China is undermined politically, as it sends a message that China is incapable of fulfilling the commitments it has promised to its allies abroad (though limited now, they're are trying to expand their influence, especially in Africa). /my2cents
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North Korea must surely know that even China won't stand with them in the event of a missile launch. They will be even more alone against almost every world power.
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13 RepliesI like how they always ignore that we're partly responsible, and instead give a quick jab and act like it's a poor reason when it obviously happened! Wow! History is written by those that won, and they always make themselves out to be the martyrs. "The isolated communist regime has said its recent threats against the South and the US were in response to the sanctions and to recent US-South Korean military drills." That's all we get, and doesn't even make us sound bad!
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That's so nice of them warning NATO and South Korea when they're going to attack.
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^ This is what I want to say But I think it's more of a possibility of them not going through with it at all. Surely they know what trouble they'll get into they even attempt to attack anyone.
